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)
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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.
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When ready to bake, preheat oven to 425°.
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Place the chicken in a large bowl, with all the spices, and then drizzle with oil.
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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.
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Bake chicken legs until cooked through and skin is crispy, about 45-50 minutes-rotate chicken legs half way through-roughly 20 minutes.
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Remove and serve with your favorite chicken sauce or african pepper sauce
Would it still be successful if I use chicken drumsticks instead of chicken legs?
Hello Anna. Chicken drumsticks and chicken legs are actually the same thing. Let me know how it turns out!
Hi,
I keep meaning to comment on this recipes. I printed it on 2/24/2017 and I’ve probably made it 50 times. As a matter of fact, just made it again for friends. Everyone enjoys it and almost all request the recipe. Hands down, the best chicken leg recipe I’ve ever had and I’ve been all over the U.S.A. and the world. Thanks much for posting the recipes. I make it just as written, to include air drying in the refrigerator, and it never fails.
Cheers,
Bradford
Thank you so much Bradford. This is one of my favorites too! Happy to know you love it!
I’ve made this chicken more than once, and I highly recommend. With or without a wire rack, it’s a hit at my house! Will continue to make!
Thank you! Glad you like it!
This is a big hit at our house!
Used no wire but sprayed my foil with olive oil spray. Also, on ‘washing’ I just rinsed each leg under water faucet, then laid on kitchen towel. Dried them then threw in huge bowl and sprinkled on seasoning and tossed till covered. Sprinkled a bit of olive oil around. Arranged on foil then in the oven. Looking forward to supper!
Thank you for this recipe!
Tonight is our fourth time to cook them.
They were delicious but I seasoned mine separately and then sprinkled oil on them and tossed. But it smokes very bad in the oven and smoked up the whole house. What did I do wrong? 425 like it said
If you don’t have the wire rack, will it still come out crispy? Making this tonight!
Yes, you can still get a great texture without a rack. I’ve made these without a rack and they were amazing. I made sure to flip them more than once, and oiled the chicken before flipping it so it wouldn’t stick to the tinfoil. This is one of our favorite recipes. 😉
Super good and super easy!
It could have been the oil too much..if it drips in pan and heats up too high it causes smoke olive oil..she used canola oil..
I made this last night and BABBBBBYYY!!!! My kids and I fucked it up!!!!! You hear me! My son didn’t smother his chicken in barbeque sauce for the first time which makes me think prior to this recipe my chicken was no good. Lol
I’m a newly minted bachelor and this is the first time trying this! So easy and delicious Thanks!
In 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
How do you wash your chicken?
First word on the directions said “wash”
with chicken wash
Whatever you do, don’t use soap! You can laugh but I’ve heard of that happening!
Lemon juice is great!
Absolutely delicious! And sooo easy!
Can other pieces of chicken be used? Breasts, Thighs, Wings?
Yes, you can. Please refer to this recipe as well >>> https://www.africanbites.com/baked-crispy-chicken-thighs/
These were delicious! I cooked them from frozen and they turned out great. Will definitely be making these again.
Awesome ! Thanks for sharing this with us Maryam. Now I can confidently try it cause it works .
I just made these today and they were crispy and flavorful. Thank you for sharing. From New York
MaryAnn How long did you bake them from frozen?
I added 5-10 more minutes , delicious . Keep an eye after the 40 minutes because every oven is different though