Is This Decades-Old BBQ Chicken Recipe the Best Ever?

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BBQ and hot debates go together like chicken and sauce. Speaking of those southern staples, there's a decades-old chicken recipe for making chicken over a hot grill and many in (whispers) upstate New York, where it originates, consider it the gold standard for BBQ chicken.

I'm talking about Cornell chicken, a grill recipe based on some lofty food science developed by inventor and Cornell University poultry professor Robert C. Baker. To make it, all you'll need is chicken, apple cider vinegar, oil, spices and somewhere to cook it, preferably over hot coals.

Baker wrote the proverbial book on barbecue chicken, according to many, after extensive recipe testing back in the 1950s. He was unhappy with the bland state of American cuisine, and created this recipe to help serve tasty food en masse at large cookouts.

"Cornell chicken," as it's known, is beautifully simple and remains one of the most lauded chicken marinades and summer cookout recipes. You'll find Cornell chicken served at restaurants, particularly in upstate New York where the university is located, family picnics, food fairs and festivals across the country.

bbq chicken — Baker is a Northeast barbecue legend.
Cornell.edu

Cornell chicken is backed by some heady food science. It utilizes one unusual element, a beaten egg, to add a creamy coating and let the chicken skin crispy without burning. There's also poultry seasoning for depth of flavor and vinegar to add a sour tang and help the marinade penetrate the flesh. Most recipes succeed when they have balance or "bloom," and Cornell chicken is a prime example of simple elements combining to form a perfect union.

If you're wondering how to make Cornell chicken, it's easy -- use just five ingredients and a similar cooking method to traditional barbecue chicken. This chicken marinade is vinegar-based so it is more akin to a Carolina style than the sweet Kansas City or St. Louis styles. Baker suggests using a charcoal grill to keep unwieldy flames from cooking the skin unevenly.

The barbecue chicken recipe is about as simple as it gets. Baker's cooking technique is a little more meticulous.
Cornell.edu

How to make perfect Cornell chicken

Ingredients

Bone-in chicken pieces
1/2 cup vegetable cooking oil
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1.5 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 beaten egg
Salt and pepper to taste

chicken in bowl being marinated — Let the marinade do its thing for at least three hours.
David Watsky/CNET

Directions

Step 1: Beat the egg. Add oil and beat again.
Step 2: Whisk together all the ingredients in a bowl.
Step 3: Add chicken pieces and toss to coat. Refrigerate for at least three hours and up to 24 hours.
Step 4: Place coated chicken on a medium-high grill (Baker suggests charcoal) and reserve any leftover marinade.
Step 5: Cook for 15 to 20 minutes flipping and basting the chicken with leftover sauce every five minutes. Basting should be light at first and grow heavier toward the end of cooking.
Step 6: Cook until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F.

chicken being grilled over chafcoal — Baker recommends a charcoal grill but gas works fine too.
David Watsky/CNET

Can you make Cornell chicken in an air fryer?

Yes, and I did. I put half of my batch in the air fryer and the other half over a hot flame the way Baker intended. Both methods worked well. The grill gave me a slightly more caramelized char while the air fryer was faster and there was less to clean up.

diagram of how to build a fireplace — Baker included instructions on how to build a fire pit but you can opt for a charcoal or gas grill and get similar results.
Cornell.edu

Can you use any chicken for Cornell chicken?

Baker's original recipe calls for broilers (small whole chickens) but this recipe can be applied to any bone-in, skin-on chicken. You can use boneless, skinless chicken, but you won't get that coveted crispy skin that Baker's Cornell chicken recipe aces.

As it turns out, some forum users have even experimented with using the Cornell chicken cooking recipe on wings -- to pretty immediate success. One user from the r/Wings subreddit shared their successful Cornell chicken wings, after using the same basic six-step process included in Baker's original recipe.

If you don't feel like making this sauce, these are the best bottled barbecue sauces we've tried.

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Cornell chicken FAQs

What is the most important ingredient for Cornell chicken?

Aside from the obvious -- the bone-in chicken -- the apple cider vinegar is perhaps the most important part of the Cornell chicken marinade. It adds a unique "tang" and a depth of flavor that defines Baker's BBQ recipe. Adding the egg also allows the skin to crisp over, adding a great texture to bite into.

In a deep dive into online discussions on Cornell chicken, I found multiple testimonies in a thread on the r/Wings subreddit that Chiavetta's Barbecue Marinade is based on the Cornell chicken recipe, and is a fantastic store-bought alternative marinade to provide similar results.