Baked Crispy Chicken Legs – just a few simple tricks make 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 wing recipe 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.
How to Bake Chicken Legs?
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.Â
Furthermore, since chicken Legs s are larger than wings, I included a generous amount of onion, garlic to compensate for its size – to fully permeate the chicken. I switched out the thyme for Italian herbs or you can use any other dried herbs that you have on hand.
Other than that, you have nothing else to worry about ’cause making this Baked Crispy Chicken Legs is waaay easier than you think it is.
- First, carefully wash the chicken with running tap water, place them on a baking sheet pan in a single layer and let them dry in the fridge, uncovered, for a minimum of 3 hours.
- Next, season the chicken when ready to bake.
- Then arrange them in a wire rack in a single layer and pop it in the oven.
- Rotate the chicken legs half way through to ensure all sides are cooked.
How Long to Bake Chicken Legs?
Cooking times for baked chicken legs definitely vary, depending on the oven temperature, heating capability of your oven and whether the chicken comes straight out of the fridge or at room temperature. But what works perfectly for me is when I bake bone-in chicken legs at 425°F (218°C) for about 40-45 minutes while rotating the chicken legs halfway through – roughly after 20 minutes of cooking. Just remember, the higher the temperature, the crispier the chicken gets.
Tip: If cooking at 375°F, cook chicken legs at about 45-55 minutes while if at 350°F, bake the chicken for about 50- 60 minutes.
What Temperature are Chicken Legs Done?
But with all those being said above, you still want a 100% guarantee cooked chicken meat, using a meat thermometer would be a big help. According to the USDA, the safe internal temperature of a cooked chicken should be at 165 °F (74°C). Make sure though that you don’t hit a bone when checking the temp or you’ll get an off reading.
What Should I Serve with Chicken Legs?
Oh there are countless of ways to serve up this chicken. Our go-to when entertaining or during picnics is with this African Pepper Sauce. For dinner, we usually serve it with either of the following:
- Steamed or roasted veggies (like this Roasted Red Potatoes)
- Scalloped Potatoes
- Twice-baked Potatoes
- Black Beans and Rice
- Easy Pasta Salad
- Southern Baked Beans
More Easy Chicken Recipes
Paprika Chicken Legs (with video)
Yassa Chicken (with video)
Oven Baked BBQ Chicken (with video)
Don’t forget to drizzle them with a little bit of canola oil and bake rotating the chicken legs halfway through. 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.
How To Make Baked Crispy Chicken Legs
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 them dry out. You can omit this part and proceed with the spices.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 425°F. Place the chicken in a large bowl, with all the spices.
Then drizzle with oil.
Line a baking sheet 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
Watch How to Make It
Baked Crispy Chicken Legs
Ingredients
- 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)
Instructions
- 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°F.
- 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
Tips & Notes:
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Nutrition Information:
Monica says
I have been trying to make drumsticks for years I can never get the flavor into the meat and when it’s baking in the oven the skin always peels back and it looks like the seasoning comes off the meat because it’s pale while its baking. Chicken has always been my downfall
Monica says
Doesn’t the olive oil make it wet again after drying or is it the water that makes the skin soggy
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Monica! It is the water that makes the skin soggy.
Jeanne says
I am gonna try these tonight. I did not come across this recipe soon enough for overnight drying, so I used a LOT of paper towels. I did not have smoked paprika, so had to forgo that spice. But it sounds like a spice I should get. I like the idea of the carrots cooking under the drippings. I may just have to try that, too! I will let you know how it goes 🙂
ImmaculateBites says
Carrots would be great, I tried a recipe with carrots together with chicken here, http://africanbites.com/?p=12538 . Can’t wait to hear the feedback!
T. lisa says
Hi, this recipe sounds and looks great. I want to try this tonight but, I don’t have dried Italian herbs on hand. Any recommendations for a good substitute, please?
ImmaculateBites says
Lisa. you can sub with any herbs you have on hand: oregano, thyme, rosemary and/or parsley. Please let me know what you decided. Thanks
Dolores Jones says
I have done the recipe it has become the family favourite. Now Lisa I will also try your way. Thank you very much
Daniel says
We are preppin’ these right now. They’ve been dry rubbed (mostly cayenne) and in the fridge drying, ready to cook in a couple of hours.
We’ve been marinating, and covering with BBQ sauce, then baking. They were tasty but usually were so burnt-lookin’ on the outside.
I think your recipe will be our solution. I can’t wait.
BTW, I’m also very impressed with the food photography on your site.
Thanks, Daniel.
ImmaculateBites says
Thanks Daniel,It sure is a great way to achieve crispness.Do let me know how it works for you. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Leandra says
Girl, this is sooo good. Thank you for this recipe and I will be checking out your other recipes!!!
ImmaculateBites says
SO lovely to hear that Leandra!!. Thanks for letting me know how they turned out!!
Larry Murray says
Prepared this tonight and followed your recipe exactly, and it is my new favorite entree. I don’t think this recipe can be improved on, it’s everything I love, savory, juicy, a little hot and full of flavor. Thank you for creating this dish, it’s sure to be a crowd pleaser.
ImmaculateBites says
Aww, thank you so much Larry.
Buzz says
Hi, great website. Got here by accident, looking for a good oven temp for Chicken Legs. Really nice recipes. I’m an old retired Guy, and like to make something different as often as possible. Until my Wife retires, then it’s her turn. 🙂 Anyway, I hope I can explain this without a picture, but, if you’ve ever used or seen a wire rack made for Beer Can Chicken, I thought it would be fun to use it this way. Take the rack and turn it upside down (no Beer Can involved). The legs of the rack are now on top. Mine has four supporting legs made from rounded metal with 4 circular loops. I know that may be hard to visualize, but let me go on anyway. OK, I used a different flavoring recipe I like, but, each leg will now fit into one of the holes on the rack. Insert each leg into the hole, and you’ve got a really neat upright holder for the legs when roasting. I hope that made sense. Find a pic of a Beer Can Chicken Rack and it should. I did 6 at a time. 1 in each hole, and two propped up on the side. They turned out great, and were well crisped all around. I will do this a lot. Thanks so much for a great website. I’ve never commented on one before. Cheers.
ImmaculateBites says
Buzz, I am honored that you took the time to comment and share your detailed tips with us. So greatly appreciated. I can wait to try out it. Thank you so much.Have a great retirement.
vicki says
I made this today and it was delicious! I used a huge pyrex dish and put 2 lb of cut up carrots in the bottom of the pan and put the baking rack on top. All the yummy drippings dropped onto the carrots! Carrots cooked this way, or with a roast, are one of my favorite veggies. Sooo good. The chicken wasn’t as crispy as I would’ve liked and that may be due to the moisture from the carrots. But the tradeoff was worth it.
kim taylor says
tried your method. after baking chicken dipped them in a mixture of franks hot sauce and melted butter. wow yummy. thanks
Elizabeth says
Thank you for this recipe. It was delicious! I followed it pretty closely and plan to make it again.
ImmaculateBites says
I glad you liked it Elizabeth and thanks for the feedback!
Lisa Jollee says
I’m drying them overnight right now! I can’t wait to make these tomorrow!
ImmaculateBites says
Lisa, let me know how you like it. Thanks for stopping by!
Jennifer says
This recipe was GREAT! I changed up the spices a little to make them more like garlic-parm. flavored instead of spicy but the result was wonderful! Crispy, crunchy skin with juicy flavorful meat. Do you think that using chicken breast with skin would turn out well cooked the same way? Thanks for the great recipe!
ImmaculateBites says
Jennifer, I have never tried this with chicken breast. Will have to experiment.. If you do try it reduce the cooking time breast tend to dry out quickly . Thanks for the feedback!
Donna says
Skin was crunchy, chicken moist. I will put less cayenne pepper and a bit less salt next time. Planning to mix up a few batches of the spices and keep for quick future meals.
ImmaculateBites says
Thanks for the feedback Donna
Claire says
Wow, this recipe was amazing! It’s now my husband’s and my favorite Sunday lunch recipe. The only modification I made was to drizzle a little olive oil on the chicken legs when they come out–our oven tends to dry things out too much. I serve the chicken with sides of quinoa, steamed veggies, olives, and strawberries and it’s an amazing meal. Thank you so much!!
ImmaculateBites says
Claire, thanks for feedback.. greatly appreciate it. I just love your choice of sides- very healthy.