kitchen discoveries

I came across this recipe on Pinterest. It looked quite delicious and perfect for a weekday night! There are a few ingredients, and it is quite inexpensive, especially if you get the value pack of chicken legs.  I usually stray away from value packs, BUT the recipe called for a lot of chicken; I didn't feel like spending too much $$$.  To see my take on the recipe, my thoughts, and the cooking process... keep reading! As always, the original recipe will be linked at the bottom of the post.

Ingredient List

2 1/2 lbs chicken legs

1 2/3 tbs olive oil

1/2 cup soy sauce 

1 2/3 tbs ketchup 

3/4 cup honey

2-3 garlic cloves

salt and pepper

I first preheated my oven to 350 degrees (Fahrenheit).  I always preheat my oven first so that it's alllll ready when my dish is arranged and ready for baking.  Next, I placed my chicken legs in a single layer in a 9x13 baking dish.

Then, I mixed the olive oil, soy sauce, ketchup, and honey in a small bowl.  To make things easier, I usually put a little oil in my measuring cup before measuring out my honey; it's a little trick I learned from Laura Vitale that makes the honey easier to pour out and measure.  Also, I used low-sodium soy sauce & Japanese ketchup.  I find Japanese ketchup to be less overpowering in flavor, so I prefer it over American ketchup.  

Next, I minced the garlic cloves.  I used THREE medium-sized cloves. The more garlic, the better!

After mincing the garlic, I mixed it into the sauce mixture and poured the sauce over the chicken.  I then salt & pepper-ed the chicken and placed the pan in the preheated oven.

I let the chicken cook at 350 degrees for about 35-40 minutes.  After 35-40 minutes, I took the pan out of the oven and basted the chicken in that gorgeous sauce.  Then, I turned the oven up to 375 and cooked them for a remaining 25 minutes.  After the 25 minutes was up, I took the pan out of the oven and let it rest for about 5 minutes. This is the end result (as shown above):

I found the sauce to be amazingly tasty. HOWEVER, the chicken was not brown enough for me and not at all crispy.  The skin was strangely soft (no crunch), despite being cooked through and baked for so long.  It may turn out better if I turn the heat up higher for the remaining 15-20 minutes of cooking time or if I used chicken wings instead.  I don't recommend using the chicken legs.  Overall, I'm glad I made this dish, but it wasn't my favorite. That sauce though...YUM!

TIP: soak your pan immediately after serving! The honey can make cleanup really difficult if it sticks to the pan and hardens. After soaking the pan overnight, clean-up became a LOT easier. 

For the original recipe, click here! Stay tuned for my next kitchen discovery: CHAI TEA MUFFINS!