She Said (1) - Maple-Sauced Chicken

If you recall my husband and I are having a bit of a contest with each of us using a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens® New Grilling Book to create a meal. In total there will be 12 recipes, 6 of his choosing and 6 of mine. The contest ends August 31 so the first week of September I will post a poll where you can vote for the meal you liked best. The rules are all the ingredients must be used but the amounts can be altered.

Maple-Sauced Chicken

We are having a lot of fun with this little contest. I decided to make the Maple-Sauced Chicken. I just love anything with maple syrup! For this dish I used 100% maple syrup that by definition meets the ingredient classification of a 'maple-flavored syrup'. I used Heinz 57 for the steak sauce and Not Cool 100% certified organic habanero hickory smoked hot sauce. I also used 100% pure cider vinegar and Dijon mustard. There is a lot of room for varying this recipe simply by changing the steak sauce, mustard and hot sauce. I liked this sauce enough that I'm going to make a larger batch to can for ready use. However, it is easy enough to make fresh while the chicken is grilling.

I served the chicken with steamed butter and chive potatoes and a fresh garden salad. The chives, Grand Rapids lettuce, Chinese mustard, Lemon Boy tomato (yellow) and nasturtium were picked fresh from the garden. A red slicing tomato, red onion and baby English cucumber wedges completed the salad.

Maple-Sauced Chicken
source: Meredith Corporation, Better Homes and Garden New Grilling Book, 2005. Pp. 270

¾ cup ketchup
⅓ cup maple-flavored syrup
2 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp bottled steak sauce
1 tbsp yellow mustard or Dijon-style mustard
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground allspice
¼ tsp black pepper
pinch ground cloves
several dashes bottled hot pepper sauce
6 whole chicken legs.

Combine all the ingredients except for chicken in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Simmer 15 minutes uncovered.

Heat the grill to medium. Place the chicken legs bone sides up on grill over the filled drip pan. Grill for 50 to 60 minutes until the chicken is no longer pink, turning once halfway through the grilling. Brush with the sauce during the last 10 minutes of grilling. Heat remaining sauce until bubbly to spoon over the chicken.