Lunch / Dinner
Dixie-Stuffed Chicken Legs
Have no fear! With these stuffed legs, not only will you have thoroughly cooked chicken—you’ll have something tasty, new, and different to grill.
Ingredients
FOR THE STUFFFING —
FOR THE CHICKEN —
Once the chicken legs are tied, they can be wrapped individually in plastic and chilled for 24 hours or frozen for up to 2 weeks. If frozen, thaw before grilling
Instructions
Prepare Apricot Rum Barbecue Sauce. Set aside 1 cup sauce for basting the chicken; reserve remainder in a separate container for dipping.
Sauté bacon in a pan over medium heat until crisp, about 10 minutes. Spoon off all but 1 Tbsp. rendered bacon fat. Add greens and onions to pan and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add corn, bell pepper, broth, and jalapeño to bacon mixture; cook 2 minutes. Off heat, add cornbread, cayenne, and salt. Let stuffing cool to room temperature, then chill for 20 minutes.
Bone chicken as shown in Test Kitchen Tip video. Place 1/3 cup mounded stuffing in each thigh, making sure there's at least 1-inch of meat all the way around. Wrap thigh around stuffing to cover. Tie thighs with butcher's twine at 1-inch intervals to secure stuffing. Make the knots snug, but not so tight they squeeze the stuffing out. Coat chicken lightly with oil and season with salt and pepper.
Grill chicken covered over direct medium-high heat for 10–15 minutes on each side. Baste chicken with Apricot-Rum Barbecue Sauce, flip over, and baste the other side. Reduce heat to low; cook until sauce is bubbling and caramelized, about 2–3 minutes. Before serving legs, snip strings with kitchen shears and remove. You’ll need only about 1 cup of the sauce for basting.
Serve with grilled vegetables and reserved sauce on the side for dipping.
To stuff the boned chicken legs, mound 1/3 cup stuffing into the cavity. Then wrap the meat to enclose the stuffing.
Secure the stuffed hindquarters with butcher's twine; use a tightly cinched double knot, which won’t loosen.
Baste the chicken only after it has have been well-grilled on each side. Otherwise the sauce will burn before the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
Nutritional Facts
Nutritional Facts
Per leg
Calories: 385
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 23g 35%
Saturated Fat 7g 35%
Cholesterol 145mg 48%
Sodium 320mg 13%
Carbs 9g 3%
Fiber 2g 8%
Protein 33g
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.