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Direct Heat BBQ Chicken Leg Quarters

If you're just learning about direct heat BBQ, start with leg quarters. They're cheap and nearly impossible to mess up.
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Prep Time5 minutes
Active Time1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time1 hour 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 Chicken leg quarters

Seasoned Salt

  • 1/2 cup Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt
  • 1/4 cup Granulated garlic
  • 2 tbsp 30 mesh black pepper

Instructions

  • Take leg quarters out of packaging and pat dry.
    Near the bones on the thigh side, check for the kidneys. If they're there, remove them.

Dry Rub

  • In a bowl combine the ingredients in the specified quantities.
    You will have rub left over, save for another cook.
    1/2 cup Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt, 1/4 cup Granulated garlic, 2 tbsp 30 mesh black pepper

Get Your Grill Setup to 300-325F for Direct Heat BBQ

  • Once at temperature, put thighs on the grill skin side down for 30 minutes.
  • After 30 minutes, flip over to the meat side and cook meat side down for 30 minutes.
  • After another 30 minutes, back to the skin side BUT rotate the drumsticks away from the fire. This way you're rendering more of the fat from the thighs and you won't burn the drumsticks.

Wait for the thighs to reach ~200F Internal

  • At this point the skin fat should be rendered well.
    When you go to tap on it, drag a knife across it, it will feel crisp and crackly. If it still feels soft, keep cooking skin side down.
  • Once at temperature and you're happy with the skin, take off the grill to rest for 10-15 minutes, then enjoy!