Name: Crispy Baked Chicken Drumsticks
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 175 min
Ingredients: 8 Pieces Chicken Drumsticks; 5 Tablespoon Olive Oil; 3 Tablespoon Lime Juice (juice of one lime); 4-5 cloves Garlic (minced); 1 Medium Onion (minced); 2 Teaspoon Salt (or as per taste); ¼ Cup Soy Sauce; ⅔ Cup Brown Sugar; 2 Teaspoon Black Pepper; 1 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

Crispy Chicken Drumsticks coated with saucy marination tastes lip-smackingly good.

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Chicken Drumsticks - A Favorite recipe for all the Chicken lovers out there. Chicken drumsticks are marinated with a combination of essential spices such as soy sauce, garlic, onions, brown sugar, olive oil, and lime juice. Then baked at 425 degrees F or 220 degrees C for about 30-minutes and further flipped and baked for 10-minutes on the other side until completely cooked.

Your favorite Chicken recipe should be this Chicken Drumsticks. Well, I don’t really know about you, but, this is one of my favorite favorite favorite Chicken recipes out there.

Chicken Drumstick is a classic recipe that will always remain one of my top favorites. The crispy top hiding the juicy chicken within itself is more than appetizing for me. It is something that I make so often. This recipe is so easy that It didn’t even take me a lot of time to master it. And, today I can tell you that with utter confidence.

How to Make the Best Baked Chicken Drumsticks

First, start off with the marination. For the Marination, I use olive oil, lime juice, minced garlic, minced onions, salt, brown sugar, cayenne pepper, and soy sauce.

The marination is pretty easy to make. All we got to do is just mix the ingredients together. And then it's done. You can replace soy sauce with Worcestershire sauce if you want.

The reason for adding brown sugar instead of white sugar is that brown sugar creates a brownish texture over the chicken drumsticks. And, also infuses a beautiful caramel flavor in the drumsticks.

Once you have made your marination, coat your chicken drumsticks with it and let it sit in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours. The more time you give for the marination, the juicer your chicken drumsticks will be. If I have time I usually keep it covered in a zip-top bag overnight. It gives my chicken pieces way enough time to get all the flavors of the marination.

Then all we got to do is just baking the chicken drumsticks.

For baking them I usually preheat my oven to 425-degree F or 220 degree C and place them on a large baking sheet greased with cooking spray or oil. They get ready in about 30-minutes. After 30-minutes, I prefer flipping them over and baking the other side for about 10-12 minutes or more (you know how your oven can be tricky at times, so keep an eye on your food and not on your clock) until its completely cooked and sizzling on the top.

And, that’s it. That is how you make Baked Chicken Drumsticks.

Let’s talk a bit about taste

Taste-wise they are lip-smackingly good. The saucy top with the crispy chicken beneath it, whose every bite feels like an ultimate delight. They have a beautiful crispy, crusty coating which makes the chicken drumsticks taste even better. For me, the best part is the saucy marination covering the drumsticks and the crispiness of the drumsticks. These two are like my ultimate thing which I look for in my chicken drumsticks.

How long should we bake the Chicken Drumsticks?

From my experience, a temperature of 425 Degrees F or 220 degrees C is enough to bake your chicken leg pieces to perfection. But, you got to be patient. Sometimes it takes 33 minutes or 35 minutes to cook thoroughly. Also, flipping them once is very important so that your chicken pieces are completely cooked. So, if you count you need a total of about 45 minutes (30 minutes for one side + 15 minutes for the other side) to bake your chicken drumsticks in the oven.

What should be the temperature of Chicken Drumsticks?

Well, if you want to be a nerd about this, then I am not gonna judge you. Your chicken should reach an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees F or 73.8 degrees C. That is when you know that your chicken drumsticks are ready to be eaten. You can use your meat thermometer to check the temperature.

What Do I Serve with Drumsticks?

Mashed Potatoes goes like a charm with these crispy, crusty, chicken drumsticks.
You can also serve this with some parmesan roasted carrots
Roasted green beans with some lemon juice is an excellent side for this recipe.

A Little Story about my first experience with Chicken Drumsticks

This is funny. The first time I had drumsticks was at a restaurant where they call it – Drums of Heaven. My vivid imagination swiftly knit a story where I thought – it’s a bluish open space with lots of smoke everywhere. And there are some large drums. Since it is heaven, so the drums are huge. And then there are these long drumsticks. When the drumsticks hit the drums it creates brilliant, bombastic music that is so powerful that we earthly beings feel it in the form of thunderstorms.

However, while waiting there weaving this story in my mind the waiter appears with my drums of heaven and I look at those crispy, crusty chicken pieces as if they are the best thing in the world. Suddenly all my stories take the backseat and all I am doing right now is digging into the flavors of this juicy chicken drumsticks.

The crispy, crusty top coated with a spicy sauce and minced garlic was welcomed like a charm by my taste buds. They were like the welcome drink that you are served when you reach your hotel room. The chicken that followed was like opening your ultra-comfy hotel room and staring at those stainless white sheets, comfy pillows, large bathrooms, and everything else.

Now, let's see the complete recipe for Baked Chicken Drumsticks below.