Oven Baked Teriyaki Chicken Drumsticks

Baked teriyaki chicken drumsticks with an easy homemade sweet and spicy sauce you’ll love, or use bottled! Moist baked chicken legs cooked in the oven in under an hour. A healthy sheet pan meal that is family friendly and kids love them too.

Teriyaki Chicken Legs

If you love all things teriyaki you’ll love these baked chicken legs marinated in an easy to make homemade sauce. With a crispy skin or made fun like our Lollipop Chicken Drumsticks, to start with your family is going to love this meal.

1. Rimmed baking sheet
2. Chicken pieces – defrosted legs were used, if they’re not here is how to cook frozen chicken legs quickly
3. Your favorite homemade or bottled sauce
4. Sesame seeds on top are a nice garnish

I prefer to get medium sized. If they are quite large it takes longer to cook through to the center and in my opinion the meat isn’t as tender.

Baked Teriyaki Chicken Drumsticks

I threw together my own homemade teriyaki sauce for this. Yes you could use ready made but this is super simple and you can even add a bit of heat to it if you want it spicy.

1. Hoisin sauce
2. Soy sauce
3. Minced ginger
4. Chopped or minced garlic
5. Chicken broth
6. Brown Sugar
7. Sriracha if you want a little or a lot of heat – tasty either way
8. Sesame seeds optional

They sound pretty darn yummy right?? Here are a few questions you might have before you get started on this:

Teriyaki Baked Chicken Legs

There are tons of different bottled sauces out there. Some are thinner based, more like a marinade, and others can be used for that as well as to coat the outside since it’s thicker.

What brand of teriyaki sauce is the best?

I prefer to make my own, I share the recipe for that below and use it in our Instant Pot spicy teriyaki chicken recipe too. For a bottled marinade I like Veri Veri Teriyaki brand.

How long does it take to cook drumsticks at 400?

About 25 minutes. I prefer to bake at 375 instead for longer in order to make the inside meat more tender. To crisp chicken skin even more at the end you can put into your Ninja Foodi or air fryer for a few min.

Teriyaki Chicken Drumsticks in Oven

This isn’t a fancy meal, but that totally doesn’t describe my household. I love simple recipes that are easy to throw together, we all love, and if they are healthy that’s a major bonus!

This falls into all of these categories and since they are chicken legs they are quite inexpensive and with a side of rice or simple potato salad and some salad it is a complete meal that is just oh so yummy!

Oven Baked Drumsticks

Of course you can use bottled teriyaki, Veri Veri is my favorite type to buy if I am in a rush. Really the homemade teriyaki sauce mix below is really simple to make and tastes amazing. For faster timing you can try our Instant Pot chicken legs recipe here too.

Basic steps to follow; Mix together all ingredients well in a bowl. (or you can use 1 jar of teriyaki sauce if you don’t want to make your own). Put 1/2 c. aside to use later. Put drumsticks in a bowl or a gallon ziploc bag. Pour sauce on top of chicken and put in fridge to marinate for at least 2 hours. Turn bag or stir chicken in bowl to rotate pcs. halfway thru if possible.

Teriyaki Baked Chicken Legs

Line cookie sheet with parchment paper to prevent skin from sticking. Set chicken drumsticks on pan making sure not to overlap them.

• Preheat oven at 400 degrees, put in on middle rack for 20 minutes covered. Turn drumsticks over, spoon 2 tbsp more sauce over each one, uncover and continue cooking for another 20 – 30 minutes.
• Spoon 1-2 tbsp of teriyaki sauce on each chicken leg when serving them for dinner with rice or your favorite side dish.

If you have leftovers they save quite well in a freezer bag. Allow them to cool completely before doing this but they can be stored in the fridge this way and reheated within 2-3 days of being saved. Pop them into the microwave for about 1 minute. Adding more sauce to the top will keep them moist which is vital so they don’t dry out.

To make our teriyaki chicken recipe using bottled sauce, follow these directions. It is easy with veri veri sauce we love. Jump to recipe below and let us know what you think. Remember that the cook time will vary depending on how large and/or thick your pieces are. I highly suggest medium sizes for best results.

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How to Cook Moist Chicken

After you try these you should give these other quick easy chicken recipes a whirl:

• Instant Pot chicken legs
• This Instant Pot sesame chicken is killer too with some of the same flavors as you have here. Served with white rice, everyone loves it here.

* Always ensure juices run clear and check internal temperature before eating.

For something similar using a small kitchen appliance, give our air fryer marinated chicken breasts a whirl too! I would buy boneless with the skin still on for this. That way it stays as tender as possible, even if you take it off before eating. Juices will drain into the pan below and are great to save for reheating later on.

Before you go I want you to sign up for my free newsletter!! You will get all my new recipes emailed to you a few times a week that will help with meal planning for the week.