Herb & Garlic Chicken Drumstick Recipe - Dishing Delish (2024)

FAQs

How does Gordon Ramsay cook chicken drumsticks? ›

Heat the oven to 400F. Lightly oil a large baking dish. Season the drumsticks with salt and pepper and arrange in the dish in a single layer. Drizzle over a little olive oil and bake in the hot oven for 20 minutes.

Baked chicken legs and thighs often come out of the oven pale and with unpleasantly wet skin. One way to alleviate that problem and to ensure that your chicken comes out of the oven crispy and golden-brown is to sear the chicken legs and thighs in a skillet before you bake them.

Using a really sharp knife, slice one area on the drumstick from top to bottom all the way down to the bone. Pull apart the two sides of the slice and begin separating the meat from the bone so that the chicken drumstick is flayed open and flat.

Low Temperature: Baking chicken at too low a temperature can result in a lack of crispiness. To achieve crispy chicken skin, bake the chicken at a higher temperature, typically between 375°F to 425°F (190°C to 220°C), depending on the recipe and the size of the chicken pieces.

We have found that baking chicken drumsticks at 400°F gives the best results for juicy, moist dark meat with crispy skin. You'll know they are done when they reach an internal temperature of 165°F when tested with a digital meat thermometer in the thickest part of the drumstick without touching the bone.

Can you cook chicken with butter instead of oil? You have to cook chicken at a lower temperature if you bake or pan-fry chicken using butter instead of oil. This is because butter has a lower scorching temperature. Your chicken will cook more slowly, but it's also likely to be juicier and full of more flavor.

Always use oil. You could add some butter for flavoring, just a bit, but the temperature required to cook chicken means you need oil with a high smoke point.

It's easy to throw in an Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup or shred it in Healthy Chicken Enchiladas. Rubbery chicken is usually an indicator of overcooked chicken. The longer the chicken cooks, the more moisture it loses, and without moisture, the protein fibers become elastic, AKA rubbery.

Tips for the Best Oven-Baked Chicken Drumsticks

High temperature: Baking at 425°F means a deep, golden brown exterior, with a juicy, tender interior. Use a rack: Allows for hot air to circulate around the drumsticks, leaving no spot soggy or underdone.

How do you prepare drumsticks for cooking? ›

Use a shallow bowl as it's easier coat the chicken legs in the seasoning. Coat drumsticks in oil – The oil makes the seasoning stick to the chicken as well as helping the skin go nice and brown as it bakes. I find it's easiest to rub it all over using my hands to ensure each drumstick is well-coated.

Dry the chicken first with paper towels. It helps to then coat it with a thin layer of flour, then in well-beaten egg whites which will help the coating stick. Then coat with breading and press on it lightly to help it stick. Finally, let it sit , perhaps on a rack, to dry a few minutes before cooking.

Chicken skin holds in moisture during cooking. Unfortunately, most of the saturated fat in chicken is found just beneath the skin. Cooking chicken without the skin — especially white chicken — can make it very dry.

Don't Soak Chicken in a Brine

The soaking chicken in brine leads to the meat being wet and soggy. This then leads to the chicken skin being soft and not crispy, which can also make the skin rubbery. Alternatively, try dry brining. Applying salt the day before will enhance the chicken's flavor.

How long to bake Chicken Drumsticks in Oven. Typically it takes around 40-45 minutes to bake medium drumsticks at 425°F, although if your oven cooks hot or the drumsticks are on the smaller side they might be done sooner than that.

Bake until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion of the leg registers 165°F, 35 to 40 minutes. Rest 5 minutes; serve warm.

It is very important to marinate chicken whenever you plan to cook with high, direct heat such as grilling or pan searing, as these techniques tend to dry out the meat as it cooks. A marinade is an acidic solution that gets a head start on breaking down the structure of a protein before it is cooked.