Description
This easy and flavorful Baked Chicken Legs recipe yields perfectly crispy and juicy drumsticks seasoned with a blend of garlic, onion, paprika, and spices. Ideal for a simple weeknight dinner or meal prep, these chicken legs bake in the oven until golden brown with irresistibly crispy skin.
Ingredients
Scale
Chicken
- 8 skin-on chicken drumsticks (approx. 2 pounds total weight)
Seasoning & Oil
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon sea salt (reduce to 1 teaspoon if preferred less salty)
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon smoked or sweet paprika
- 1 tablespoon dry mustard (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper to catch drippings and make cleanup easier.
- Mix spices: In a small bowl, combine garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, sea salt, black pepper, and dry mustard if using. Use a fork to blend all the spices thoroughly.
- Combine oil and spices: Add the olive oil to the spice mixture and stir to create a seasoning oil blend that will coat the chicken evenly.
- Prepare the chicken: Allow the chicken drumsticks to come to room temperature for even cooking. Pat them dry using paper towels to ensure the skin crisps properly.
- Coat the chicken: Using a pastry brush or your hands, evenly coat each chicken leg with the seasoning oil mixture, making sure every part of the drumstick is covered.
- Arrange on baking sheet: Place the coated chicken legs in a single layer on the foil-lined baking sheet, ensuring some space between each piece for even baking.
- Bake: Bake the chicken legs on the middle rack for 30 minutes at 400 degrees F.
- Brush and continue baking: After 30 minutes, brush the chicken legs with the oil that has collected on the baking tray. Return them to the oven and bake an additional 5-10 minutes until the skin is crispy and the internal temperature reaches at least 165 degrees F.
Notes
- You can substitute chicken drumsticks with bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs or whole chicken legs (quarters) for this recipe.
- For extra crispy skin, thoroughly pat dry the chicken before applying the oil and spices to remove moisture.
- Feel free to customize the seasoning with blends like Cajun, lemon pepper, Old Bay, barbecue, or jerk seasoning to suit your taste preferences.
- This recipe can be adapted for air frying by reducing olive oil to 1 tablespoon, tossing the chicken with seasoning, spraying lightly with olive oil spray, and cooking at 400 degrees for 10 minutes on each side in the air fryer basket.
- Do not cover the chicken while baking as the skin needs to brown and crisp rather than steam.
- Use a meat thermometer to ensure chicken reaches a safe internal temperature of 165 degrees F to avoid undercooking or overcooking.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 drumsticks (approximately 100g)
- Calories: 290
- Sugar: 0g
- Sodium: 600mg
- Fat: 20g
- Saturated Fat: 4g
- Unsaturated Fat: 15g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 2g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 25g
- Cholesterol: 110mg
