Crispy Baked Chicken Drumsticks will quickly become a family favourite. Love crispy skin chicken? This is for you.
Crushed tortilla chips and Mexican seasoning are the secret ingredients. This chicken drum recipe is sure to be a winner in your house.
I love breaded chicken baked in the oven. Getting all the crispy goodness with oven-fried chicken instead of deep-frying is a winner for sure.
So much easier, not to mention healthier too.
RECIPE and INSTRUCTIONS for this crispy chicken recipe can be found at the bottom of this post.
This is a super easy chicken drumstick recipe. In my opinion, drumsticks are the best part.
These juicy tender chicken legs are coated, then baked! Did you know you can get extra-crispy results without using Panko breadcrumbs and buttermilk?
Once you try these you will be hooked. Biting through that crispy tortilla crusted, Mexican seasoned skin to the juicy meat underneath is a party in your mouth. Make lots, the family will be fighting for the last one. Our favourite oven-fried chicken hands down.
You Will Need:
All it takes is Mexican seasoning and tortilla chips to make the most delicious crispy chicken you have EVER tasted.
- chicken drumsticks
- avocado oil
- tortilla chips
- Mexican seasoning
The seasoning can be your own homemade blend, or store-bought (that’s what I used). Most often I make my own blends, EXCEPT when I can get my hands on some REALLY GOOD blends.
The blend I used in this drumstick recipe is called Mexican Kitchen Cartel, and it is made by The Spice Company. There are LOTS of great blends to choose from (and cool names to go along with them too).
Crumb Coating Chicken
The secret to making crispy baked chicken without frying is the crumb coating and leaving the skin on. YES, you can get a crispy crust with this recipe. If you love southern-fried, THIS is better!
Removing the skin still produces tasty results. If you are looking for that crunchy sound and crisp texture, it is all about the skin.
There are several options for the crumb coating. For this recipe, I used crushed tortilla chips. Panko breadcrumbs or crackers are great, and so are cornflakes.
Have you ever had cornflake chicken? I remember my mom making that when I was a kid. These oven-fried chicken drumsticks are even better!
How To Bake Chicken Drumsticks
Some baked chicken recipes use the “flour-egg-crumb method” to coat the chicken. My method is way easier, which means less mess and fewer dishes.
- Wash the drumsticks and pat dry.
- Place crushed tortilla chips in a large bowl.
- Generously rub Mexican seasoning on each piece of chicken.
- One at a time, take a drumstick and brush it with oil and generously coat it with the crushed tortilla chips.
- Place on a baking sheet and cook until golden brown.
While this chicken bakes, the aroma will have you licking your lips in anticipation of the deliciousness that is only a few minutes away.
Recipe Tips
- Be sure to a foil-lined *(affiliate) baking sheet coated with cooking spray. This will make cleanup a breeze.
- For this recipe, I used regular tortilla chips. Feel free to try blue chips or lime flavoured chips. Doritos would work as well (you could skip the seasoning all together).
- If you don’t have Mexican seasoning, *(affiliate) taco seasoning would work fine.
I baked these for 25 minutes at 400º F. The safe internal temperature of poultry is 165º F. I like to use an *(affiliate)instant-read thermometer to be sure.
Yes, you certainly can. In fact, I love to have some leftovers for another meal. Chicken is best reheated from frozen. Do not cover while heating to ensure crispy results. I would heat it around 400º F until it reaches a safe internal temperature.
This crispy chicken recipe is so full of flavour, all it takes is some simple sides for the perfect weeknight dinner.
- A simple cucumber salad is nice and refreshing. If it is the right time of year a snap pea salad would pair well too.
- Looking for a few condiments? Pickled onions and zucchini pickles would be great.
- You can never go wrong with crispy fries or baked beans to round out the meal.
- Of course, onion rings are always a hit too.
- Love pasta salad? This Greek couscous salad is always a hit.
Crispy Baked Chicken Drumsticks are a favourite around here. Takeout doesn’t have a chance in our house. Easy to make, delicious to eat, and I guarantee your family won’t complain if you have leftovers either.
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Loving the idea of oven-fried recipes? Here are a few more to try.
Crispy Baked Chicken Drumsticks with Mexican Inspiration
Ingredients
- 8 chicken drumsticks
- 3 tablespoons avocado oil
- 4 ounces tortilla chips (crushed)
- 3 tablespoons Mexican seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400º F and line baking sheet with foil, and spray with cooking spray.
- Wash chicken drumsticks and pat dry. Place on a plate.
- Crush tortilla chips using a food processor. You can also place them in a plastic bag and crush them with your hand. Place the crushed chips in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Put your oil and Mexican seasoning in bowls and set aside.
- Generously rub each drumstick with the Mexican seasoning, making sure to cover it all over. Place on a plate.
- Working with one piece of chicken at a time, lightly brush some oil on the drumstick. Place it in the tortilla chips and nicely coat. Place the coated chicken on the baking sheet.Continue this with each piece of chicken.
- Place the baking sheet into the pre heated oven, and bake until golden brown, and crispy (about 25 minutes), turning ½ way through.
- When cooked, remove from oven.
- ENJOY!!
dixya @food, pleasure, and health
absolutely love that crunch on top! i prefer to oven bake things when possible and this looks like one of those recipes.
Homemade & Yummy
This is so crunchy….and so delicious.
Cat | Curly's Cooking
These look absolutely delicious. Love the idea of using tortillas for the crunchy coating.
Homemade & Yummy
The chips work so well. Hope you give this a try.
Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours
Love a good fakeaway, so much better for your health and wallet than getting fast food in! Love this idea.
Homemade & Yummy
This is our favourite chicken dish for sure. Economical too.
Anna
My family loves crunchy drumsticks! The tortilla chip coating sounds fantastic! I need to make these soon.
Homemade & Yummy
Hop you LOVE them…we sure do.
Lindsay @ The Live-In Kitchen
My kids would love this!!
Homemade & Yummy
Us BIG kids do too. ENJOY!!
Michelle
That looks fantastic! I love chicken but don’t often make this type at home. I need to change that.
Homemade & Yummy
OMG this is so delicious….and crispy….and did I say DELICIOUS??
Matt Kearns
Holy Crap! You’ve combined two of my favorite things. Chicken and tortillas! This poultry looks absolutely delicious Gloria! Well done!
Homemade & Yummy
HAHAH…well I certainly hope you give this a try. It is our favourite by far.
Brandy
Chicken drumsticks are such an economical meat so we do a ton of of them but usually just with salt and pepper. The family would love the variety to our usual recipe. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Homemade & Yummy
ENJOY!! This is our favourite for sure.
Britt @ A Lil' Sweet, Spice, & Advice
Mmmm, these chicken legs look so delicious! I love that you used crushed tortilla chips instead of cornflakes, so much more flavorful! I can easily feed these to a crowd.
Homemade & Yummy
This is such a fun recipe to make. So crispy, so delicious….so addictive!!
Leslie-Anne
My kids call them ‘chicken drums’ and we usually do a almond/tapioca flour dredge to get a quick crust but my son actually takes off all the skin because he doesn’t like it! It blows my mind because it’s the best part!
Homemade & Yummy
The crust is the best part….silly kids…they don’t know what they are missing. One day they will figure it out.
Julia
When I first saw these photos, I thought to myself, “Oh, such delicious cornflakes-covered chicken”. And then it turned out it was corn chips covered. I love this idea! I think it’s just spectacular. I recently also made crispy backed drumsticks (they were on sale at costco) but I used a different recipe. I must try yours soon!
Homemade & Yummy
I cannot even tell you how much we LOVE this chicken. Seriously at the top of our list for sure.
Tracy Koslicki
Oh I LOVE baked deliciousness that has the crisp like it was fried! I love drumsticks but never makes them. Now I know how to make them perfectly crispy!
Homemade & Yummy
OMG you need to give this a try….so good!!
Tina
I had heard of crispy baked chicken or baked ‘fried’ chicken but I didn’t realize you could make it with corn chips, this is amazing! Thank you for this recipe, I’m definitely going to try this. The real judge will be my husband, I can feel a thumbs up on this one.
Homemade & Yummy
I know my hubby gave it “two” thumbs up…ENJOY!!
Amy Nash
This recipe is ingenius! I love the spices you used and crusting the outside with crushed tortilla chips! These drumsticks sound soooo good!
Homemade & Yummy
They are so good. We love them here. Our favourite recipe for chicken by far.
Amanda
Don’t you just love crushed tortilla chips as a coating? They bake up so crispy! I often use them on tilapia fillets, but haven’t tried the chips on drumsticks. This is going to have to happen for dinner one night this week, especially with those festive Mexican seasonings!
Homemade & Yummy
We cannot get enough of this chicken. I have to make a double batch so I can have leftovers.