3-Ingredient Barbecue Soy Chicken Drumsticks

Memorial Day weekend. In most of America, this means barbecues and the unofficial start of summer. In the Dawson family, it means Gary Dawson stands on his porch in Twin Falls at 6 AM and flies the American flag and doesn't say much but you can see in his face that he's thinking about people he knew who didn't come home from Vietnam. Dad was drafted in 1969 and served two years and never talks about it, which is its own kind of conversation.

We drove to Twin Falls for the weekend. Scott stayed in Boise — fire training — which was fine because family visits without Scott are easier than family visits with Scott. He and Dad circle each other like wary dogs, polite but tense, and Mom spends the whole time trying to smooth things over, and it's exhausting for everyone. So: easier.

The kids love the Twin Falls house. It's smaller than the ranch — a three-bedroom in a quiet neighborhood with a yard that backs up to an irrigation canal — but it has Mom and Dad, and that's all Mason and Lily need. Mason followed Dad around the yard like a shadow, asking questions about everything: why does grass grow, why do bees buzz, why is the sky blue. Dad answered every question with the patient seriousness of a man who has all the time in the world now that the cattle are gone. Lily sat in Mom's lap and ate crackers and occasionally shrieked for no apparent reason, which is her baseline state.

Mom and I cooked the Memorial Day dinner together. This is something we've done my whole life — standing side by side in a kitchen, not talking much, just cooking. She made the potato salad (her mother's recipe — Grandma Ruth's, with yellow mustard and sweet pickle relish, no mayo). I grilled steaks on Dad's charcoal grill, which is the same Weber he's had since 1985 and which he maintains with the care most men reserve for vintage cars. Kyle called from Germany — it was midnight there, but he called anyway, because you call your father on Memorial Day. Brett drove down from Boise and arrived in time for dinner.

All four Dawson kids haven't been in the same place since Christmas 2014, and we won't all be together again until Kyle comes home on leave. But three out of four isn't bad, and Dad sat at the head of the table and looked at his family — his wife, his three of four children, his two grandchildren — and said, "Well, this is all right," which from Gary Dawson is roughly equivalent to an Oscar acceptance speech.

The steaks were New York strips from Winco, not ranch beef. There was a time when Dad would have been offended by store-bought beef, when all the meat on our table came from our own cattle, processed at the butcher in Filer, wrapped in white paper and stored in the chest freezer in the garage. That time is over. The cattle are gone. The ranch is half the size it was. And Dad eats Winco steaks without comment, because the alternative is no steaks at all, and Gary Dawson is too practical to be sentimental about beef.

I made s'mores with the kids after dinner, over the charcoal that was still warm from the steaks. Mason held his marshmallow too close and it caught fire and he panicked and dropped it in the grass and Hank tried to eat it. Lily ate the chocolate without the marshmallow or the graham cracker and declared the operation a success. Brett sat in his chair by the fire and said nothing and looked at the stars, and I sat next to him and said nothing too, and it was the best kind of silence — the kind that means you don't need to talk to be understood.

That charcoal grill of Dad’s — the same Weber he’s been nursing since 1985 — has a way of making everything feel unhurried and right, and I keep thinking about how the embers were still glowing long after the steaks were gone, warm enough for s’mores and quiet enough for sitting with Brett in the dark saying nothing at all. If you want to carry that same unhurried, around-the-fire feeling into your own backyard this summer, these 3-Ingredient Barbecue Soy Chicken Drumsticks are exactly right — dead simple, deeply savory, the kind of thing that lets you stay present with the people around you instead of hovering over a complicated recipe. Three ingredients, a grill, and whoever showed up: that’s the whole deal.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

8 chicken drumsticks (about 3 lbs total)
3/4 cup barbecue sauce (your favorite store-bought or homemade)
3 tablespoons soy sauce

Instructions

Make the marinade. In a small bowl, whisk together the barbecue sauce and soy sauce until fully combined.
Coat the drumsticks. Place chicken drumsticks in a large zip-top bag or shallow baking dish. Pour about half the sauce over the chicken, reserving the other half for basting. Turn drumsticks to coat evenly. Let marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes, or refrigerate for up to 8 hours for deeper flavor.
Prepare the grill. Heat a charcoal or gas grill to medium heat (about 375—400°F). For charcoal, let coals ash over until glowing and even. Lightly oil the grill grates.
Grill the drumsticks. Remove drumsticks from the marinade and place on the grill. Discard the used marinade. Cook over medium heat, turning every 5—7 minutes, for about 25—30 minutes total, until the skin is caramelized and slightly charred at the edges.
Baste and finish. During the last 5 minutes of cooking, brush drumsticks generously with the reserved sauce. Cook until the sauce is sticky and lacquered and the internal temperature reaches 165°F at the thickest part, away from the bone.
Rest and serve. Transfer to a platter and let rest 5 minutes before serving. Serve with any remaining reserved sauce on the side.

Nutrition (per serving)

3-Ingredient Barbecue Soy Chicken Drumsticks — The Simplicity of a Memorial Day Fire