Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Cooking: Sesame Chicken Drumettes

Sandra Lee’s Semi-Homemade Cooking: Sesame Chicken Drumettes

Sandra Lee describes that she knew of a restaurant in Santa Monica, California, that served the most amazing drummettes and that was all that they served.  She says that when the restaurant closed up, she created her own recipe to take their place.  She says they are “full of flavor, the outside is always perfectly crispy and the inside is always tender and juicy”.  I love chicken appetizers, especially ones with an asian flavor as my palette is a wee bit too gentle for hot wings.  Will these chicken drumettes stand up to any restaurant appetizer and are they really that easy to make?

Sesame Chicken Drumettes

1/3 c. teriyaki sauce

1-1/2 Tbsp. dry sherry

1-1/2 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

1-1/4 lbs. chicken drumettes (about 12)

1-1/2 Tbsp. bbq sauce

1-1/2 Tbsp. honey

¼ tsp. oriental sesame oil

Combine the teriyaki sauce, sherry and sesame seeds in a resealable bag.  Add drumettes to coat with sauce.  Close bag and refrigerate for at least ½ hr. or up to a day.  After marinating the drumettes, preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Using a foil lined cookie sheet, transfer drumettes to cookie sheet and throw away remaining marinade.  Bake until drumettes are golden brown, about 15 minutes.  While chicken is baking, mix bbq sauce (preferably a dark bbq sauce), honey and sesame oil in a small bowl.  After chicken has baked for 15 min., brush drumettes with honey mixture and bake 5 min. more.  Turn them over, repeat brushing and baking an additional 5 min.

This was a very easy recipe to make and drumettes were so easy, you will wish you had bought several packages.  Her recipe says serves 4 as an appetizer, but with drumettes being so small, you will definitely want more.  Excellent flavor with all of these ingredients and although most people don’t have cooking sherry and possibly the sesame oil in their kitchen, these items are worth getting as they really add to the flavor and make the recipe a success.  Besides you will want to make this again and again and then you will have those items on hand. My grocery store had just one brand of cooking sherry in the vinegar aisle and it worked fine.  We always have sesame oil on hand for stir fry so that was easy, but you can fine sesame oil in the “asian” aisle of your local grocery store.  I only marinated the drumettes for 30 minutes and they were full of flavor.  You will definitely want to line the cookie sheet with foil as the honey will tend to burn and be a nightmare scrubbing the sheet.  Use a dark barbecue sauce such as KC Masterpiece for a much better flavor as well.  An easy yummy recipe that will impress your guests!