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These Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Legs (Drumsticks) come out delightfully crisp in about 30 minutes. They are the perfect way to get fried chicken flavor without using breading or flour. Enjoy these as is with sides like my creamed spinach. Or, switch things up with my other air fryer chicken leg recipes like air fryer bbq chicken drumsticks, air fryer roasted chicken legs, and air fryer marinated chicken legs.
Why Share Air Fryer Chicken Drumsticks
- Great for busy people and families: Air fryer chicken legs are one of my favorite easy keto recipes because they are perfect for busy people & families. They do not require much prep and cook until crispy in about 30 minutes total.
- Perfect regardless of your way of eating: almost everyone loves crispy chicken, so the whole family will eat them happily even if they aren’t following a low carb or keto diet.
- Crispy without flour breading: these use a spice mix to get fried chicken flavors without adding flour
Ingredients Needed
- Chicken Legs: this was about 4-6 drumsticks. Mine were fresh. If you have frozen meat, be sure to thaw them out
- Natural Ancient Sea Salt
- Black Pepper
- Smoked Paprika
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Baking Powder
- Olive Oil
How to Make Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Legs
The Ninja Foodi (all-in-one multi-cooker) makes it easy to cook air-fried dishes. In fact, it’s one of my favorite kitchen tools for chicken drumsticks, air fried chicken wings, air fryer roasted cauliflower, and air fryer sausages.
The best way to learn how to make this dish is to watch the post video.
The basic steps to make drumsticks in the Foodi are:
- Mix the spices & prepare the chicken: Pat the chicken legs dry with paper towels. Be sure to remove as much moisture as possible. Drier chicken results in a crispier end result. Mix up the spices, salt, and baking powder in a small bowl.
- Add spices to the chicken legs: Once the spices are well blended, place the chicken legs in a bowl or a large zip lock bag. Sprinkle the spice mix on top and give them a toss to coat the legs with the mixture.
- Place the chicken into the air fryer cooking basket and drizzle a little bit of oil on them. The oil will help give them a crispier skin.
- Air Crisp the chicken drumsticks for about 12-15 minutes per side.
Top Tips & FAQs
- Use thawed chicken legs or chicken drumsticks for best results: You can make frozen chicken in the air fryer. But, this recipe works best with defrosted or thawed chicken.
- Don’t try to substitute baking soda for baking powder: Trust me. I know from experience that the drumsticks will have a terrible taste, and you’ll waste perfectly good drumsticks for nothing.
- Adjust the cook time based on size: chicken legs vary in size. So, it’s important to adjust the cook time for larger chicken legs.
- Use all the spice mix: the spice mix helps the chicken legs crisp in the air fryer and add flavor. Be sure to use all or most of it for best results.
How long to cook chicken legs in an air fryer?
The technical answer for how long to cook chicken drumsticks is to cook until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. To confirm this, you’ll need a meat thermometer. But, of course, not everyone has a meat thermometer.
For bare minimum doneness: 24 total minutes in an air fryer set to 400 degrees will adequately cook the drumsticks. But, the longer you keep them in the air fryer, the crispier they will get.
For crispy drumsticks: cook them for about 30 total minutes.
One great thing about air fryers generally is that you can always open the lid, check on your meat, and continue cooking if you need more time.
Getting air fryer chicken legs crispy with no breading
Traditional fried chicken relies on breading to help crisp up the outside of the chicken. Of course, breading, whether flour, bread crumbs, or a batter, is not keto or low carb friendly.
The solution to this is pretty simple. Baking powder, when added to the spice mix, allows the chicken skin to crisp up nicely in the air fryer.
Along with a drizzle of olive oil, you will have crispy, great-tasting drumsticks without the use of bread crumbs and other grains.
Can you put foil in an air fryer?
Yes. You can put foil in an air fryer. You can also line your air fryer with parchment paper. These can help make clean up easier when you are done cooking.
Side Dishes for Air Fryer Drumsticks
Chicken drumsticks can go with a lot of different side dishes and dips. What you serve it with will depend on what you are in the mood for that night.
If you want a great vegetable side dish, you can try:
- Easy Sauteed Asparagus
- Keto Creamed Spinach
- Loaded Cauliflower
- Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Mash with Keto Gravy
Or, you can try it with a dipping sauce. One of my favorites is low carb sweet chili sauce, which I used to make Keto Asian sticky wings and would give these drumsticks an Asian flare.
More Air Fryer Chicken Leg Recipes
- Air Fryer Dry Rub Chicken Drumsticks
- Roasted Chicken Legs in the Ninja Foodi
- Marinated Chicken Legs
- BBQ Chicken Legs
- Air Fryer Chicken Leg Quarters
If you try this recipe, please stop back and leave it a star rating and/or a review in the comments. Stay connected & share photos of your creations with me & others on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!
Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Legs Recipe
Use DRDAVINAHS at checkout to save on some equipment & ingredients!
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs Chicken Legs, this was about 6 drumsticks
- 1/2 tsp Natural Ancient Sea Salt
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- 1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- 1.5 tbsp Baking Powder
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
Instructions
- Remove the chicken legs from the refrigerator and pat dry (removing as much moisture as possible helps to have a crispy chicken skin)
- Mix the sea salt, black pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and baking powder in a small dish or ramekin
- Sprinkle the seasoning mixture on the chicken and toss to coat
- Place the drumsticks on the cooking basket. In the Ninja Foodi, this is called the "Cook & Crisp" basket.
- Drizzle olive oil on them
- Use the Air Crisp setting on 400 degrees for the Ninja Foodi or 400 degrees on other fryers to cook the chicken for 12-15 minutes per side.
- Enjoy the chicken legs alone or add your favorite keto or low-carb dips and sauces.
Recipe Notes
- Use thawed chicken legs or chicken drumsticks for best results: You can make frozen chicken in the air fryer. But, this recipe works best with defrosted or thawed chicken.
- Don’t try to substitute baking soda for baking powder: Trust me. I know from experience that the drumsticks will have a terrible taste, and you’ll waste perfectly good drumsticks for nothing.
- Adjust the cook time based on size: chicken legs vary in size. So, it’s important to adjust the cook time for larger chicken legs.
- Use all the spice mix: the spice mix helps the chicken legs crisp in the air fryer and add flavor. Be sure to use all or most of it for best results.
Nutrition Details
The nutrition facts come from entering the recipe ingredients into Spoonacular API, a database of food ingredients. They may vary for any recipe based on the exact product used. The keto sweeteners I use have 0g net carbs & are not included because sugar alcohols do not impact most people. This is provided as a courtesy, but you can do your own calculations if you wish!
