Baked BBQ Chicken Gets A Perfect Crispy Skin With This Last-Minute Move

A perfectly baked chicken coated in your signature homemade BBQ sauce will hit most of the notes you're looking for in a meal. Ultimately, however, it's the shatteringly crispy skin that completes the symphony of deliciousness. Placing the poultry under the broiler for a few minutes is one way to achieve a crunchy outer layer, but simplifying recipes is always the best option when possible. When The Takeout spoke with Venecia Willis, director of culinary at Velvet Taco, about how to avoid taking extra steps to get satisfying crispy skin, she noted it never actually needs to leave the oven.

"You can skip the boiler if you ensure the skin is dry and brushed with oil," she said. Confirming the skin is dry is a step that's too often overlooked. Moisture is the arch nemesis of crispy chicken skin, turning the outer layer of your poultry into a sad, chewy mistake that you'll want to spit out. Diligently patting your chicken down with paper towels will remove the moisture, but there are alternative methods of eliminating any damp spots. Applying a dry brine to your meat is one option, or you could go with Giada De Laurentiis' genius hair dryer hack to dry your chicken skin.

Once all the moisture has been ousted, it's time to preheat the oven and set your bird up for success. "The oven should be around 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and the chicken should be placed on a rack over the sheet pan to ensure it does not sit within its juices," Willis said. Again, moisture is the enemy, and elevating the chicken makes a significant impact on the texture of the skin. And on that note, hold off on basting it with barbecue sauce.

Timing is everything in the kitchen. Venecia Willis noted that barbecue chicken is no exception, and the moment you choose to apply the sauce to the meat can make or break the dish. "BBQ sauce should be applied at the end of the cook cycle," she said. Barbecue sauce typically contains sugary components that will scorch when heated for too long. Patiently waiting until the chicken is nearly cooked to brush it on prevents that from occurring.

How cooked is "nearly" cooked? Willis said, "So, once you are 5 degrees from achieving the proper doneness of the chicken, go in and add the BBQ, and allow the chicken to finish cooking and caramelize the BBQ at around 400 degrees (Fahrenheit)." Avoiding the impulse to baste the bird with sauce earlier allows the skin to stay dry and get crispy while the rest of the meat cooks through. You can certainly brush barbecue sauce onto the chicken and place it under the broiler to caramelize, as long as you carefully watch it to make sure it isn't burning. But why take that unnecessary step when everything can just bake in the oven?