Description
Easy to make Crispy Panko-Crusted Baked Chicken Legs made with just a few simple ingredients – so crispy you won’t believe it’s not deep fried. If you don’t have the time to make fried chicken, this chicken leg recipe is here to save your bacon!
Ingredients
Scale
- 2.5 to 3 pounds chicken legs (about 8)
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup original Panko bread crumbs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil or parchment and set a wire baking rack inside the pan.
- In a small bowl, mix together the salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and smoked paprika.
- Use the spice mixture like a meat rub and rub it all over the chicken legs.
- In a shallow dish, add the eggs and beat well. In a second shallow dish, add the Panko bread crumbs.
- Dip one chicken leg in the egg mixture coating completely then dip it in the bread crumbs, coating completely.
- Set the coated drumstick on the wire rack in the prepared pan.
- Repeat with remaining chicken legs, keeping them from touching as you set them on the rack.
- Bake for 1 hour or until the centers of the biggest chicken legs register 165 degrees F.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
- New to smoked paprika? It’s adds great depth of flavor and richness that’s hard to mimic. Finding it is worth the effort (and it’s great in Mexican dishes, too).
- Baking the chicken on a wire rack is the key to the crispy outside (it cooks evenly all around and isn’t sitting in its own juices). If you don’t have a wire wrack, you can bake the chicken directly on the pan though your results won’t be quite as awesome.
- If you have time, letting the chicken rest with the spice rub on it for a half hour is great.
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American