Laura Beth Drilling/Demand Media
Chicken legs make for a fast, nutritious and tasty meal. They often come frozen, and defrosting the chicken legs can take a long time. One way to save time is by safely cooking the legs by baking them in the oven from frozen. This saves you the trouble of defrosting the legs, although there are some important points to keep in mind, namely the proper cooking temperature and seasoning the meat well.
Cooking Frozen Chicken
Laura Beth Drilling/Demand Media
Chicken left out to thaw is an ideal breeding ground for bad bacteria. One way to mitigate this risk is to cook the chicken legs from frozen because the meat cooks while it is thawing. Cooking chicken legs from frozen is especially convenient if you only need to cook a small amount such as one or two legs. Thawing the chicken legs prior to cooking them may often be more trouble than it is worth. Cooking chicken legs from frozen does, however, take longer. To do so requires at least 50 percent more cooking time if not more.
Seasoning Frozen Chicken
Laura Beth Drilling/Demand Media
Chicken legs should not be coated or seasoned in a frozen state. If chicken legs are seasoned while they are frozen, the meat will not absorb the flavors and aromatics that you are trying to add to the dish. Season or coat the legs with a marinade or dry rub prior to freezing the meat. If you are pressed for time and did not season the legs before freezing, partially defrost the legs by heating them in the microwave for one to two minutes on the defrost setting. This thaws the exterior of the leg while keeping the interior frozen. Coat the legs with seasonings -- the legs may not coat as evenly -- and immediately bake them.
Bake Chicken Legs
Laura Beth Drilling/Demand Media
Frozen chicken legs can be baked as is or with other liquids and seasonings. This second option is especially useful if you are not able to season the legs before freezing. Heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Put the frozen legs in an oven-safe pan along with any liquid, seasonings or root vegetables. A good blend is olive oil, crushed garlic, oregano, marjoram and lemon juice. Add potato and carrot pieces as you like. For less fuss, you may use a mix of white wine, Dijon mustard and minced garlic. Place the pan with the chicken in a center rack and cook for 50 to 60 minutes. Skin-on chicken legs self-baste so leave the legs untouched until they are cooked.
Checking for Complete Cooking
Laura Beth Drilling/Demand Media
Use an instant-read thermometer to test chicken for doneness as only a thermometer ensures an accurate reading. Chicken is safe to eat when the internal temperature is 165 degrees Fahrenheit at the thickest part of the leg; do not touch the bone when taking a reading. When cooked, chicken turns white and firms up and the juices run clear. However, in young chickens, the meat near the bone may stay pink when fully cooked. The veins in the legs also sometimes leak dark-colored blood, even though the meat is fully cooked.
References
Writer Bio
David Grimes has worked professionally as a chef since 2002, in settings as wide-ranging as a corporate caterer and as a sous chef in a Michelin-starred French restaurant. He has been writing about food since 2009 and published in "Time Out New York" and "Food and Wine" magazine.
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These are Chicken Legs, oven-baked, and cooked ’til tender, moist, and juicy. A homemade crust is rubbed on the legs and marinated overnight. So, so good.
When you go to your grocery stores, in the meat section, you can’t help but notice how cheap chicken legs are compared to chicken breast. The difference is staggering! It’s because the chicken legs are considered less healthy than chicken breast. To be honest, I don’t really care. All I know is that I love the moistness of the chicken legs and when they are baked in the oven, they always come out really juicy.
I love chicken thighs too… they are at the same level as my favorite the chicken leg.
Sure, there are several ways of cooking chicken leg. I made it into Filipino Adobo before but I like cooking chicken legs in the oven. The ease of just rubbing this homemade chicken leg rub, arranging them in the pan, and baking them just alleviate my mom’s stress.
HOW DO YOU BAKE CHICKEN LEGS?
- Put the chicken leg in a big bowl and drizzle in the homemade rub.
- Make sure to rub the spice under the skin and other crevices of the meat.
- Cover the bowl and marinate overnight.
- You can use zip loc instead of a bowl,too.
- When ready, line chicken legs in a baking pan.
- Preheat oven to 350 F and bake the chicken.
- Bake the chicken legs for 40 minutes on one side and flip the chicken leg.
- And bake for 20 more minutes.
- To make sure, use a meat thermometer to test the doneness of the chicken.
WHAT TEMPERATURE SHOULD I COOK THE CHICKEN
Arrange chicken in a baking pan and bake at 350 F preheated oven.
HOW LONG TO BAKE THE CHICKEN LEG AT 350 F, 385 F, 400 F
Bake chicken legs until internal meat temperature reaches 165 F. You can bake the chicken until 185 F. This takes about 40 minutes on one side and 20 more minutes on the other side.
WHAT PART OF THE LEG SHOULD I POKE MY THERMOMETER?
Put /poke the thickest part of the leg – not touching the bone.
WHAT MEAT THERMOMETER TO USE?
A meat thermometer is important to make sure that the chicken leg is done. You can use any meat thermometer available in your store. You can even use the cheaper ones which are only about $2.00.
SHOULD I BAKE FROZEN CHICKEN OR THAW IT?
Place frozen chicken leg in a pan covered with foil. Spray nonstick oil and line chicken leg. Bake frozen chicken leg for about 60 minutes or when the internal temperature reaches 180 F.
Chicken Leg Rub Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons thyme
- 2 tablespoons Onion Powder
- 2 tablespoons, Garlic Powder
- 2 teaspoons, Paprika
- juice of 1 lemon
FOR MORE CHICKEN RECIPES:
- Honey Garlic Chicken Thigh
- Homemade Chicken Gyros
- Chicken Satay
Baking Pan
Tin foil
Oven
CHICKEN RUB INGREDIENTS
- 2 tablespoons Thyme
- 2 tablespoons Onion Powder
- 2 Garlic Powder
- 2 teaspoons Paprika
- 2 tablespoons Olive oil
- 1 Lemon, juice of 1 lemon
- 4.5 lbs chicken legs
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons pepper
MARINATING THE CHICKEN LEGS
Place chicken in a bowl and add in the rest of the ingredients.
Cover bowl and marinate the chicken legs overnight
When the chicken are ready, preheat oven at 350 F.
Check the internal temperature of the meat by poking the thickest part of the meat with the meat thermometer. Make sure that the thermometer is not touching the bones.
The chicken leg is done when the internal meat temperature is at 165 F. This is about a total of 60 minutes of baking.