Best Oven Baked Easy Chicken Leg Recipe – Shared over 250,000 times!
Updated Apr 30, 2025
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This simple 5-ingredient recipe is seriously the BEST Chicken Leg Recipe! Sweet, tangy, and perfectly sticky, these baked drumsticks are a huge hit and this recipe has been shared over 250,000 times!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The sauce was so easy but so tasty! Sweet and tangy and perfectly sticky once it set for a few minutes. This was perfect for a quick and simple meal.
–Hannah
My 2 Best Tips For This Baked Chicken Leg Recipe
- Pick the Right Pan: You will need a pan with sides to keep in all the juice and sauce and big enough that the sauce spreads out so the chicken isn’t drowning in it. My pan is 11×15 inches, and it’s just right. The legs will caramelize best if half of the chicken is poked out of the sauce while cooking!
- Flip Halfway Through Baking: After the chicken legs cook for 45 minutes, take the pan out of the oven and flip the meat over so that the bottom that was in the sauce is now on top out of the sauce. This will make sure all of the meat, top and bottom, are sauce-y and sticky and oh, so good!
🩷 Melissa
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!
Oven Baked Easy Chicken Leg Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°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°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
- Sweet and Spicy Baked Chicken Legs
- Lemon Garlic Baked Chicken Legs
- 4-Ingredient Honey Mustard Baked Chicken Legs
Nutrition
Recipe FAQs
This really just depends on how you’re cooking it. I like to start with a preheated 350° oven and bake the chicken for 45 minutes, rotate the legs, raise the heat to 425°, 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.
More Easy Chicken Recipes to Try
Pasta Dishes
Creamy Chicken and Vegetable Baked Pasta
Soups, Stews & Chowders
White Chicken Chili
Chicken Recipes
Kung Pow Chicken
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
Trying it tonight. Looks easy and delicious enough without a million different ingredients and steps to go through.
Quick, simple, and easy are always a great idea. Hope you liked them!
I think i have a new favorite meal. Lol.
Then I’m doing my job 🙂 Thank you for leaving a great review Kristen!
So yummy but it burned pretty badly. Maybe because I took the skin off. The chicken was only burned on the bottom and ends but the sauce in the edges of the pan was crispy. I think my pan is toast!! Should I reduce cooking time or the oven temp.? The unburned parts of the chicken was SO GOOD though and I will be trying this again until it’s perfected! So easy and so yummy!
Maybe your pan was larger than the pan I used (meaning the sauce would have spread out more and so burnt over time?). I’m so glad you liked it. I think just next time I would line the pan with foil to avoid the burnt and cook it for a lesser amount of time! Let me know how it goes!
I tried it an it was delicious an yes I will try the others my family loved it thank you.
So glad you liked it Sarah! So easy huh?! What did you serve it with? I always like to hear what people eat with their chicken legs!
Tried this recipe it’s very easy to make a super delicious
what a great recipe ??
it was a good recipe….
Yummy can’t wait to try it
Excellent, very tasty and easy-thank you!
Glad you liked it Pete, thank you for the 5-star review. It’s helpful for me and other readers!
WOW! Epic win tonight with this recipe! So happy I come across it. My family all agreed its a make again. I prepared as indicated in the recipe. So awesome! Thank you!!
Whooohooo! So glad you liked it, hope you make it time and time again!