BEST Ninja Foodi chicken legs ever are here using the pressure cooker and air fryer functions! Coated with barbecue sauce, tender meat on the inside and crispy chicken skins, you’ll go crazy for these. Another air fryer fried chicken without buttermilk recipe for dinner.
If you haven’t made Ninja Foodi chicken legs yet, you’re missing out! BBQ drumsticks are my kids’ favorite meal, but these are WAY better than in the oven. Find this and many more easy Ninja Foodi recipes here too! (participant in the Amazon program, affiliate links present)
Table of Contents
- Ninja Foodi Drumsticks
- Can you cook frozen chicken legs in Ninja Foodi?
- How to Cook Chicken legs in Ninja Foodi
- Ninja Air Fryer Fried Chicken Legs
- How to cook drumsticks in the Ninja Foodi
- Ingredients and Equipment
- How Long to Cook Ninja Foodi Chicken Drumsticks
- When do you sauce up chicken legs?
- Is it better to pressure cook or air fry chicken legs in Ninja Foodi?
- What are good side dishes for chicken?
- Ninja Foodi Chicken Legs Recipe
Ninja Foodi Drumsticks
We have a bunch of easy and healthy Ninja Foodi recipes available to you here on The Typical Mom blog. I mean I’m always trying to eat better but it must still taste good right? Especially when you have a family you don’t want food to go to waste, these won’t.
Can you cook frozen chicken legs in Ninja Foodi?
Yes, either one are probably my girls’ favorite one, hands down. This one requires defrosted meat. If you forgot to take it out, follow this pressure cooker frozen chicken legs recipe instead. Grab your favorite barbecue sauce and that’s all you really need.
Tips: My Favorite models are the Cosori or making Ninja Foodi recipes with the lid that is attached.
It is best practice to put food into a hot basket. This is how to preheat air fryer first before adding your food so it becomes as crispy as possible. For best results, here’s a printable free air fryer cooking time chart here for your fridge.
How to Cook Chicken legs in Ninja Foodi
Now get ready for the most incredible Ninja foodi chicken around. Using both functions of this pot you can make them tender but with crispy chicken skin too. First you’re going to pressure cook them so the meat cooks all the way thru and will become fork tender.
Then the lid that is attached becomes an air fryer so you can get crispy chicken skin in just a few minutes. You need that for everyone to want to eat these over and over again.
Yes there are other functions to this pot too, but honestly these 2 are it! Skip the slow cooker button, it doesn’t work well. BUT the combination of both of these together makes the best food ever.
Ninja Air Fryer Fried Chicken Legs
Yep, you only need 2 ingredients for this! How easy and CHEAP pressure cooker recipes is that y’all??!! Of course you can use your choice of bbq sauce. We tend to choose sweet styles, some with a bit of kick to them.
If you’d rather try a batch of pressure cooker teriyaki chicken legs you could easily do that as well. I would use a marinade for a good 30 minutes and then start with step 2 below. Another option is using the dry rub we have created. We’ve used it on beef and chicken of all kinds and it is a salty sweet mixture of goodness.
After pressure cooking the drumsticks you would instead pour a bit of this sauce on top of each one. It will get nice and crispy in the air crisp step and create a wonderfully sweet exterior. When I do this myself I will add a photo, that is our next dinner idea.
You’re going to want to coat your legs with your sauce of choice before cooking, and after they’re done too. A third coat could be added after you air fry them too if you want A LOT…we did!
How to cook drumsticks in the Ninja Foodi
You are going to use both functions, pressure cooker and air fryer one after the other. To get super moist and tender meat you will use the lid that is not attached, essentially the same as cooking Instant Pot chicken legs. Once cooked I do want a bit of crisp so I use the lid that is attached to air crisp.
There are 2 ways actually. We will explain this one in depth here and in the printable recipe card below. If you want to just make air fryer fried chicken recipe without using the pressure cooker you can too. I like both, but they are different. The one above will come out really crispy on the outside, with a breading.
This one needs no breading at all and the meat is more tender overall. It’s probably one of our favorite Ninja Foodi chicken recipes. 2 things you’ll want to remember when cooking chicken in a pressure cooker and air fryer. During the initial pressure cook step you can overlap them a bit. When you air fry chicken legs you want them in ONE layer so they can get crispy!
You can definitely stop at the first step, but they will not be crispy at all at this point. Of course you should always check the internal temperature before consuming, but they should be done. Getting crispy skin isn’t a must.
Ingredients and Equipment
- Medium size chicken legs are the best choice
- A bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce
- Non stick cooking spray
- Air fryer basket for the last step
We think it is a necessity to continue cooking to take these babies over the top delicious, but it is up to you. It does increase the cook time for sure. If you love the taste of deep frying, this is a close second.
How Long to Cook Ninja Foodi Chicken Drumsticks
You are looking at 22 – 25 minutes depending how large they are. I suggest organic medium sized because they cook more evenly and the texture of the protein is more pleasurable if you ask me. You will need the following:
Having a meat thermometer is really handy so you can check it really quick to see if it has reached 165 degrees and not have to cut thru it.
When do you sauce up chicken legs?
You will want to add it before you air fry so the heat can caramelize it on the outsides. In addition you may want more when served if you want it really saucy, that is up to you. If you add at the beginning it will slide off so it isn’t really worth it at the start.
Is it better to pressure cook or air fry chicken legs in Ninja Foodi?
I think both are the best, one after the other. You can certainly just use the one like we did with our larger air fryer chicken leg quarters, or the other and see for yourself and decide. It really depends on what texture you want the outsides to be, crispy or super tender.
Certainly you can. You would want to use the lid that is attached to air fry at 380 degrees preheated for about 3 minutes or so. Cook time will depend on how large they are and how crispy you want them. I would brush barbecue sauce over the outside to keep moist and caramelize.
If this happens it means that you are using too high of a temperature. If the outside of your drumsticks are crispy but the middle hasn’t reached a safe 165 F. inside then they are probably quite large and need to be cooked at a lower temperature for longer. Once they are cooked inside you can raise to 400, spray with oil to crisp up more.
What are good side dishes for chicken?
We love an easy side dish like a garden salad or corn recipe for sure. If you want to use the same machine you can toss diced potatoes with olive oil and cook to tender, then air fry until crisp on the outside.
If you love fried easy chicken recipes, you’ll love these too: Air fryer stuffed chicken breast has a creamy inside with bacon wrapped on the outside. Our Crockpot chicken legs are fantastic too.
Ninja Foodi Chicken Legs
Equipment
- 1 ninja foodi
Ingredients
- 10 medium chicken legs
- 1/2 c barbecue sauce, give or take
- 1 c water
Instructions
- Put chicken legs in a bowl with 1/4 cup bbq sauce and mix so they're coated, using hands works well for this.
- Pour cup of water into your Foodi and lower down air fryer basket that came with your pot with holes in bottom and handles on the sides.
- Put coated chicken legs into basket. They can overlap slightly for this step. I wouldn't add more than 12 medium size legs.
- Close pressure cooker lid (one not attached), and steam valve. Press pressure cook button, will automatically set to high, and set for 12 minutes.
- When done do a quick release for the steam inside the pot.
- Use tongs to carefully remove the legs on to a plate (careful because they'll be tender and want to fall off the bone).
- You can drain the water out now if you wish, or not, doesn't matter either way. I left mine in.
- Spray the inside of your basket with non stick cooking spray.
- Lay one layer of legs back into the basket, do not overlap them at this time. Use a brush to add the remaining 1/4 cup of bbq sauce on to the drumsticks now.
- Close air crisp lid and set to 400 degrees for about 10 minutes. Check, if you want them crispier, set for a few more minutes. Remove this batch, put in the next and enjoy when they're all done.
- Note: the second and subsequent batches will get done a bit quicker because the machine will have preheated already to 400 so 8 minutes is usually best for these batches.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I wanted to make these right away, and I only had thighs to work with, but they worked really weel. Amazing flavor and SO easy. I’ll try them again with drumsticks.
so glad
I love how simple yet delicious these chicken legs are! The air fryer method was perfect for making these legs so juicy!
This really was super easy. Great flavor and so little prep!
These chicken legs were so delicious. Thanks a lot for sharing.
Great Recipe. Unfortunately I need a p.c time for less chicken. Like 4-6 cause the 12 minutes shrinks them up but they are still delicious and not dry. Maybe it’s the chicken honestly. Any tips would be appreciated though! Def recommend this recipe!
Super easy and they taste great. The kids love them, and so do I. Perfect for when it’s not nice enough outside to BBQ.
your website is awful for actually finding out what you want, stop with all the rubbish and just give the instructions, searching for pressure cooking first and you talk about it but nothing else, rubbish.
@bob,
You need a chill pill dude! Go to another site if you don’t appreciate the time and effort put into this one! There are plenty to go to!
@bob, That’s how food blog / recipe sites work. Are you new to the world wide interweb? Relax!
This is the most delicious way to make chicken legs! Can’t wait to use it for New Years Eve!
Came out delicious!! The only way I ever want to make chicken legs from now on!