Crispy Baked Chicken Leg Quarters

Baked chicken leg quarters in the oven come out moist and delicious every time with crispy skin. Baking thighs and legs together makes for a cheap nutritious meal that is easy to prepare. If you loved making a large batch using our Crockpot chicken leg quarters recipe but want to use your oven, this is it!

How Long to Bake Chicken Leg Quarters

We shared how to cook turkey leg quarters last week. They turned out so great we wanted to follow it up with the other bird. Of course these won’t take quite as long since they aren’t as large. 20-22 minutes is typical for medium size pieces.

I have shared how to bake chicken thighs before with a sauce. Those are amazing but not attached of course. Baked drumsticks turn out great too, but if they are together with the bone in both the timing is different so I thought we’d go over this option too now.

One great thing about buying them this way is that they are super cheap!! The less work the butcher has to do the cheaper it is, period. Think about it, that is why bone-in chicken is less expensive than if they removed them. Whole is the cheapest because the only prepping is to wrap that baby up.

If you were to cut up a whole chicken yourself you might want to do the least amount of cuts possible, this will save you time. Instead of finding the joint and separating the two pieces just leave them whole and use these instructions. You’ll be surprised at how much you will enjoy them with our chicken dry rub or bbq sauce on the skin at the end.

Chicken Leg Quarter Recipe

If you have your own favorite blend of seasoning for chicken then by all means use that. There are bottled blends out there that work well, or use the link at the top of this post for our sweet and savory mixture. Follow Instant Pot frozen chicken leg quarters if yours are not defrosted, then crisp at the end under broil setting.

• 2 chicken leg quarters skin on is best
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Garlic herb seasoning
• Granulated garlic or garlic powder works
• 1/2 tsp coriander ground
• Baking sheet or dish with high sides

For this one and our baked chicken legs we went super simple with just 4 things to sprinkle on the top and bottom of each piece. Olive oil will help it stick nicely if you remove the moisture from the skin at the very beginning as directed.

How Long to Bake Chicken Leg Quarters at 400

If you were making smoked chicken quarters you’d set to lower and it would take 1.5 hours. This way you’re looking about about 30 minutes from start to finish. Of course there will be a slight variation depending on how large yours are. Also if you want to really brown the skin you would want to add a few more minutes.

• Step one: Preheat the oven to 400 F. Rinse your pieces and pat dry with paper towels to remove excess moisture on skin.
• Step two: Mix together your spices of choice, herbs and salt in a dish.
• Step three: Brush chicken with olive oil on all sides, then sprinkle it with spices and salt.
• Step four: Transfer your legs and thighs to a baking dish with skin side facing down sprayed with non stick spray.
• Step five: Cook chicken leg quarters in the oven to bake for 20 minutes cooking time. You don’t need to cover the top.
• Step six: Flip the chicken quarters to the other side and bake for another 10-20 minutes (depending on how thick yours are).
• Check with an instant read thermometer after 10 or so minutes and see if at thickest part it has reached a safe internal temp of 165 degrees – 170 F.
  • you should alway remove the pan before inserting your meat thermometer for the most accurate temp.

If you wanted to make a really large amount and cook in batches you could make Crockpot chicken leg quarters with quite a few. When done remove, put on sheet pans under broil setting to crisp skin and let sit for 10 minutes to rest. Then serve as is or with a brush of your favorite teriyaki or barbecue sauce on top.

Chicken Leg Quarter Calories

I mean this depends on a number of factors such as size and fat content. I will say that we have tested a lot of different ones over the years and have a preference. To each their own of course but I like to share our findings. At the end of the day we are strong proponents of buying organic, free range poultry. Period.

The healthy benefits aside if you cooked the two and served them side by side you will see and taste the difference too. There is a lot more fat on a “regular” bird for one, and the texture is more gristly too which is a no go for me. Yes you will spend a few dollars more for the leaner freer birds but it is SO worth it in the end.

There is a nutritional card in the recipe box at the bottom which will give you a general idea of the calories, fat, etc… in one serving. Obviously there will be a bit of fluctuating from that so you should refer to the package you purchased for the most accurate percentages. Half Chicken would be a bit higher.

Baking Chicken in Oven

Now if you want to know how long to bake chicken breast in oven at 350 we have that too. The last pieces would be chicken wings in oven. Then you would have all of your basis covered if you wanted to dismantle the entire bird. Those will be the fave of those who like white meat but over the years dark meat has become my favorite thing.

We have a ton of other easy chicken recipes on our site you can use too beyond how to bake chicken quarters. Everything is set up for busy families who don’t have a lot of time to prep but want to start eating together more often. That was our goal years and years ago and why I started by blog.

I figured others would want the same thing so why not share my findings with all of y’all. Hope this is a hit in your house too and it makes it to your monthly meal rotation because it’s so popular with you and the kids too.