Description
Homemade blueberry bbq sauce lacquered over grilled drumsticks and served with a sweet and savory broccoli salad is as good as summer eatin’ can get!
Ingredients
For the Blueberry BBQ Sauce:
- 2 pints (approximately 2 cups) of blueberries, fresh or frozen
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/16–1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (depending on your taste for spice)
- 4–8 chicken drumsticks
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, optional
- Kosher salt and black pepper
For the Broccoli Salad:
- 6 slices of bacon
- 1/4 cup almonds, sliced
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon Dijon
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
- 4 cups broccoli florets
- 2 tablespoons green onion, sliced
- 1/4 cup dried cherries or cranberries
- Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- To make the blueberry bbq sauce in advance, combine the blueberries, apple cider vinegar, water, ketchup, mustard, honey, onion powder, garlic powder and cayenne in a medium saucepan. Set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Stir as it heats. Once boiling, lower heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Stir the BBQ sauce often. Once it’s done simmering, use an immersion blender to puree the mixture until smooth. Be careful as the sauce will be quite hot! Once smooth, place the sauce in a storage container and refrigerate.
- To make the broccoli salad in advance, measure the almonds into a large or medium saute pan and set over medium heat. Toast until golden, about 5-8 minutes, shaking pan often to prevent burning.
- Slice the bacon into small pieces. Once the almonds are done cooking, transfer them to a clean plate or bowl and set the pan back over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook until it is brown and nearly crispy. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towel.
- To finish, combine the mayonnaise, honey, Dijon, red wine vinegar and cayenne in a large bowl. Stir to mix well, then add the broccoli, green onion, dried cranberries or cherries and the toasted almonds. Once bacon is done, add this to the bowl as well and finish by seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Store in fridge until ready to serve.
- Finally, to cook the chicken, heat a grill or grill pan over medium-high heat. If using a grill pan indoors, add olive oil. Once oil is nearly smoking, set the seasoned drumsticks on the pan. I like to set them fattiest side face down first. Sear the meat until nice char marks form, them rotate a quarter turn. Lower heat at this point to medium and continue to cook and rotate until all sides of the drumsticks are marked. If cooking indoors, about halfway through, tent the chicken with aluminum foil to help bake the chicken all the way through. You can achieve this on an outdoor grill simply by putting the lid on. Chicken should take anywhere from 25-35 minutes to cook depending on the size of your drumsticks and level of heat from your grill pan or stove.
- Measure about 1/4 cup of blueberry BBQ sauce into a small dish. Once chicken is just about done, start basting the chicken with the sauce. The sugars in the sauce can burn easily so I like to baste and turn and baste and turn to help the sauce set on the chicken but not sit too long and char.
- Scoop broccoli salad onto each plate, along with 1 or 2 drumsticks. Serve and enjoy!
Keywords: chicken dinner, grilled chicken, homemade bbq sauce, blueberry recipes