Thursday, 17 April 2025

Herb & Garlic Roasted Chicken Legs

 

Herb & Garlic Roasted Chicken Legs



I decided to do a spring clean on my refrigerator the other day which involved also cleaning out the freezer part of it. I like to do this a couple of times a year.  Not only is this a good hygiene practice, but it also helps to make me aware of exactly what I have in there.  


I found two chicken leg quarters in there that really needed using up and so I thawed them out and cooked them for my supper one night.  I was going to shake and bake them, but then I decided I would just roast them in the same way as I would roast a whole chicken, using the same ingredients and methods, except on a smaller scale.



Herb & Garlic Roasted Chicken Legs 




Lemon, herbs and garlic are a beautiful combination of flavors when it comes to roasting poultry.  They go beautifully.  In this case, fresh lemon, both the zest and the juice, minced garlic and some dried oregano. Mix them with any piece of chicken and you have a marriage of flavors that is truly heaven-sent!  Thyme is also an herb that goes very well with the garlic and the lemon.


I created a rub of the herbs and garlic, along with the zest of the lemon and some olive oil. This I rubbed beneath the skin of the thighs and then all over the pieces of chicken before roasting. The juice of the lemon was also drizzled over top.


The end result was some really delicious pieces of chicken, tender and juicy, well flavored, with a crisp and golden skin.  


You could apply this method to any bone-in, skin-on pieces of chicken with tasty results.  Trust me on this.





Herb & Garlic Roasted Chicken Legs 



WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE HERB & GARLIC ROASTED CHICKEN LEGS


Aside from some chicken legs, just a few simple and ordinary ingredients. Good food done well.


  • 2 chicken leg/thigh quarters
  • 1 TBS olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
  • 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp coarsely grated black pepper
  • the juice and finely grated zest of one medium lemon

A chicken thigh quarter is a piece of chicken that contains both the thigh and the leg portions.  Usually, they are joined together. Failing this you could use two bone-in skin-on thighs and two bone-in skin-on drumsticks.  You could also use either four thighs or four drumsticks.




Herb & Garlic Roasted Chicken Legs 




HOW TO MAKE HERB & GARLIC ROASTED CHICKEN LEGS


These are relatively simple to make once you have them all rubbed and seasoned. It's pretty straight forward.



Preheat the oven to 375*F/190*C/ gas mark 5. Have ready a baking dish large enough to hold all of the chicken leg quarters in one layer.



Mix together the oil, thyme, oregano, minced garlic, sea salt, black pepper and lemon zest.



Loosen the skin from the thigh portion of the leg quarters and rub a bit of it in under the skin, pushing the skin back into place after. (Make sure you don't use all of the mixture.)




Herb & Garlic Roasted Chicken Legs 





Place the leg quarters into the baking dish and rub the remaining herb mixture all over the legs, top and bottom. Squeeze the juice of the lemon overall.



Roast in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, turn the oven temperature down to 350*F/180*C/gas mark 4 for a further 20 to 25 minutes until the chicken is crispy skinned, golden brown, and the juices run clear.




Herb & Garlic Roasted Chicken Legs 




FOOD SAFETY WITH RAW CHICKEN



Chicken is one of those proteins that you need to practice good food hygiene with as it has the capacity to make people really ill. If handled improperly it can spread salmonella throughout your kitchen. Nobody wants to end up with a nasty case of food poisoning from chicken that has not been handled with care. Fortunately, there are a few simple safety rules that you can follow to prevent that from happening and spoiling your chicken dinner!



1. Keep your chicken cold, i.e.. refrigerated right up until you go to cook it. Do not leave it out on the countertop. It is best to use it the day you bring it home or to freeze it immediately for use at another time. That is because our homes are generally not kept as cool as the grocery shops are kept.

2. Thaw your chicken in the refrigerator overnight, not on the countertop, or in the microwave, even if your microwave has a setting on it specifically for use in defrosting. This is never safe with chicken. To do so combines bursts of heat with bursts of no heat. Heat is the friend of bacteria growth.  When you have something like chicken these little bursts of time in between the burst of heat are the perfect environment for bacteria to grow. Whole chickens can take up to two days to thaw properly in the refrigerator so bear this in mind when taking chicken out of the freezer to cook.

3. Avoid cross contamination. Do not use the same utensils/cutting boards, etc. for raw chicken that you would use to chop up your vegetables with. If you are grilling chicken in the back yard, don't use the same plate to plate up the cooked chicken that you used to bring the raw chicken out to the BBQ on.

4. Store your chicken on the lowest shelf in your refrigerator, properly wrapped so that the juices do not drip onto or contaminate anything else.

5. Chicken does not need to be washed.  Washing it only causes chicken bacteria and juices to splash all over the place, without you even knowing you are doing it.  Simply pat dry with some paper towels and throw the paper towels away immediately. Also make sure you wash your hands thoroughly after touching or handling raw chicken before touching or handling anything else.

6. Cook your chicken to the proper internal temperature. The juices should run clear and there should be no pink remaining. Using a dedicated food thermometer, the internal temperature should register 165*F/74*C at its thickest part. 


7. Refrigerate cooked chicken promptly when you are finished eating. Do not leave it to sit out on the countertop for any more than an hour. Use any leftovers up within a maximum of 4 days.  (I actually do not use it any longer than 2 days after cooking. I would rather freeze it than take the chance.)







Herb & Garlic Roasted Chicken Legs 



I was really pleased with how these chicken legs turned out.  They were tender and juicy with bags of flavor. Lemon, garlic and herbs are a trifecta of good taste when it comes to chicken.



I enjoyed with a baked potato and some cooked vegetables on the side.  Rice would also go very well and in the summer months a potato or pasta salad would also be great!




 


If you are only two people, and you are looking for a simple and yet delicious way to cook some chicken, the following dishes might also pique your interest! (Chicken is mainly what I cook these days due to the high cost of everything else!) 





Stuffed Buffalo Chicken for Two




STUFFED BUFFALO CHICKEN FOR TWO -  This is a delicious low carb chicken dish, sized perfectly for just two people. Tender and juicy chicken breasts stuffed with a lush cheesy filling and brushed with buffalo sauce prior to cooking. Once done a lovely blue cheese sauce is drizzled over top. If you serve this with some salad and vegetables it makes for a delicious low carb meal that everyone will enjoy. You can always add a baked potato for the die-hard carb lovers!



Easy Chicken Parm for two





EASY CHICKEN PARM FOR TWO - When I say easy, I really mean it. Deliciously tender and flavor filled crisp coated chicken breasts, baked atop a flavorful mix of spaghetti and marinara, and topped with oozing mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Perfectly sized for two people. A salad goes very nicely on the side.
 



Yield: 2 servings
Author: Marie Rayner
Herb & Garlic Roasted Chicken Legs

Herb & Garlic Roasted Chicken Legs

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 45 MinTotal time: 55 Min

Tender and juicy chicken leg quarters, roasted with plenty of lemon, garlic and herbs. You can't go wrong!

Ingredients

  • 2 chicken leg/thigh quarters
  • 1 TBS olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
  • 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp coarsely grated black pepper
  • the juice and finely grated zest of one medium lemon

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375*F/190*C/ gas mark 5. Have ready a baking dish large enough to hold all of the chicken leg quarters in one layer.
  2. Mix together the oil, thyme, oregano, minced garlic, sea salt, black pepper and lemon zest.
  3. Loosen the skin from the thigh portion of the leg quarters and rub a bit of it in under the skin, pushing the skin back into place after. (Make sure you don't use all of the mixture.)
  4. Place the leg quarters into the baking dish and rub the remaining herb mixture all over the legs, top and bottom. Squeeze the juice of the lemon over all.
  5. Roast in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, turn the oven temperature down to 350*F/180*C/gas mark 4 for a further 20 to 25 minutes until the chicken is crispy skinned, golden brown, and the juices run clear.
Did you make this recipe?
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Herb & Garlic Roasted Chicken Legs




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