This grilled chicken recipe brings bold summer flavor with a sweet and tangy twist! Juicy chicken is grilled to perfection and slathered in a homemade Cherry Dr Pepper BBQ sauce—rich, sticky, and packed with fruity, smoky goodness.

If you’re new to my Nest you may not know of my slight addiction to Dr. Pepper! (Fine! I’ve single-handedly kept the company in business!)

I tried to give them up a few weeks ago and drink only water! GASP!!! I decided after the first 4 hours that I was no quitter! So to celebrate my horrifically long 4-hour sobriety, … I decided to make this AMAZING Cherry Dr. Pepper Bar-B-Que Chicken!

I always knew Dr. Pepper was my go-to guy for quenching my thirst…but his sister Cherry Dr. Pepper…well, she’s mighty fine in my homemade BBQ sauce!

My guys fell in LOVE, hard, with this chicken! I wasn’t too sure they were coming up for air. I was getting a tad concerned. It’s O.K. though…cause there’s ALWAYS a Doctor in the house! (wink, wink)

Ingredients for Grilled Chicken

• 1, 3-4 lb whole chicken cut up, 8-10 pieces depending on if you use the back
• 3 teaspoon all-purpose seasoned salt, or seasoning
• 1 teaspoon Paprika

Ingredients for Cherry Dr Pepper BBQ Sauce

• 12 ounces Cherry Dr. Pepper
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1-6 ounce can tomato paste
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon liquid smoke
• ½ teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic

How to Make Cherry Dr Pepper Chicken

Let’s begin with the chicken. I used a whole chicken that I cut up. However, I’ve also used a package of pre-cut, skin-on, dark meat chicken. There were 4 wings, 4 legs, and 4 thighs. It’s getting more difficult to find whole chickens cut up at the market, so use whatever your family likes best.

The key to successfully grilling chicken is to always pre-cook the chicken. I have this aversion to setting my house on fire because of fat drippings! By pre-cooking the chicken, this allows you to have that wonderful crispy charred skin on the outside without the inside being raw, and flames reaching your rooftop!

Baking Chicken Instructions

Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. I won’t join the ongoing debate about rinsing chicken. The experts advise you not to do that because you will contaminate your sink. I happen to clean my sink after rinsing chicken, so it isn’t an issue at this Nest.

Line your baking dish with foil. (This will help with clean up. Nobody wants to be doing dishes when you can be watching sunsets!) I season the chicken with a little freshly ground pepper before adding the other seasonings.

In a small bowl, combine the seasoned salt and paprika. Sprinkle your washed and dried chicken with seasoning. Cover with foil. Bake for 2–3 hours on low heat.

Cooling chicken

Turn heat off and allow to completely cool. This allows the meat to firm up again before placing it on the grill. When the chicken is done baking and completely cooled, remove from the pan and place on a platter for grilling.

TIP: One thing I found when making this recipe is that dark meat does better. White meat tends to dry out during the longer baking times.

Cherry Dr Pepper BBQ Sauce Instructions

While your chicken is cooking on low, it’s the perfect time to make that Cherry Dr. Pepper Chicken.

In a large sauce pan, add 12 ounces of Cherry Dr. Pepper. 1 cup of ketchup, 1–6 oz. can of tomato paste, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 tsp. Onion powder, 1/2 tsp. Black pepper, 1/2 tsp liquid smoke, 1/2 tsp. Chili powder and 1 tsp. Of minced garlic.

Mix well with a wire whisk and simmer over low heat for 2–3 hours until reduced in half, stirring occasionally. The sauce will thicken considerably as it simmers and the flavors enhance.

Allow the sauce to cool… then place in a container to use while grilling the chicken.

How to Grill Chicken

It’s time to combine the two elements and make one fantastically luscious BBQ Chicken! Completely Drool worthy.

Scrape and oil your grill before turning on the heat. Heat the grill to 300 degrees. Place the chicken bottom side down and brush the top with BBQ sauce.

Gently flip the chicken over. Brush the back side with more BBQ sauce. Allow chicken to cook until you have a slight “char” on the skin.

TIP: Be sure to have a spray water bottle handy for the flames that will arise during grilling. Even though we have pre-cooked the chicken, and cooked a lot of the fat out of the skin…there will still be some that will drop, causing large flames. When that happens, be sure to spray them with the water bottle to keep them under control. This will allow your chicken to cook at a normal non-burn 911 fire alarm rate.

Flip the chicken over, and brush with more sauce. My Grill Master put the perfect “char” on this chicken. It couldn’t have been any better.

I always have him hit it one last time with sauce. It’s just no fun eatin’ BBQ chicken if you aren’t licking fingers and smacking your lips!

My family loves for me to serve a side dish with this BBQ sauce so they can drizzle even more over their chicken!

This chicken is so tender and flavorful. It fell off the bone! I served it with baked beans and those delicious garlic butter Parmesan red potatoes!

This is the perfect 4th of July main course. Actually, I think it’s perfect any time! Don’t expect leftovers. You’ll be sadly disappointed.

Favorite Summer Grilling Recipes

• Grilled London Broil Recipe
• Grilled Honey Mustard Chicken
• Grilled Chicken Cordon Bleu
• Grilled Pastrami Dogs
• Steak and Pork Un-Kabobs

Everyone at your Nest is going to love this mouth-watering BBQ as much as we did!

If I were you…I’d double that batch of sauce and keep the extra on hand for another day of grilling! It would be spectacular on just about anything your throwing down on the grill this summer.

Happy Nesting My Friends!

Cherry Dr. Pepper Grilled Chicken

Lip smacking, finger licking AMAZING Cherry Dr. Pepper BBQ Chicken. A summer treat that will have them coming back for more!

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 3 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Total Time 3 hours hrs 25 minutes mins

Servings 6 servings

Calories 904 kcal

Ingredients

  

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Cherry Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce

• 1- 12 oz can Cherry Dr. Pepper
• 1 Cup Ketchup
• 1 – 6 oz. can tomato paste
• 1 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp. Onion Powder
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. liquid smoke
• 1/2 tsp. Chili Powder
• 1 tsp. minced garlic

Chicken

• 1 whole chicken cut up OR 1 package of dark meat chicken cut up about 12 pieces of chicken
• Seasoning Salt to taste
• 1 tsp Paprika

Instructions

 

• In a large sauce pan add the Cherry Dr. Pepper, Ketchup, tomato paste, brown sugar, worcestershire sauce, onion powder, black pepper, liquid smoke, chili powder and minced garlic.
• Whisk together until well blended.
• Simmer over very low heat for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens and reduces by almost half.
• Cool.
• Keep in an air tight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Chicken

• Wash and dry chicken pieces. Place in a foil lined 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle with Seasoning salt and Paprika. Cover with foil. Bake in a 250° oven for 2-3 hours. Allow to cool completely before grilling. This will allow the meat to firm back up before placing it on the grill.
• Coat grill with oil.
• Heat grill to 300° or medium heat.
• Place chicken bottom side down. Brush chicken with BBQ sauce. Gently flip the chicken over and allow to lightly char. While the chicken is charring on the one side brush the bottoms with BBQ sauce. Flip and char that side and brush top with more BBQ sauce.
• Remove for Grill and place on platter.
• Serve immediately.

Nutrition

Serving: 2pieces of chickenCalories: 904kcalCarbohydrates: 63gProtein: 75gFat: 39gSaturated Fat: 11gPolyunsaturated Fat: 24gCholesterol: 275mgSodium: 736mgFiber: 3gSugar: 56g

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!