I came up with this recipe roughly 2 decades ago when I was invited to a small get-together by the members of a heavy metal rock band and coaxed into cooking for everyone. These guys ate serious food, so I really had to step it up with something they would never forget. Some of their kids were also there, but I wasn’t worried about them. They had their mild food to fill their teenage tummies.
So, as I’m sliding the baking dishes full of saucy drumsticks into the oven, I began thinking, “This is not nearly hot enough. There’s a reason I named this dish, ‘Dave’s Chicken’, and this sauce just is NOT standing true to its name!” (I’m pretty sure I had been drinking that night.) That’s when I did something stupid, so stupid that everyone in the room was crying as they ate this chicken, and through spice-burn covered mouths everyone kept telling me, “It’s so hot, but it’s so good. I can’t stop eating it!” Even their teenage kids were eating it like it was the most addictive thing they had ever tasted. What I did that was oh so stupid was that I grabbed the bottle of Dave’s Insanity and POURED it over each chicken leg before I baked it off. This chicken has won the hearts of every chili head that eats it. It really is super addictive, BUT….DO NOT EAT IF YOU HAVE HEART PROBLEMS, ASTHMA, OR OTHER HEALTH PROBLEMS!!! For the love of God, take the heat of this chicken very seriously! This recipe has evolved into ghost pepper sauce and is still much more mild than the chicken I normally make, but it’s still high on the “Burn Your Butt Off Scale”.
The Sauce:
3 c brown sugar bbq sauce, (I now use Sweet Baby Rays Sweet N Spicy, but used to use Jack Daniel’s)
⅔ c honey
½ tbs crushed red pepper flakes
1 tbs prepared yellow mustard
¼ c ketchup
1 tsp granulated garlic
½ tbs onion powder
1 ½ tbs insanity hot sauce, (I use Dave’s Ghost Pepper, but used to use his Insanity sauce)
¼ c Whiskey, (I use Jack Daniel’s)
The Bird:
8 drumsticks or 4 lg boneless-skinless chicken breasts
1 ½ c milk
1 lg egg
3 c AP flour
Salt and pepper
Oil for frying
Preheat deep fryer between 335 and 340°
First things first, add all of the sauce ingredients to a pot and mix well. Bring to a simmer over medium high heat. Reduce the heat to low and continue cooking for roughly 30 minutes while you prepare the chicken.
To get your chicken ready, set up your breading station by combining the flour, salt and pepper in one container and whisking the egg and milk together in a seperate container. Double dredge the chicken by coating each piece in flour, then in the egg mixture, then flour again. Do this in batches depending on the size of your deep fryer.
After breading the first batch, carefully add the chicken to your deep fryer. Deep fry for 3-5 minutes on each side. Transfer to a large baking dish. Repeat process with the remaining chicken.
Once you’ve deepfried all of the chicken, preheat your oven to 350°. Brush each piece of the chicken with Dave’s Sauce on all sides. Bake for 20 minutes. Brush chicken with the remaining sauce. Broil til the sauce bubbles and becomes sticky. Be careful, when it is at this point, it’s like napalm. Once you see the sauce caramelize and create a bright red crust with spots of char here and there, it’s done! Definitely use tongs to transfer to plates. Serve with Mexican Street Corn.
Girl-Chef Tastes 