These air fryer chicken legs with crispy skin and delicious dark meat have become my family's favorite chicken meal. With an easy homemade chicken seasoning, these will be ready in no time!
❤️ Why you'll love it
I'm convinced that the air fryer is one of the best ways to cook chicken. Every recipe comes out perfect, and even bone-in cuts like drumsticks and chicken thighs cook so quickly.
If you've got less than 30 minutes to prepare dinner, this winning chicken recipe is for you!
🥘 Equipment Used
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For this air fryer chicken legs recipe, you'll need an air fryer and tongs for flipping the chicken legs. My favorite air fryers are Ninja Air Fryer and Cosori Air Fryer. But you can use any air fryer that you already have.
🧾 Ingredients Used
- Chicken legs: It is best to use fresh or thawed chicken legs to ensure the meat can cook quickly without drying out.
- Olive oil: Any neutral cooking oil will do. I also like to use avocado oil as it can tolerate being heated to high temperatures very well.
- Chicken seasoning: My homemade chicken seasoning is the secret to this simple recipe, so don't skip it! It includes paprika, garlic powder, cayenne, parsley, onion powder, black pepper, and salt.
🔪 How To Make This Recipe
- Preheat the air fryer to 400F.
- Wash and pat dry the chicken with paper towels, then place them in a large bowl.
- Drizzle olive oil on the chicken legs and rub them all over with the spices.
- Arrange the chicken legs in the air fryer basket on a single layer. Do not overcrowd.
- Air fry for 20 minutes, flipping halfway.
- Add 2-3 minutes to each side if you have very large chicken legs.
🥫 Storing and Reheating
Store your leftover chicken drumsticks in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days. To reheat your air fryer drumsticks, you can place them back in the air fryer for about 2-5 minutes to heat up or microwave them for the same amount of time.
You can also cool your precooked chicken legs, seal them with a vacuum sealer, and freeze them for later.
💭 Tips and Variations
- Keep a batch of chicken seasoning around: This spice mix adds great flavor! I like to keep a batch in my spice cupboard to make this easy recipe any day of the week.
- Thaw your chicken legs: If you try to air fry frozen chicken legs, the outside will most likely dry out before the inside is fully cooked. For juicy chicken that cooks quickly, always work with thawed chicken legs.
- Temp your cooked chicken legs: A digital meat thermometer is a must for cooking chicken! Always take the internal temperature of the chicken at the widest section, usually next to the bone. Chicken is cooked when it reaches 165F.
🍽️ What can I eat this recipe with?
Turn this air fryer chicken drumsticks recipe into a complete meal by adding your favorite sides. You can eat it with:
- Keto Coleslaw Recipe
- Stir-Fried Brussels Sprouts
- Instant Pot Kale
- Sauteed Green Beans and Mushrooms
- Keto Cauliflower Potato Salad
- Instant Pot Broccoli
The best part is that all of these can be prepared while the chicken is in the air fryer. You can also enjoy this fried chicken with ranch dressing, hot sauce, bbq sauce, or buffalo sauce. Delish!
👩🍳 Frequently asked questions
Fresh or thawed drumsticks only need about 18-20 minutes in a preheated air fryer at 400 degrees F. Flip them halfway through the cooking time for crispy chicken legs.
The air fryer is a great kitchen appliance for cooking a variety of ingredients, including raw meats and chicken. Since the air fryer is essentially a miniature convection oven, you can cook almost anything in your air fryer.
Although air fryers require less oil than regular frying, it's still a good practice to add a little oil to your air fryer chicken recipes for two reasons. First, the oil will help the spices stick to the chicken so that every bite will be delicious. Secondly, the oil will also help the skin crisp up, ensuring you have crispy drumsticks with tender, flavorful meat in every bite.
📚 Related Recipes
Check out these other delicious air fryer recipes!
📖 Recipe
Air Fryer Chicken Legs
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 chicken legs
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon chicken seasoning or 2, for large drumsticks
Instructions
- Preheat the air fryer to 400F.
- Wash and pat dry the chicken with paper towels, then place them in a large bowl.6 chicken legs
- Drizzle olive oil on chicken legs and rub all over with the spices.1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon chicken seasoning
- Arrange the chicken legs in the air fryer basket on a single layer. Do not overcrowd.
- Air fry for 20 minutes, flipping halfway.
- Add 2-3 minutes to each side if you have very large chicken legs.
Notes
- Keep a batch of chicken seasoning around: This spice mix adds great flavor! I like to keep a batch in my spice cupboard to make this easy recipe any day of the week.
- Thaw your chicken legs: If you try to air fry frozen chicken legs, the outside will most likely dry out before the inside is fully cooked. For juicy chicken that cooks quickly, always work with thawed chicken legs.
- Temp your cooked chicken legs: A digital meat thermometer is a must for cooking chicken! Always take the internal temperature of the chicken at the widest section, usually next to the bone. Chicken is cooked when it reaches 165 degrees F.
Nutrition
Tayo Oredola is the founder of Low Carb Africa, where she shares healthy, low carb dishes with global flavors. She is passionate about teaching people how to cook drool-worthy dishes while losing weight and living their best lives. Tayo’s recipes have been featured on MSN, Women’s Health, Parade, Yahoo News, Pure Wow, Essence, and other online publications.
I'm sorta new to the air fryer game and I have a question. I have an Instant Vortex model and have used it a lot in the last 6 months. Most every recipe states to turn the food about half way thru. I have never done that and the dishes come out just great. Is it the model I have or could the food come out even better if I turned them, which does not seem possible to me and my family and friends.
I like to turn the food when cooking meat or chicken just to make sure both sides are well done. I don't always turn it when making veggies or small pieces of food.
Super flavourful. The chicken spice mix is perfectly balanced and the four thighs & six drumsticks I used came out perfectly crispy on the outside, while super moist on the inside. I air fried these in my Ninja Foodi 5 grill at 360° for 25 minutes. Thank you Tayo, for sharing this delicious recipe, along with all the helpful tips and beautiful pics. You site is full of wonderful, very tasty and much appreciated recipes!
Aww thanks so much Audrey. Your comment made my day!