How to Oven-Bake Chicken Legs and Chicken Quarters

How to Bake Chicken Legs

While cooking a whole chicken is not always practical, baking chicken legs is definitely a weeknight solution. A chicken leg, also called a hindquarter, is made up of one thigh and one drumstick that are joined together. The thigh is the upper part of the leg and the drumstick is the lower part. Both are dark meat. These whole chicken legs are inexpensive, versatile, meaty, and moist. Plan on one leg per person

Tip: To reduce fat and calories, you can skin chicken legs. Bake the chicken with the skin on to keep it moist. Cool slightly and pull the skin off, starting at the thigh end. Have a kitchen shears or knife handy to snip off the skin if needed

:Chicken Leg Recipes

Green Onion Chicken

Oven-Barbecued Chicken

Gwen's Fried Chicken by Trisha Yearwood

:Prepping the Legs

There's little that you have to do other than to place the chicken skin side up in a 15x10x1-inch baking pan or shallow roasting pan. Seasoning can be as simple a light brushing of olive oil with salt and pepper

To add a seasoning under the skin : Carefully slide your fingertips between the meat and skin of each chicken piece to loosen the skin from the meat. Spread your favorite spice rub between the two layers and drizzle the rest on top of the chicken.

Do not have a favorite spice rub? Here's our suggestion:

1 lemon, squeezed

Finely shredded lemon peel

  3 cloves minced garlic

1 1/2 teaspoons crushed fennel seed

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Combine all in small bowl and stir

:Baking the Chicken

Preheat the oven to 400 ° F. Bake the chicken, uncovered, for 35 to 40 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink inside

You can bake the chicken legs in a 375 ° F. oven, if desired. Increase the baking time to 45 to 50 minutes

Tip: An accurate way to check chicken doneness is to insert an instant-read thermometer into the thigh, avoiding the bone. It should read 180 ° F when the chicken is done

Get the recipe for the chicken at left, or find the perfect chicken recipe just for you