This is a recreation of a classic BBQ recipe from the Major’s childhood. While this recipe calls for using a gas grill, it can easily be modified to use wood or charcoal.
Grilled BBQ Chicken Quarters
Skin-on bone-in leg quarters grilled low and slow on gas then sauced in stages for that thick, caramelized, old-school BBQ crust.
Ingredients
Method
Prep the Chicken and Season the Chicken
- Dry, season, and rest: Pat 4 skin-on bone-in chicken leg quarters completely dry with paper towels.
- Brush all over with 2 tablespoons olive oil, then rub evenly with 1 teaspoons garlic powder, 1 teaspoons onion powder, 1 teaspoons smoked paprika, 1 teaspoons salt, and 0.5 teaspoons black pepper
- Let sit at room temperature for 25–30 minutes 30:00 before hitting the grill.
Moisture is the enemy of a good crust and crispy skin.
Get under the skin where you can.
Set up the grill — two-zone indirect heat
- With the lid closed, dial the lit burner until your lid thermometer holds steady at 325–340°F. Give it about 5 minutes 05:00 to stabilize before the chicken goes on.
This recipe uses a gas grill but charcoal or wood can also be used as long as there is a way to monitor the temperature.
Light one burner on one end of your grill and leave the remaining burners off.
The lit burner is your heat source; the chicken will cook on the unlit side the entire indirect phase.
Indirect cook — low and slow
- Place quarters skin-side up over the unlit side of the grill. Close the lid. Leave them alone for 48 minutes — no peeking.
- Flip skin-side down for another 20–25 minutes.
Every time you lift the lid you drop the temp and add time. You're looking for 160°F internal in the thickest part of the thigh before sauce ever touches them. At ~1.1 lbs per quarter expect 45–50 minutes total.
First sauce layer
- Slide quarters over the lit burner (direct heat), skin-side down, and nudge it up to 375-400.
- Brush the bone side generously with 1.5 cups BBQ sauce.
- Let sit 3–7 minutes 07:00 until it sizzles and just starts to set.
- Flip skin-side up, brush the skin heavily. Close lid 3 minutes.
Second sauce layer
- Flip skin-side down again and brush bone side with another coat and let sit for 3–7 minutes.
- Flip, brush skin side again heavily, close lid 2–3 minutes.
The skin is now caramelizing directly over the burner, this is where the crust builds.
Final layer and crust set
- One final heavy coat on the skin side over direct heat.
- Let it go dark, tacky, and slightly charred at the edges — not burnt, but deeply caramelized.
Internal temp should read 175–180°F in the thigh not touching bone. That's your pull temp.
Rest, final gloss, and serve
- Pull off the grill and rest uncovered 5 minutes.
- Then brush one final thin cold layer of 1.5 cups BBQ sauce straight from the bottle — it hits the hot skin and sets up glossy and thick immediately.
- Serve right away alongside the corn & black bean salsa and tomato & avocado salad.
Notes
Serve with corn & black bean salsa and a tomato & avocado garden salad.
The skin is your friend: Skin-on quarters self-baste as they cook — the fat rendering under the skin keeps the meat moist and gives the Sweet Baby Ray’s something to grip and caramelize into. Don’t pierce it, don’t pull it back.
The secret to the crust: Patience and layers. Sauce too early over direct heat just burns. Cook through first on indirect, then build the glaze in 3 stages. Each layer sets before the next goes on — that’s what creates thick, tacky, caramelized coating instead of a thin painted-on glaze.
Temperature: Pull at 175–180°F in the thickest part of the thigh, not touching bone. At 1.1 lbs per quarter that’s the sweet spot — connective tissue breaks down, meat pulls clean, never dry.
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