Baked Crispy Chicken Legs – A few simple tricks makes this chicken legs crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside, and ridiculously flavorful. It’s quick, easy, paleo, gluten-free and only requires 10 mins prep.
Inspired by the success with this crispy baked chicken wings that I made here. I decided to give it a spin with chicken legs- same flavorful bite and crispy crunchy coating without the aid of breadcrumbs or flour.
Since chicken drumsticks are larger than wings, I included a generous amount of onion, garlic to compensate for it’s size- to fully permeate the chicken. I switched out the thyme for Italian herbs, you can use any other dried herbs that you have on hand.
The most important thing about these baked chicken drumsticks is ensuring that they are dry. The chicken legs need to be as dry as possible to crisp up the skin. 
Don’t forget to drizzle them with a little bit of canola oil and bake rotating the chicken legs half way through baking . For easy clean up, line the baking pan with foil paper.
Serve them up with this pepper sauce or any hot or dipping sauce of your choice.
Watch How to Make It
Baked Crispy Chicken Legs - A few simple tricks makes this chicken legs crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside, and ridiculously flavorful. It’s quick, easy, paleo, gluten-free and only requires 10 mins prep.
- 3 - 3 ½ pound chicken legs
- 1 Tablespoon Dried Italian herbs
- 1 ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ tablespoon onion powder
- 1 ½ tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon bouillon powder (you may replace with salt)
-
Wash chicken legs and place them on a cookie sheet in a single layer, then let them sit in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours or preferable overnight. Do not cover them; let the air-dry them out. You can omit this part and proceed with the spices.
-
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 425°.
-
Place the chicken in a large bowl, with all the spices, and then drizzle with oil.
-
Line a baking pan with foil; top with a wire rack. Arrange chicken legs out in a single layer. While the chicken legs are baking oil will slowly drip to the bottom of the baking pan.
-
Bake chicken legs until cooked through and skin is crispy, about 45-50 minutes-rotate chicken legs half way through-roughly 20 minutes.
-
Remove and serve with your favorite chicken sauce or african pepper sauce
Kim OBrien says
11 Jun, 2019 at 3:58 pmIn general i do not like chicken and there are very few receipes that make me change my mind but AWESOME…..this is definitely my go to chicken dinner, my family loves it and i love it. It is so easy and one where most people would have ingredients on hand
Laila says
7 Jun, 2019 at 4:35 pmHow do you wash your chicken?
Andrea Moon says
11 Jun, 2019 at 10:39 pmFirst word on the directions said “wash”
shawna says
29 May, 2019 at 7:01 pmAbsolutely delicious! And sooo easy!
Bob Raver says
28 May, 2019 at 12:09 pmCan other pieces of chicken be used? Breasts, Thighs, Wings?
imma africanbites says
30 May, 2019 at 1:35 amYes, you can. Please refer to this recipe as well >>> https://www.africanbites.com/baked-crispy-chicken-thighs/
Maryam says
25 May, 2019 at 9:29 amThese were delicious! I cooked them from frozen and they turned out great. Will definitely be making these again.
ImmaculateBites says
25 May, 2019 at 12:20 pmAwesome ! Thanks for sharing this with us Maryam. Now I can confidently try it cause it works .
Rebecca says
27 May, 2019 at 4:27 pmI just made these today and they were crispy and flavorful. Thank you for sharing. From New York
Pauline Velasquez says
5 Jun, 2019 at 12:21 pmMaryAnn How long did you bake them from frozen?