Juicy Filipino Grilled Chicken Party Legs
The secret to the juiciest grilled chicken legs — brined, then lacquered in a sweet-salty soy, brown sugar and calamansi lime glaze over the coals.
Ingredients
| 5 cups | 1.2 l | water |
| — | ground black pepper | |
| 2 1/2 Tbsp | 38 ml | salt (for brine) |
| 1 1/2 kg | chicken legs and thighs | |
| 1/2 cup | 120 ml | light brown sugar |
| 1/2 cup | 120 ml | soy sauce |
| 1 tsp | 5 ml | salt |
| 1 Tbsp | 15 ml | cooking oil |
| 2 Tbsp | 30 ml | ketchup |
| from 4 limes | calamansi (lime) juice |
Instructions
- Make a brine: stir the 5 cups water with 2 1/2 Tbsp salt and a little ground black pepper until dissolved. Add the chicken legs and thighs and brine for 1-2 hours; drain and pat dry.
- For the marinade/glaze, whisk together the brown sugar, soy sauce, 1 tsp salt, cooking oil, ketchup, calamansi (lime) juice and a little ground black pepper. Coat the chicken, reserving some glaze for basting.
- Grill over medium coals, turning and basting often. Note from the source: the chicken burns easily because of the sugar, so wait for the flames to die down and grill slowly, keeping the meat over gentler heat.
- Cook until the chicken is deeply glazed and cooked through (internal temperature 165°F / 74°C). Serve hot.
The source page is a video screenshot that lists only the ingredients and the note about the sugar burning; the steps above are a faithful reconstruction of the standard Filipino grilled-chicken method.