This oven baked BBQ chicken recipe is juicy, crispy, and coated in your favorite BBQ sauce. An easy baked chicken dinner that delivers classic BBQ flavor right from your oven.

Oven Baked BBQ Chicken (Easy BBQ Chicken Recipe with Crispy Skin)

If there is one chicken dinner recipe that I am a sucker for, it’s got to be BBQ chicken. Juicy, tender chicken coated in sticky sweet BBQ sauce with just a touch of smoke and twang… yes, please!! Let me get messy and saucy and it’s okay if I have to fight to get that delicious BBQ sauce out from under my acrylic nails for the next two days. BBQ chicken is just good time family food no matter how you look at it.

But what if you don’t have a BBQ grill? Or what if you have a BBQ grill but you don’t have charcoal or it’s raining or it’s Florida in June and there’s a heat index of 545 degrees outside right now (#currentsituation)? What’s a BBQ Chicken fan to do? You keep reading because this Easy Oven Baked BBQ Chicken recipe is about to save your day!

What Is Oven Baked BBQ Chicken?

I have been making this Oven Baked BBQ Chicken recipe for years. It’s easy, it’s virtually mess-free and it rewards you with BBQ chicken that is crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Top that off with your favorite BBQ sauce and you have the perfect BBQ chicken dinner all done from the comfort of your own (air-conditioned) kitchen.

WHAT IS THE BEST CHICKEN TO USE FOR BBQ CHICKEN?

The best cut of chicken to use for oven-baked BBQ chicken is bone in, skin on chicken. Bone in chicken keeps your meat from dying out and since we will be searing the chickens before baking them, using skin on chicken will give you that delicious crispy skin we all love. You can use almost the entire chicken but drumsticks, thighs, wings and breasts are what I usually cook up when I am doing BBQ chicken.

Chicken breasts will take the longest to cook and chicken wings, the shortest to be sure to adjust your times accordingly. You want your chicken to cook to 165 degrees internally to ensure your BBQ chicken is cooked properly.

What BBQ Sauce Works Best for Baked Chicken

The easy answer to what is the best BBQ sauce to use for BBQ chicken is this … your favorite BBQ sauce. I have tried homemade BBQ sauces, bottles BBQ sauces, marinades and glazes and the bottom line is use what you like. There is no right or wrong answer to this so whatever BBQ sauce you have in your pantry, go for it!

HOW DO YOU GET THAT STICKY THICK BBQ SAUCE?

To get that thick, sticky BBQ coating we all love to lick off of our fingers, it’s important to coat your chicken multiple times during the cooking process. That delicious thick BBQ glaze comes from baking that BBQ sauce onto your BBQ chicken in layers.

How to Get Crispy BBQ Chicken Skin in the Oven

To be rewarded with that super crispy skin when making oven-baked BBQ chicken, the most important step is to sear you chicken pieces before moving them to the oven to bake. By searing the chicken skin, you are crisping that skin up before it even starts cooking.

Keep in mind that you are coating your BBQ chicken with layers of BBQ sauce so your skin won’t be as crispy as say ‘naked’ chicken but I promise you that taking the time to sear the chicken skin makes all the difference in the world!

How to Make Oven Baked BBQ Chicken (Step-by-Step)

Easy! To make Easy Oven Baked BBQ Chicken, start by preheating your oven to 375 degrees, line a large baking sheet with foil and if available, add a metal baking cooling rack on top and set aside. Wash and pat dry your chicken pieces and sprinkle generously with seasoning salt or salt and pepper.

Add the vegetable oil to a large skillet and heat over medium high heat. When heated, add 2 or 3 chicken pieces to the skillet, skin side down. Let sear for 2-3 minutes without moving the chicken and once seared, remove your chicken to the baking sheet and place skin side down. Repeat with all of your chicken pieces until all have been seared.

Coat your chicken generously (all sides) with your favorite BBQ sauce and bake skin side down for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, coat again with BBQ sauce and then flip your chicken to cook skin side up for the next 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, remove from oven, coat again with the BBQ sauce and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes or until your chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees and is no longer pink. Remove your Easy Oven Baked BBQ Chicken from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Looking for more easy chicken recipes? Check out a few of my favorites below…

Enjoy!!