I call this dish Berry Chicken! It’s an oven-baked or BBQ chicken coated in a sweet, smoky, tangy, and berry kind of flavor coming from the red wine kind of BBQ Sauce. It is a BBQ Sauce that, when you make it, is extremely potent and carries the aroma well outside your house. I love it! Everyone will know you’re making BBQ tonight. People are going to walk by your house, smell what you’re cooking, and all of a sudden start craving BBQ. Once you know how to make this sauce. You will be making it all the time, and it’s super easy.
The trick is to cook the chicken crispy and then layer the BBQ Sauce on and broil to make it adhere and go tacky. Then coat in another layer of BBQ Sauce. Building the layers up before serving. Make sure you have some napkins close by; this gets messy good.
Berry Chicken Ingredients
Chicken Quarters, Berry BBQ Sauce.
Quarter Chicken
Chicken quarters separated or just thighs and/or legs. Trim off any excess fat & skin, place these into a Ziploc bag, and freeze to use for other recipes later where the fat and skin can be rendered out. You also need to clean out the internal organs from the backbone if they are present. Check my post for How to Prepare Chicken, which discusses how to clean and trim chicken quarters.
Leave the chicken as quarters or chop them to separate into thighs and legs. If leaving them as whole chicken quarters, then crack the joints to allow more heat in and for easier eating.
Berry BBQ Sauce
The Berry BBQ Sauce can be made while cooking the chicken in the oven. As well as any additional sides you wish to include.
How thick or thin the BBQ sauce is will determine how well it lacquers on the chicken. Depending on the consistency, more or less time will be needed. Generally for a lacquer, you want the sauce to be on the thick side, just like a BBQ sauce. For glazing on the thin side.
The Berry BBQ sauce is easy enough to put together. Just toss all the ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer until the desired consistency. Be careful; this can boil over if it gets too hot, so keep an eye on it and whisk often. Once it is boiling, reduce heat and simmer on medium to medium-low, whisking once in a while, until desired consistency, about 15–20 minutes. Set aside to later lacquer on the chicken towards the end of cooking.
Berry BBQ Sauce
- 1 C French’s Ketchup
- 1 C Red Wine Vinegar
- 1/2 C White Sugar
- 1/4 C Molasses
- 2 tsp Liquid Smoke
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder – each
Lacquered BBQ Sauce
With a lacquered BBQ chicken, you want to cook the chicken through nice and crispy. Then place the oven on broil and brush the BBQ sauce on to build the layers.
Once the chicken is ready, place the oven on broil. The high heat will caramelize additional layers of applied BBQ sauce in minutes. Which will cause it to go tacky, to which another layer can be brushed on. It’s this layered, caramelized BBQ sauce that makes this barbecue chicken so messy good.
Ingredients
- 4 Chicken Quarters - Cleaned and trimmed
Berry BBQ Sauce
- 1 C French's Ketchup & Red Wine Vinegar - each
- 1/2 C White Sugar
- 1/4 C Molasses
- 2 tsp Liquid Smoke
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper, Garlic Powder & Onion Powder - each
Instructions
- Preparation: Preheat the oven to 375 F with the rack in the middle position.Clean and trim the chicken of any excess fat. Place on a roasting pan.
- Oven Baked Chicken: Place the chicken into the oven for 45 minutes. Brush it with the pan drippings or oil if there are no pan drippings halfway through to promote a crispy skin.
- Berry BBQ Sauce: Meanwhile, combine all ingredients for the Berry BBQ Sauce into a pot, whisk well, and bring to a boil over max heat. Be careful; this can boil over if it gets too hot. Reduce heat and simmer on medium to medium-low, whisking once in a while, until desired consistency, about 15–20 minutes. Set it aside.
- BBQ-Lacquered Chicken: Turn your oven to broil. Brush a layer of BBQ sauce on the chicken and place it back into the oven for 3-5 minutes or until the BBQ sauce becomes tacky and is bubbly. Brush on another layer and flip the chicken over to brush the other side. Back into the oven until bubbly and tacky. Repeat for however many layers you want to build up, and finish with the presentation side, or skin side up for a final brushing of BBQ sauce. Let it rest a few minutes and serve. You can also brush on a fresh layer of BBQ sauce without cooking it before serving.