Garlic and Lemon Baked Chicken Legs – Easy Weeknight Meal

Remember when we were kids and Mom (or Dad) cooked up some chicken and you wanted to get that drumstick before your siblings? My mom made delicious fried chicken and sis and I would snatch the drumsticks before Mom and Dad could. Good thing their was only two of us so one for each and no drama at the dinner table. I still like the occasional drumstick but have not made fried chicken… just too greasy for me now. So this recipe is for garlic and lemon baked chicken legs that have some breading and do come out a bit crispy, but avoids the oil.

I like to call this my “grown up” fried chicken. Using fresh herbs, lemon and olive oil and rubbing it under the skin, it makes for a great baked chicken. It’s also easy for hubby right now. He’s due to have shoulder surgery and I need to come up with some “one arm” recipes that make it easy for him to eat.  I figure there’s nothing like drumsticks for that!

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Garlic and Lemon Baked Chicken Legs

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Serves	2
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	1 hour, 15 minutes
Total time	1 hour, 25 minutes
Allergy	Egg
Meal type	Main Dish, Snack
Misc	Child Friendly

This is my "gourmet fried" chicken recipe with lots of garlic and lemon for light flavor.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 Large cloves garlic (crushed)
• juice of 1/2 lemon (use a whole lemon if you like the flavor)
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley (chopped)
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro (chopped)
• 2 tablespoons dry white wine
• 4 Large chicken legs (skin left on)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 Large eggs (beaten)
• 1/3-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cup italian seasoned bread crumbs

Note

To make this a party snack, use small drummettes or chicken wings in place of the larger drumsticks.

Directions

Step 1

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Mix the olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, parsley, cilantro and wine in a small bowl.

Step 2

Using your thumb, separate the chicken skin from the meat of the drumstick and spread the olive oil mix under the skin coating the meat about 1-2 teaspoons per leg. Fold the skin back over the meat, sealing the marinade inside. Repeat with each drumstick. Season with salt and pepper.

Step 3

Mix any remaining marinade with the bread crumbs. If it's too wet, you can add additional breadcrumbs.

Step 4

In three separate trays, place the eggs, flour and breadcrumb mix. Dredge the legs in flour, then coat with egg then the breadcrumb mix. Place them into a 9x9 baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Spritz the coated legs with grape seed oil spray (or any other you have). Cover with foil and bake 1 hour. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes. Hint - if you're using smaller legs, reduce the initial baking time by 15 minutes.

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As you know, we put garlic is pretty much everything. I love the way garlic flavors my food. This one also has lemon and I only used half a lemon for the juice. Hubby doesn’t like a lot of lemon, but I sure do. For him, I used half as much as I would have if I was just making this for myself.

I think the best part of these baked chicken legs is that the breadcrumbs gave it a bit of crunch on the outside which really sealed the juices of the chicken on the inside. There is nothing I dislike more then shoe-leather-dry chicken.  Yuck.  Covering it during the baking process helps too.

This was very good and an easy meal that is kid friendly and delicious. Since it was a hectic weeknight, I skated on the side dishes and opened a box of mac n cheese and a can of green beans. I try to avoid as much processed foods as possible but sometimes timing doesn’t allow that. Oh well!

For more recipes for chicken and turkey, click below to visit my poultry Pinterest board
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I think this is now on my shortlist of ways to eat chicken drumsticks. What’s your favorite way?