Learn how to bake chicken in the oven in three easy steps with my Easy, Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Drumsticks! Simple to whip up and so much healthier than frying, this will be your new go-to for dinner.
Growing up fried chicken was always a staple for dinner. I remember how much my grandma loved her fried chicken and mashed potatoes. She’d make it for dinner at least once a month, and the family would come running. What’s not to love? Crispy, crunchy, juicy and flavorful fried chicken is pretty much the bomb diggity of chicken.
Unfortunately, fried chicken isn’t exactly the healthiest, though not too bad in moderation. But if you’re like us and want to enjoy that crispy, juicy chicken more often, ey Easy Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Drumsticks recipe is the way to go.
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Tons of people who love my Crispy Baked Chicken Wings have asked how the recipe would translate to larger pieces, like drumsticks. Well I’m here to tell you it works and it is delicious! I didn’t change the recipe much other than increasing the ingredients to account for the larger pieces of chicken. I also swapped out the paprika for chili powder because it’s what I had available.
How to make Crispy Oven Baked Chicken in three easy steps:
- Coat chicken in flour/baking powder/seasonings.
- Use a wire baking rack oven a cookie sheet to ensure even crisping.
- Spray with butter flavor cooking spray before baking for that golden skin.
The coating is a simple mix of basic seasonings, flour and baking powder. You could easily swap out the seasonings I used for anything you like. If you have poultry seasoning on hand that would certainly taste (and small) amazing. I like to keep my recipes simple, not requiring a ton of steps, but for even juicier chicken you could soak the drumsticks for a couple of hours in buttermilk.
While the coating will help the chicken retain some crispiness, I sprayed my drumsticks with a butter based cooking spray to help them get nice and golden and crispy. Spraying them instead of coating them in butter helps to keep the calories and fat down which is always a plus, especially when you’re talking about fried chicken! (affiliate)
Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Drumsticks
Ingredients
- 4 pounds of bone in, skin on chicken
- 2/3 cup flour
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoons paprika
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 3/4 teaspoon pepper
- 3 tablespoons baking powder
- butter flavor non-stick cooking spray (affiliate)
- kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with foil and set a baking rack on top if you have one. If you don’t have a baking rack just spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.
- Pat chicken dry, leaving skin in tact, and set aside.
- In a large zip-top bag, combine flour, baking powder, salt, paprika and black pepper. Place the chicken in the bag a few pieces at a time and shake to coat. Set chicken pieces skin side down on the baking rack that has been placed on top of the baking sheet (or on the foil lined baking sheet that’s been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray). Place larger pieces toward the outside; pieces can be close together but should not touch. Spray pieces generously and evenly with butter flavored non-stick cooking spray.
- Bake in the preheated 425 degree oven for 45-50 minutes, turning over after 30 minutes. Spray again with the cooking spray after turning. Juices should be clear and temperature should register 165 degrees. If you are not happy with the color you can turn on the broiler for a few minutes, just watch closely to ensure the chicken doesn't burn.
- Cool slightly before serving.
For another easy baked chicken recipe, try this one:
Crispy Garlic Parmesan Baked Chicken
And for even more delicious baked chicken recipes, try these:
Woow… looks yummy! Gotta try it soon. Thanks for the recipe!
Holy smokes these came out crispy! Next time I’ll be more prepared and have buttermilk (and at least a couple extra hours) on hand, but I brushed these with a little homemade ‘hot chicken paste’ just after removing from the oven and they could not have turned out more terrific.
10 out 10!
So glad you enjoyed them!
Thanks a lot Kristin I cooked this at the fire station and it was a hit! Firehouse #28 loves your recipes.😍
Yay! So happy to hear you all enjoyed this recipe. Thank you all for your service!!
in the ingredient list you only list chili powder but in the directions you mention paprika… so do you use chili powder or paprika? I feel there’s a definite difference between tastes depending on what you use!
Good catch Carrie! I’ve used both, so when I wrote it I probably was thinking of both. I prefer paprika, but chili powder works great too.
Is there perhaps an alternative to the cooking spray? We don’t keep any in our house… any way around it?
You could skip it altogether, or brush a little olive oil on top. It just helps get the chicken crispy.
Thank you so much! I actually put a spray nozzle on our olive oil and they turned out great!
Decided to try this for dinner tonight and the drumsticks turned out great – really crispy and yummy! However I did notice some parts of the chicken tasted a bit powdery. Should I have shaken the flour off a bit before putting the pieces on the pan? I didn’t use cooking spray as suggested because I didn’t have any on hand but instead brushed olive oil. I’d love to do this recipe because it was gooood! TIA!
Hmmm… Not sure what went wrong. I used boneless breasts but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. No flavor at all. Went with the backup plan and applied bbq sauce and the family ate it up. I didn’t expect a crispy exterior but I thought the dredge would provide enough flavor. The only thing I can think of is that the ingredients list kosher salt seperatly from salt but no quantity. Was I supposed to add more salt?
Chicken drumsticks naturally have a lot more flavor because of the fat and bone. Boneless breasts would not come out the same. Try my Baked Chicken Breasts – they are to die for!