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These baked chicken drumsticks are finger-lickin’ good! They are tender and flavorful with a crisp salty skin.
My Mom makes these all the time and uses the same recipe for bone-in chicken thighs. The marinade only needs 4 simple ingredients that everyone has in their pantry, but my Mom’s brilliant method will become your secret weapon for marinating all kinds of bone-in-chicken.
Baked chicken drumsticks are perfect for parties because they are inexpensive, easy to prepare, and satisfy a crowd.
Marinating overnight produces supremely tender and flavorful chicken drumsticks. The seasoning penetrates the meat resulting in perfectly seasoned chicken from the crispy skin to the tender center.
Ingredients for Baked Chicken Drumsticks:
4 1/2 to 5 lbs (1 large pack) chicken drumsticks
1 medium yellow onion, pureed*
2 Tbsp mayo
1 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp salt
Optional if you want a little spice: 1 to 2 Tbsp Jamaica me sweet hot and crazy sauce
*You can either puree onion using the star side on a box grater or chop into pieces and puree in a food processor or blender. Onion should be consistency of applesauce.
How to Make Delicious Baked Chicken Drumsticks:
1. In a small bowl, stir together: onion puree, 2 Tbsp mayo, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 Tbsp salt and hot sauce if using.
2. Place chicken drumsticks into a large mixing bowl or soup pot then pour on the marinade and toss to coat. Cover with lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 6 to 8 hours or (preferably) overnight.
3. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and bake skin-side-up at 400˚F for 45 minutes then turn drumsticks over (skin-side-down) and bake another 15 minutes. For extra crispy skin, turn drumsticks again and broil 3 minutes or until skin is browned and crisp.
I garnished with chives for effect 🙂
Tips for Speed Marinating: We’ve tested marinating 4 hours and the meat wasn’t as tender and tasty as overnight marinating. However, if you have a foodsaver, you can marinate in an airtight bag and have it done in 2 to 4 hours. Did you know that a foodsaver can marinate foods faster? Removing the excess air forces the marinade into the meat. We’re absolutely in love with our foodsaver.
Here’s the Print-Friendy Baked Chicken Drumsticks Recipe:
Mom's Chicken Drumsticks Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 to 5 lbs 1 large pack chicken drumsticks
- 1 medium yellow onion, pureed*
- 2 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 Tbsp salt
- Optional if you want a little spice: 1 to 2 Tbsp Jamaica me sweet hot and crazy sauce
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir together onion puree, 2 Tbsp mayo, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 Tbsp salt and hot sauce if using.
- Place chicken drumsticks into a large mixing bowl or soup pot then pour on the marinade and toss to coat the drumsticks. Cover with lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 6 to 8 hours or (preferably) overnight.
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and bake skin-side-up at 400˚F for 45 minutes in the oven then turn drumsticks over (skin-side-down) and bake another 15 minutes. For extra crispy skin, turn drumsticks again and broil 3 minutes or until skin is browned and crisp.
Notes
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
These were BRILLIANT!!!!
My grocery had “50% off all cut and whole chicken” and I got 3 ‘family sized trays’ of drumsticks and did your “mom’s recipe” on them.
They got RAVE reviews from everybody, part of a potluck and I brought the legs, there were none left, so I can’t speak to how they are “leftover” LOL. Thank you very much for sharing!
You’re welcome Christopher! I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for sharing your wonderful review 😀
Yummy! The onion did not become purée in my food processor. Also, I think I needed to reduce my cooking time. Regardless, I’ll be cooking these again at some point! They tasted great!
Hi Heather, were you using a food processor that was too small? You might try chopping your onion finer to get it to puree. I hope that helps! I’m so glad you enjoyed the flavor 🙂 I love my drumsticks to have crisp salty skin, but if you don’t mind softer skin, you can probably reduce the baking time about 10 minutes or so.
Hi!
Will these turn out if I don’t marinate them and cook them right away?
Thanks!
They won’t be the same. I’ve done 4 hours of marinating but they were still definitely better overnight 🙂
These are soooooooooo juicy! My husband who is as picky as they get, tried them at ur mom’s, loved them and I finally got to making them, they were a hit! Perfectly tender, and flavor throughout. Thank you ! Yummm , happy to have left overs for tommorow:)
You’re welcome! I’m glad you loved the recipe Anna!
I tried this for lunch today (having marinated the chicken overnight)
It was SO good!
I forgot to add less salt since I only had a small amount of drumsticks, but it still turned out good. I added 3 cloves of garlic, a kick of Tapatio and a sprinkle of Italian seasoning. I’ve never had drumsticks come out so perfectly cooked before! Thanks for the yummy recipe 🙂
YUM! That does sound good! You’re welcome and I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂
Giving this a shot. I’ve never thought to use onion puree and mayo in a marinade. I added garlic, basil and cayenne pepper to the recipe and I plan on using the grill and not the oven. Will let you know how it turns out!!
Please do Matt!
Wow! Loved these! So did my 2yr. old,she kept requesting “more chicken!” Thank you for your amazing and inspiring recipes! I am definetly a fan!!!
Awww! I’m so happy to hear that!! Thank you for sharing that with me 🙂
Anyone make these with wings? What time frame to cook and temp?
I haven’t. Maybe someone else has? Thanks friends!! 🙂
Hi Natasha, what can be substituted for Jamaica Me sauce? I’ve never had it, so I don’t know what it tastes like. I don’t think I’ve seen this one in stores around where I live…
Hi Loretta, that is totally optional and we often make these drumsticks without the hot sauce. You can use any kind of your favorite hot sauce if you want to add a little spice and it will work 🙂
I’m cooking this tonight. I added hot chilli powder to the marinade. Just wondering if adding cayenne pepper would be nice or whether using rosemary in instead of chilli would work.
I haven’t tried rosemary so I can’t speak to that but my Mom is always adding hot sauce to the mix (Tabasco, or that “Jamaica me sweet hot and crazy” sauce that she likes so much from Costco – what a crazy name for a sauce! lol) Anyways, I do think any kind of hot spice you add would work fine. It’s one of the things I love about this is you can tweak it and introduce new flavors, but I just haven’t tried rosemary so I’m not certain about that one.
Hi Natasha!
I love this recipe, but I always have problem with too much blood coming out of the bones of drumsticks. I even keep them in salty water for a few hours before marinading, but it doesn’t help. Yours don’t look like they have any dried blood at the ends. Do you have this problem with blood?
Hi Olga, to be honest, I don’t recall having that issue. Have you tried getting your chicken at a difference source/store to see if it changes? Also, could it actually be pink juices which are normally seen in chicken if it is undercooked? Oftentimes people mistake pink cooking juices for blood. I always suggest cooking chicken until the juices run clear and with the lengthy cooking time for these drumsticks, it’s definitely safe to eat the chicken in terms of food safety.
I’m trying this tonight. I followed the recipe exactly, no alterations. I’m nervous because the smell of the marinade is very off-putting with all that onion. I DID remove excess marinade from the drumsticks prior to putting them in the oven after they soaked for about 4 hours in it. I’m also using a cooking rack to elevate the drumsticks a bit. Now I wait, anxious to hope dinner is not a bust. Its very difficult for me to get past this smell.
Hi Tes, you must be very sensitive to the scent of onions. No worries, once the drumsticks are in the oven and have roasted for the time specified, you won’t even know there was onion in the marinade :). Let me know how you like it when it’s all done 🙂
I have these marinating in the fridge right now – I ended up adding some harrissa as that’s just what I happened to have (other than sriracha) and I also added in some garlic and olive oil as per some of the other comments I read. I did eyeball it, so not sure if I added in the right amount of salt.
However it smelled amazing and I had to have the hubby take the kitties into the other room, as they go nuts when they smell chicken.
Will report back once I’ve baked these for dinner tonight!
I would love to hear how the family liked them 😀. My mom made these again for today’s lunch!
They were great! Super moist and tender. When I do this next, I’ll definitely add more salt and more harrissa.
My husband and I ate these with a side of salad (quickly did up a spinach salad with apple, cucumber and red onions with a frankenstein-d vinaigrette which was a mixture of a multitude of things), so super tasty and healthy. We also tried it with bbq sauce and sriracha sauce which was delicious too.
I had a few extra drumsticks that wouldn’t fit in the oven tray, so I let them marinate over night and we’re going to have them for lunch today, too!
Love to hear reviews like this! Thank you for sharing Shannon! 🙂
So I decided to make these today and overlooked the marinade time, but I’m still planning on making these today, what is the quickest amount of time I can marinade these for a good taste result? (Husband decided to come home early today, so I don’t have much time left to marinade).
Hi Viktoria, the quickest I’ve done it is 4 hours. If you put them in a food saver and remove any excess air, you might get away with marinating 2-3 hours. A food saver works well because it pulls the air out and in a way forces the marinade into the chicken. I hope that helps!
Wow, all my years of scratch cooking and it never occurred to me to use as base–let alone marinade base–pureed onion. That is brilliant, Miss Natasha.
I enjoyed the heck out of the drumsticks.
I did it your way except: added one garlic clove to puree. Didn’t think the mayo alone would be enough of a binder, so added 1 TB of oil to the puree. I stirred into the marinade leftover salsa and some homemade chili powder. The salt and pepper alone were not doing it for me.
The beauty of your recipe is it’s easy to do it “my way”. At the end of the day, the onion flavor is the star regardless.
Great chicken, recipe, and result. Thank you.
I am so glad you like it Brent! Thank you for sharing your great review!
Turned out amazing!! My first time making this recipe and I will definitely be making this more often.
Awesome! So glad to hear you enjoyed them. Thanks for sharing Inna 🙂
If I’m using chicken thighs, do I need to turn them over also after 45 min?
And is cooking time stays the same?
Hi Lena, I would suggest using the baking instructions for thighs that I shared in this post. Drumsticks take longer to bake because of the bone in them.
let me tell you, best chicken i’ve made so far. so easy and delicious!
I’m so glad you liked the recipe Tanya. You might have a new favorite chicken recipe 😋.
I have about half the amount of drumsticks. Should I change the amount of marinade and time in the oven? In one of the comments you mentioned the onion smell wears off if it’s long enough in the oven.
Hi Alena, the bake time would be the same but you could cut the marinade in half if using only half the drumsticks.
Turned out soooooo delicious!! Happy birthday by the way!
Thank you Alena 😊.
Has anyone tried grilling this kind of recipe? How did it turn out?
Hi Marina, 3 of my readers have reported great results with grilling the chicken 🙂