These Grilled Butterflied Chicken Drumsticks with Alabama White Sauce are a simple, fun, and quick way to cook chicken! Butterflied chicken is lathered in a BBQ spice rub, grilled until crispy, and then served with a rich, creamy, sweet, and spicy sauce!
This recipe is perfect for your Memorial Day grill out!
Post Sponsored by Cowboy Charcoal
Prep the Chicken for Grilled Butterflied Chicken Drumsticks with Alabama White Sauce
First, prep the chicken drumsticks. And to prep them, you need to butterfly them, this is a technique in which you slice and flatten out the meat. The goal here is to help the chicken cook faster and more evenly. It’s also to create a larger surface area to season and grill for those crispy edges.
Love butterflied chicken? Check out my Butterflied Peruvian Chicken Drumsticks with Green Sauce!
Start by slicing one side on the drumstick from the top to the bottom all the way down to the bone. Be sure to use a really sharp knife because we want a clean cut. Plus, all prep is easier with a sharp knife. Pull apart the two sides of the slice, separating part the meat from the bone, then lay it flat on your work surface. Make sure that you leave a small section of the meat, on the opposite side of the first cut, still connected to the bone.
After butterflying all your drumsticks, set them aside while you prep your the other components of the Grilled Butterflied Chicken Drumsticks with Alabama White Sauce.
Looking for more ways to use your chicken drumsticks? Try Beer Marinated BBQ Chicken Drumsticks, Honey Bacon BBQ Chicken Lollipops and Spicy Mezcal Drumstick Skewers.
Add the Seasoning!
To season our chicken drumsticks, we’re whipping up a simple sweet and spicy BBQ seasoning mix. To make the spice rub, just mix everything together. Simple as that!
Now, I love a homemade spice rub because you can play around with amounts to fit your tastes. Do you like it a little bit sweeter? Add more brown sugar! Do you love the heat? Add more cayenne! It’s super easy to make this your own, so take advantage of that.
Next, lather the butterflied chicken with oil, rub on the seasoning and then place them in the fridge to marinate for at least 1 hour because it needs a little bit of time to soak in that flavor.
Make the Alabama White Sauce for Grilled Butterflied Chicken Drumsticks
Next, we have the Alabama White Sauce. This sauce is rich, creamy, a little bit tangy, a little bit sweet, and little bit spicy, and absolutely perfect for serving with our grilled butterflied chicken drumsticks.
To make your sauce, simply whisk together mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, brown sugar, horseradish, hot sauce, cayenne powder, and honey.
As with your seasonings, play with flavor and make this sauce to fit your tastes!
Cook and Serve Your Grilled Butterflied Chicken Drumsticks with Alabama White Sauce
Now that everything is prepped and ready to go, it’s time to cook. First, preheat a medium-high heat fire to around 375ΒΊF for two-zone cooking. Whenever I’m throwing down on the grill, I always reach for my trusty bag of Cowboy lump charcoal. Y’all, this charcoal burns clean, hot, and evenly. These are all extremely important aspects when cooking with fire, and Cowboy Charcoal delivers every time. When you cook as often as I do, it’s nice to have a fuel source you can count on.
Allow the coals to heat up and become ashed over in a charcoal chimney before adding them to your grill. Pour them into the grill and put the grill grate back on and let the coals continue to heat for another 5 to 10 minuets before cooking over them.
Want more with Cowboy Charcoal? Check out my Charred BBQ Burger, Loaded Steak Fries and Grilled Garlic Butter Lobster.
Place the drumsticks over direct heat. Cook them for 2-3 minutes on each side so they can char and develop that nice crust. Next, pull the chicken over to the cooler side of the grill so that they’ll finish cooking without becoming too charred. Allow them to cook until they reach an internal temperature of 170ΒΊF.
Finally, pull the chicken off of the grill, let it rest for a couple of minutes so the flavor can settle, then serve with your Alabama White Sauce!
For more delicious recipes, check out my second cookbook Flavor X Fire or my first cookbook Food X Fire!
Needing more spice in your life? My spice line can help with that. Check them out here.
Full Length Recipe Video on Facebook!
Grilled Butterflied Chicken Drumsticks with Alabama White Sauce
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 2-3 lbs Chicken Drumsticks
- 2 tbsp Canola Oil
BBQ Seasoning:
- 2 tbsp Brown Sugar
- 1.5 tbsp Kosher Salt
- 1 tbsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tbsp Smoked Paprika
- 2 tsp Black Pepper
- 1.5 tsp Onion Powder
- 1.5 tsp Chile Powder
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- Β½ tsp Cayenne
Alabama White Sauce:
- 2 cups Mayonnaise
- Β½ cup Apple Cider Vinegar
- ΒΌ cup Dijon Mustard
- β cup Brown Sugar
- 1.5 tbsp Prepared Horseradish
- 1 tbsp Hot Sauce
- 2 tsp Cayenne Powder
- 2 tsp Honey
Instructions
- Begin prepping your chicken drumsticks. Using a really sharp knife, slice one area on the drumstick from top to bottom all the way down to the bone. Pull apart the two sides of the slice and begin separating the meat from the bone so that the chicken drumstick is flayed open and flat. Make sure to leave some part of the meat, on the opposite side of the first cut, still connected. Repeat this for all of your drumsticks.
- In a bowl, mix all the ingredients for the BBQ seasoning. Lather your chicken with oil then generously season them. Mix together thoroughly, cover and place in the fridge to marinate for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat a medium high heat fire (around 375F) for two zone cooking.
- Mix all the ingredients for your Alabama White Sauce and set to the side.
- Once the fire is ready, place your drumsticks over the direct heat and cook them for 2-3 minutes per side until they have been charred well. Once they have developed a good crust, pull them over the cooler side of the grill and cook until they reach 170F internal (about 10-15 minutes). Once done, pull them off and let them rest for 1-2 minutes.
- Right before serving, dip each drumstick right into the Alabama White Sauce and enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
Wow wow and wow again thank you for sharing this recipe
I’ve got to say I’ve tried several of your recipes(this one included) and wether I follow the recipe perfectly or branch off on inspiration everyone has loved everything these drumsticks included!
Thank you!!!
Dude. Dude. Duuuuude!
Love. Love. Love this recipe! Thank you so much for your post and amazing recipes. This oneβs a favorite in our house. The Alabama White sauce is off the charts. Canβt wait to try some of your others too!
I cut back a bit on the cayenne for the chicken seasoning so my toddler could try it and she loves it with the sauce. Iβve been sending this recipe out because it is so good and a must try! Thanks for sharing!
Yeah!!!
I donβt have grill I have a smoker will this work do I have to make any changes?
Just follow the temperature settings and youll be good!
Hey! This looks so good!! Iβm looking forward to trying it out. What grill are you using?
From Gabbys Grills!
Planning on making this tomorrow. Will it be alright to make the BBQ sauce the day before?
It will just make sure to keep it in the fridge and stir before serving!
Iβm not good at grilling, but I did my best.
The dry rub alone with the chicken is amazing; adding the Alabama white sauce puts it over the top.
Substituted Greek yogurt for Mayo.
Made it to share with someone who doesnβt like spicy, so I left out all cayenne pepper plus a lot of the hot sauce, and it was still really tasty.
Iβve been looking for a new flavor for chicken and this was perfect.
Really thought the White BBQ was going to be gross with all that Mayoβ¦. Surprise. It was a fantastic compliment to the rub!!
An absolutely amazing recipe! I tripled the rub and did 1.5 times the recipe for the white sauce to do 6 lbs of drumsticks. The rub was perfect! Didn’t need to increase the sauce because I had a lot left over. One of my guests said the white sauce would make great slaw dressing, so that’s what I’m going to do with the left overs. Loved the butterflied drumsticks. They turned out amazing!!
That sauce man ππππππ best chicken I have had in a very long time
Hey Derek, turned out great! How long will the white sauce keep in the refrigerator?
About 4-5 days!