Chicken legs are a product that often helps out housewives in case of unexpected arrival of guests. Baking them in the oven is not difficult. The dish looks equally appetizing both during the ordinary meal, and on the festive table. In addition, chicken is a dietary product. And if you remove the skin from the legs, then the level of cholesterol in the meat will become completely minimal. This article is about how to cook delicious chicken legs in the oven. Recipes, despite their abundance, are divided into two classes. One offers to roll the chicken legs in breading, and the other - pickle them. Why do we need such preliminary manipulations? Besides the fact that the ingredients added to chicken make it tastier, they also protect the meat from overdrying when cooked in the oven. Marinade penetrates deep into the tissue, softens them. From this, the chicken becomes just wonderful.
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How to bake chicken legs in the oven? Simple step by step recipes often differ from each other only in the composition of the marinade and a set of spices. And the cooking technology does not change much. So, let’s take a look at the step-by-step process of preparing chicken legs. Wash them, if necessary, remove the remains of feathers. You can peel off the legs. But if excess calories do not bother you, it is better not to do this. Baked crisp will give the dish an extra taste and aroma. Then rub the chicken legs with salt and a mixture of spices. Leave for a quarter of an hour. Then put in the marinade and put in the refrigerator for at least twenty minutes. The longer the chicken stays in the liquid medium, the softer and more tender its meat will become. Grease a baking sheet with vegetable oil. We put the legs there tightly enough to prevent them from drying out. We put in the oven and bake forty-five minutes. From time to time you need to water the meat with the resulting juice. We check readiness as follows: we pierce with a fork in the thickest place. If a red sucrose appears, bake for a few more minutes. At the puncture site, golden juice should appear. There are recipes for baking legs in sauce. Most often, along with a side dish - potatoes and onions. The Italian way of baking is that the legs are cooked in the oven in a mixture of flour and spices for half an hour, then they are poured with marinade and reach another thirty minutes.
Oven mayonnaise marinade for chicken legs
This recipe is unusually simple. Rub the washed chicken drumsticks with a mixture of spices. It must necessarily contain ground black allspice and some dry herbs (onions or at least dill). Everything else is up to your taste and discretion. Sweet paprika will give the dish a Hungarian hue, turmeric and chili - Indian. Do not forget to salt the chicken legs. This will soften the meat and allow the spices to penetrate deep into the tissues. For two chicken legs you should take a small pinch from each seasoning and mix first, and then grate the drumsticks generously. After fifteen minutes, you can already add mayonnaise. Four tablespoons are enough for two servings. A delicious marinade for chicken legs in the oven will turn out when we squeeze (or finely chop) one or two cloves of garlic. It will give the meat a great aroma and taste. Cover the legs with cling film or place in a tightly closed container. After half an hour, we begin to bake.
Caucasian dish color
Chicken - meat is neutral in taste. But it well absorbs all the other ingredients of the dishes. The chicken legs in the marinade in the oven are completely different: sharp, delicate, spicy, sweetish - depending on what components and spices you will use. If you are a fan of Caucasian cuisine, try using ketchup instead of mayonnaise. Changes in this recipe and a set of spices. The main components in it are: red hot pepper, cilantro (grains should first be blended in a mortar) and suneli hops. After the legs lie a little in spices and the salt softens the meat, generously coat it with ketchup. With this method of cooking chicken in a Caucasian way you can experiment. For example, add adjika to ketchup. Such a marinade gives you the opportunity not only to bake the legs in the oven, but also to cook them on the grill. You can also make chicken skewers on the grill, but for this it is better to take not the legs, but the breast.
French charm
Dijon mustard with whole grains gives the dish piquancy. The French marinade for baking chicken legs in the oven is prepared simply. We mix in a bowl six tablespoons of Dijon mustard, two - paprika, a clove of finely chopped garlic and grated zest from a lemon. Add a quarter cup of white table wine to the marinade. For lack of this, you can do with lemon juice. Roll in this marinade (its density should resemble the consistency of sour cream) six chicken legs. Spread the meat better on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. But in order for the chicken to turn out delicious, it must be held in the marinade for at least half an hour. The meat should be baked in the oven for about thirty minutes at 180 degrees. Separately, we cook a side dish - boiled potatoes or rice. The remaining marinade is used as a sauce.
Italian recipe
In a strong plastic bag, pour one hundred grams of flour and two teaspoons of curry. We send the same kilogram or one and a half chicken legs. Rub a baking sheet (bottom and walls) with a mixture of melted butter (30 g) and olive (20 g) oils. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Take the chicken drumsticks from the bag and lay them on a baking sheet. Put the bake for thirty minutes. In the meantime, melt fifty grams of honey and mix it with the same amount of cane sugar. Pour ten milliliters of soy sauce and squeeze the juice from one lemon. Stir the marinade until smooth. The legs should be turned several times, pouring them with the allocated juice. After half an hour, pour sweet and sour mixture and set to cook further. Chicken legs in the marinade in the oven will be ready in thirty minutes.
Caramel crust
Have you ever tasted a Peking duck? The chip of this dish is a thin caramel coating covering the meat. By the principle of Peking duck, you can cook chicken legs in the oven. A step-by-step recipe prescribes to wash and dry a kilogram of drumsticks with a paper towel first. Finely chop six to eight cloves of garlic. In order for the juice to stand out, a little crumple it in a mortar. Ginger - always fresh - we rub so that it was half a teaspoon. Put it in a bowl with garlic. Add one third of a glass of liquid honey, soy sauce, white wine. Put another half teaspoon of white pepper. For piquancy, add citrus vinegar (or grape). It will take three tablespoons. To adjust the sweetness, add sugar. It is better to take brown, cane - one soup spoon. Pour the chicken legs with this marinade. Keep them in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Better yet, leave them there for the night. The drumsticks need to be heated in the oven to two hundred degrees for half an hour on one side. Turn over, pour over the allocated juice and cook for another twenty minutes.
American recipe
Do you think mustard and cinnamon are incompatible? The chicken legs in the marinade in the oven according to the American recipe dispel this myth. Cover the form with foil. We spread there two washed and dried chicken napkin legs. In another bowl, prepare the marinade. Mix two tablespoons of mustard and olive oil. Add a large clove of finely chopped garlic. Next, pour one tablespoon of liquid honey and vinegar. And finally, pour in a marinade over a generous pinch of ground cinnamon and a set of spices for chicken. Mix everything until smooth. Spread this marinade on chicken drumsticks. It would be nice to leave the form for a while to allow the marinade to soak the meat. Preheats the oven to one hundred eighty degrees. Peel three apples. We cut them into thin slices, simultaneously removing fruit boxes. Put apples on top of chicken legs. Using a silicone brush, apply liquid honey. Sprinkle with a teaspoon of cinnamon and send the form to the oven. Bake for about forty-five minutes.
Coffee marinade
Eight my chicken drumsticks and dry. We brew natural black coffee so that after separation of the grounds we get one and a half glasses of liquid. Cool in a large bowl. Add two glasses of water to the coffee and three tablespoons of salt, sugar and chili pepper powdered. Knead until crystals dissolve. Add half a teaspoon of red pepper, three minced cloves of garlic and a whole stick of cinnamon to the marinade. We spread the chicken legs. From above we cover the plate turned upside down and put the load. Wrap the bowl with cling film and put it in the refrigerator for at least four hours. You can cook such chicken legs in the marinade in the oven, as well as on the grill or grill.
Asian recipe
Remove the skin from the legs and rub the meat with a mixture of dried herbs and spices. The set may be to your taste, but be sure to include tarragon, coriander, oregano. Set the meat aside. We prepare soya marinade for chicken legs in the oven. To do this, in a bowl, mix one and a half teaspoons of mustard (regular) and mayonnaise. We dilute it with two spoons of soy sauce and one - honey. Marinate the shins for about an hour, then bake in the oven.