The Best Oven-Baked Chicken Legs
on Aug 07, 2017, Updated Aug 21, 2024
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This simple 5-ingredient recipe makes The Best Oven-Baked Chicken Legs I have ever had! (And the masses agree—this recipe has been shared over 250,000 times!) Pop these legs in the oven, and you’ll have a crispy chicken dinner!
Not only is this one of my kids’ favorite ways to enjoy chicken, but this recipe is also on its way to breaking the internet! For real. I knew it was delicious and easy, but after being shared more than 250,000 times and receiving oodles of reviews from people who’ve made it, I almost can’t believe how much you guys love this recipe!
The sauce is truly addicting. You’ll want it on fried rice, steamed veggies, and maybe even in a cup with a straw to drink it—it’s THAT good. Pair it with my Broccoli Cauliflower Salad recipe for an extra yummy side dish! I’d love to know if you try this recipe and love feedback, so leave a comment if you do!
{VIDEO} Make the Best Oven-Baked Chicken Legs
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- I love this simple and inexpensive cut of meat, and this recipe really makes it shine!
- I’m no stranger to excellent baked chicken legs. Try these: Sweet and Spicy Baked Chicken Legs, Lemon Garlic Baked Chicken Legs, and 4-Ingredient Honey Mustard Baked Chicken Legs.
- This recipe is a long-time favorite in our house and is highly adaptable to the slow cooker (hooray!!!). I slightly changed the portions (use 1/2 cup of ketchup, honey, and soy sauce), but it still tastes great. It’s a little less sticky, but it’s simple and flavorful.
Recipe Ingredients
- Chicken legs
- Honey
- Soy sauce
- Ketchup
- Garlic – cloves
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Baked Chicken Legs:
- Prep a baking dish by lining it with foil.
- Mix up your sauce.
- Place all the chicken legs in the dish and pour the sauce over the top.
- Bake and enjoy!
Recipe FAQs
This really just depends on how you’re cooking it. I like to start with a preheated 350-degree oven and bake the chicken for 45 minutes, rotate the legs, raise the heat to 425 degrees, and put them back for about another 15 minutes until the sauce is bubbly and everything looks caramelized. Turning the legs is key to getting the sauce on the “top” of the chicken legs!
Yep! Thighs and drumsticks are dark meat in chicken, and they usually have a much heartier, juicier flavor and more tender texture than white meat.
Because these guys are thick and saucy, you’ll want a sheet pan with high sides to keep all the juices in and large enough so the chicken isn’t drowning in the sauce. The chicken should stick out of the sauce while cooking to get the best-caramelized texture.
Expert Tips
- If you don’t have honey on hand, you can substitute it for your favorite jam that doesn’t have seeds. My favorites are peach and apricot jam for this recipe
- Lining your pan with foil makes clean-up much easier. I recommend it.
- The sauce the chicken cooks in is delicious over cooked rice and steamed or roasted vegetables (like broccoli and cauliflower) to round out the meal.
More Chicken Recipes to Consider
From Scratch Recipes
Chicken Brine
Chicken Recipes
Chicken and Biscuits
From Scratch Recipes
Lemon Pepper Chicken
Soups, Stews & Chowders
Classic Chicken Noodle Soup
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
Baked Chicken Legs Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 pounds chicken legs, (about 10 legs)
- 3/4 cup honey
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 heaping teaspoon of preminced garlic)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lay the chicken legs out in a foil-lined baking dish with high sides (the foil is to make clean up easier — it’s not essential but helps a whole lot). A high-sided sheet pan is the best option because it has sides to keep everything in, but it is big enough that the chicken isn’t drowning in the sauce. It will caramelize best if half of the chicken is poking out of the sauce while cooking.
- In a glass measuring cup, measure out the honey, soy sauce, and ketchup. Add the minced garlic, and stir. If the mixture doesn’t combine well, microwave it on high for 30 seconds and stir again. Pour the honey mixture over the chicken legs.
- Put the chicken legs in the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Take the chicken out of the oven, and rotate it so that the bottom that was in the sauce is now on top, out of the sauce.
- Put the legs back in the oven. Raise the heat to 425 degrees F., and bake until the sauce is bubbly and starts to caramelize on the chicken legs. This should take about 15 minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the oven, and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving. Serve the sauce the the chicken cooked in with the meal or over rice if you’d like.
Video
Notes
- A pan slightly larger than 9×13 inches with sides is the best option because it has sides to keep all the juice in but is big enough that the chicken isn’t drowning in the sauce. It will caramelize best if half of the chicken is poked out of the sauce while cooking. My pan is 11×15 inches, and it works best. If your pan is too large, though, your sauce will be too shallow, evaporate, and burn.
- I like to use a little meat thermometer to ensure the chicken is done – better safe than sorry!
- How to cook chicken legs in a slow cooker: Place all of the chicken legs in the bottom of a slow cooker (I have this slow cooker). Pour the sauce over the chicken legs. Slow cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 4 hours, until the largest piece of chicken registers 165 degrees F. on an instant read thermometer.
- This option is great for all the reasons the slow cooker is great. You can start it in the middle of the day and have dinner on the table without much hands-on work during the busy evening. Or you can get the slow cooker going, leave the house, and come home to dinner. This is great for working parents, Sunday dinner (it can cook while you are at church), or running kids to practices or lessons in the evening. This option leads to flavorful, moist chicken, but the outside and skin don’t crisp at all.
OMG. This was sooo easy and sooooo delicious!!! Thankyou!!!!
I will have to try this!!! It looks really good!!! Can we do this on the grill too?
Half the delight is cooking it in a bunch of liquid that starts to caramelize… I would cook it in a pan on the grill so that the chicken is still swimming the sauce while it’s cooking. Does that make sense? I think grilling the chicken and just brushing on the sauce might not work the same, but it’s totally worth a try in my book! Let me know how it turns out.
I cooked the sauce stovetop (with a little cornstarch for thickening) and brushed on like BBQ sauce on the grill. It was amazing!
Could I use this recipe on boneless skinless chicken breast? Tried it on chicken legs tonight and it was Delish.
Yes! Just adjust the cooking time since they won’t take nearly as long to cook.
So do you cook it in like a 9 x 13 pyrex or something like that? Like a cake-pan kind of thing? Not a cookie sheet, right?
Yep… I think mine is a little smaller than 9×13 but you for sure want sides on the pan bigger than a cookie sheet!
we do something almost identical except we add a little dried ginger to the sauce. My kids call it “Sticky Chicken” and are thrilled when it on our dinner menus!
I just made this and it was deelicious! I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs and did everything else as directed. I think it may be my go to baked chicken recipe from now on. Thanks for sharing!!
Good to know you loved it! I make it a few times a month because I always seem to have everything on hand 🙂
Exactly :o) The ingredients are so simple yet very flavorful when combined!
Haha I just commented today how this has become my go to recipe. I knew I had commented before. Again, an amazing tasting recipe!
Going to try these for dinner tonight, have two kids visiting who are VERY FUSSY eaters. Will let you know if it passes the fussy kids eaters test!
My kids LOVE chicken meat on the bone much more than a breast… which isn’t quiet what the average American likes! Hope it goes well 🙂
My husband and I loved it. So easy to make and delicious. I did add some sriracha to make it have nice spice. The sauce over rice was so good. Thank you for letting everyone know your recipe.
Thank you for coming back to leave a review! Happy chicken eating friend!
I absolutely love this dish! The first time my wife made this I walked into the kitchen and proclaimed how yummy it smelled. She then read to me the ingredients and I was a skeptic: ketchup, soy sauce, honey?
Well, I have to say this has become a staple weeknight dish and the leftovers are even tastier for lunch the next day. This chicken comes out with a sweet, garlicky, ooey-gooey, deliciousness that is just amazing.
Hi Melissa, I mad this for lunch today, and at first I was not likeing too much the sell of garlic and soy sause. Once it started cooking in about 30 minutes in to it, it started smelling a little better 🙂 but I was still not too sure about garlic and soy sauce. After I took a bite of the chicken I thought it was verry tastefully and verry good. Thank you for sharing ur recipes.
I’m so glad it turned out well. I’m a bit of a garlic nut so I’m glad it was ok for you too! Enjoy and thank you for commenting. I love feedback!
My sauce was good but runny not sticky, what happened?
ketchup and soy sauce are whole foods?! 😉
You don’t buy organic ketchup too??
Just call them condiments and feel better for shopping at Safeway! LOL WOW
Yummm these look delicious!! And they are crispy right? Our favorite wing place was just ruined because we went there and the wings were slimy… But this could very well replace it!
I would tell you no on the crispy… sticky and delicious yes, but not really crispy. I think you could pull them out of the sauce and bake them at the high temperature and get them crispy though! Let me know if you try them 🙂