A family favorite for over 20 years, this low-effort, high-reward chicken takes about 5 minutes to assemble and emerges from the oven piping hot, meat falling off the bone, with sauce aplenty! Children and adults alike adore this chicken!

A plate of honey-soy oven-baked chicken drumsticks.

In the spirit of old-fashioned, unsubtle, crowd-pleasing recipes, I offer another oldie but goodie from The New New York Times Cookbook (Craig Claiborne, 1979), a recipe my mother pulled out for nearly every cocktail party she hosted and attended for at least two decades. The original recipe calls for wings, which people go gaga over, but the sauce and cooking method work just as well with drumsticks and thighs, if you’re looking for a super-easy dinner adored by children and adults alike.

While the chicken bakes for a fairly long time — an hour to an hour and 15 minutes — in the brief time it takes for your oven to preheat, your chicken can be prepped and smothered with the magic sauce, a mixture of honey, soy sauce, ketchup, garlic and oil, leaving you with an hour of freedom, perhaps to prepare a simple salad or side dish, perhaps to sit down with a good book and a nice cocktail.

As with the honey-baked chicken legs, it’s hard not to play caveman while eating these drummies — a fork and knife just can’t get the job done. What can I say? This is not gourmet cooking, and it’s not gourmet eating — you might just want to break out the moist towelettes for this one.

Honey Soy Chicken, Step by Step

First, gather your ingredients: honey, soy, garlic, ketchup, and oil.

The sauce ingredients for the honey-soy oven-baked chicken drumsticks.

Whisk the sauce ingredients together. And season your chicken with salt and pepper.

Chicken drumsticks salt and peppered aside the honey-soy sauce mixture.

Pour the sauce over the chicken in your baking dish.

Chicken drumsticks in baking dish, covered in soy sauce mixture.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Don’t be alarmed by the state of your pan…

Just-baked honey-soy chicken drumsticks.

… once the bubbling subsides, your chicken will surface...

Honey-soy chicken drumsticks, out of the oven and resting.

…piping hot…

Piping hot honey soy chicken drumstick, meat falling off the bone.

… meat falling off the bone.

Honey-soy chicken drumstick, cut up on cutting board.

Try not to curse my name during the post-dinner clean-up…

Soiled, empty cooking pan needing a scrub.

I promise: after a quick soak and a bit of elbow grease, just a few burnt edges will remain.

Cooking pan all cleaned up.

Notes: When we have visitors, I double up on the drumsticks:

A 9x13-inch pan filled with chicken drumsticks and honey-soy sauce mixture

Or use a combination of thighs and drumsticks:

A mixture of chicken thighs and drumsticks in honey-soy sauce mixture.
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Super Easy, Oven-Baked, Honey-Soy Chicken Drumsticks

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4.7 from 75 reviews

  • Author: Alexandra Stafford
  • Total Time: 1 hours 20 minutes
  • Yield: 6 to 8 1x
  • Diet: Gluten Free
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Description

Adapted from The New New York Times Cookbook (Craig Claiborne, 1979)

Notes:

  • If making a small batch — 5 drumsticks or 4 thighs, etc. — halve the sauce recipe but keep the cooking time the same.
  • I typically make it with 4 to 5 thighs and 4 to 5 drumsticks, but I’ve made it with as many as 8 thighs and 5 drumsticks in one 9×13-inch pan. 
  • Wings are perfect for a Super Bowl party or other gathering.

Ingredients

  • 18 chicken wings or 10 drumsticks or 4 thighs and 5 drumsticks, etc.
  • kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 2 tablespoons oil — peanut, canola, vegetable, olive, etc.
  • 2 tablespoons ketchup
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 1 cup honey
  • 2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400ºF. If using wings: wash and dry, cut off wing tips and place on a rimmed baking sheet. If using the larger quantity of drumsticks and/or thighs: wash and dry and place in a 9 x 13-inch pan; if using the smaller quantity, wash and dry and place in a 8×8-inch (or something similar) pan. Season lightly with salt (as soy is salty) and pepper to taste.
  2. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over chicken. Toss chicken (with your hands, if you don’t mind, or with tongs, if you do) and then arrange skin-side down in the baking pan. Place in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove pan, turn chicken over, and return to the oven for another 30 minutes, keeping an eye on the chicken to ensure it isn’t browning too quickly — turn the temperature down to 375ºF if it is. 
  3. Remove the pan and turn the chicken over once more. I find that the chicken is usually done at this point, but my mother likes to cook hers for another 15 minutes, which is what the original recipe calls for, too, although the original recipe also calls for baking it at 375ºF for the entire time. It’s your call — you can’t mess it up. I suggest turning the oven down to 375ºF if you do bake it for an additional 15 minutes.
  4. If your sauce is not the thickness you like, but the chicken has completed its cooking, you can transfer the sauce to a small sauce pan and simmer it down on the stovetop till it thickens.
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 1 hours 15 minutes
  • Category: Dinner
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: Asian, American