Introduction: Sweet and Spicy Pomegranate Chicken Drumettes

About: I am married with two children. Spring, summer, and fall are my very favorite times of the year. I enjoy working in the yard, sewing, cooking, quilting, gardening, and creating. I do this to keep my sanity.
When I make chicken it reminds me of the Forrest Gump movie because I love it fried, baked, grilled, and in soups, salads, and sandwiches. Chicken is my favorite comfort food. I planned on making my son-in-law some Kick'n chicken drumettes for the Super Bowl game. I like a sweet sauce with a kick and recently used the Kick'n chicken seasoning in another recipe and thought it would be tasty in a pomegranate sauce over baked chicken drumettes. I created this recipe to satisfy my cravings for chicken and for my son-in-laws super bowl snack. This is an entry for the recent food contest here on instructables. If you like it, your vote will be appreciated. Let's get kick'n! 

Step 1: Ingredients and Supplies

This is what you will need:

1 Package of chicken drumettes or about 30 
4 Cups Cranberry Pomegranate juice
Pinch Kosher salt
1/2 Cup Organic sugar or ( regular is fine )
1 The juice of one lemon
2-4 Tablespoons Kick'n chicken seasoning
2 -4 Serrano chilis de-seeded
1 Pomegranate de-seeded
Cilantro garnish if desired 

For those who like a very mild sauce I would start off with 1 Serrano pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of the Kick'n chicken seasoning and add more as the sauce cooks tasting along the way if desired. The sauce cooks down to about 1 1/2 cups. I used the sauce for the marinade, basting and for the dipping sauce.

Utensils: 
 
Sauce pan, shallow baking dish, covered bowl or zip lock bag along with measuring cups, and spoons. 

Step 2: Preparations

Preparations:

Dice the peppers
De-seed the pomegranate
Juice the lemon
Place drumettes in bowl or zip lock bag

Step 3: Sauce

Making the sauce:


Pour pomegranate/cranberry juice into the saucepan (medium high) watching closely)
Add Peppers and seasonings  
Stir as needed
Bring to a boil
Turn down heat and cook until the sauce changes color and thickness
This will take a while and will need to be watched. After the sauce has thickened remove from heat and add 1/2 of the cranberries to the sauce, reserving the rest to garnish the chicken if desired.
Pour sauce into a small bowl for dipping reserving about 1/4 to 1/2 cup to baste the chicken.






 
 

Step 4: Marinate

Marinate the chicken:

Place the chicken in a bag or covered bowl.
Pour the cooled pomegranate sauce over the chicken and marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

Please note: this was an experiment. I did not cook the sauce until the color changed before pouring 1/2 cup of the sauce over the raw chicken. I have made the necessary corrections in the recipe to achieve better results. 

Step 5: Bake

Bake the chicken:

Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees F
Place the chicken on a cookie sheet and pour about 1/2 cup of the marinade over the drumettes and bake until it begins to brown.
Remove the chicken from the oven and pour off most of the liquid.
Baste the chicken with the pomegranate sauce.
Place the chicken back into the oven and cook until the chicken browns beautifully.
Place on a plate and garnish with fresh pomegranate seeds and cilantro. 
 
Please Note:
 
I have always cooked meat at a lower temperatures but have never made drumettes and it seemed it took  a long time. I think I cooked mine for about 45 minutes before they began to brown and then I added the sauce and cooked another 15-20 minutes or so after draining off the fat.  But my chicken was not dry so I was happy with the results. I think I could have cooked them a tad bit longer and they would have been fine. 

Step 6: Sunshiine's Final Thoughts

Unfortunately I did not get this recipe made in time for the Super bowl game because of the snow storm. I packed the drumettes in my son-in-laws lunch. The first thing he said to me when he came home was  " That chicken was delicious!"  I was happy that he liked it so much because I am making a cookbook for him with all the recipes he likes. 

The only disappointing thing about this recipe is it is seasonal using fresh pomegranates. Pomegranate seeds can be frozen for up to one year. 

I wish to thank Instructables, our sponsors, contributors, and all my visitors for making this a great place to share. Thanks for stopping by and do have a Happy Valentine's Day!

sunshiine