Baked Chicken Legs And Vegetables
This baked Chicken legs with vegetables is a delicious one-pan dinner with minimal effort. Chicken and vegetables tossed in a ranch dressing/marinade and cooked until tender and juicy.
“Recipe was first published in April, 2020. The post has been updated with new photos and small improvements in February 2024 “
Baked Chicken legs with Vegetables
Baked Chicken legs along with vegetables in a delicious ranch marinade, is the kind of dinner we love on any day. Butter, ranch seasoning, paprika for a little extra kick, salt, and pepper, are all you need for this recipe. No more boring vegetables here, because the veggies are cooked along with Chicken and soaks up all the flavor.
And it creates this amazing pan sauce, which is packed with flavor and perfect to drizzle over rice or mop clean with crusty bread.
Ingredients you need for Oven Baked Chicken legs
- Chicken: I have used bone-in Chicken legs for maximum flavor. You can also use Bone-in Chicken thighs or Chicken leg quarters. Bone-in Chicken thigh takes a little longer to cook than boneless, so the vegetables also get enough time to get cooked.
- Vegetables: I used potatoes and carrots here. You can also use Zucchini, pepper etc. Add hard root vegetables along with chicken, but throw in softer veggies midway, to avoid overcooking.
- Garlic: Well I am a little obsessed with garlic, the more the better. You can add some whole cloves of garlic which will add more flavor to the pan juice.
- Wine: Again for a flavourful pan sauce. You can substitute with chicken stock.
- Butter: Love rich buttery pan sauce??? Butter keeps the meat moist and flavourful. You can also swap butter with Olive oil for a healthier version.
- Ranch Seasoning: You don’t need dozens of spices, use good quality ranch seasoning or a homemade one here.
- Paprika: For an extra kick, I like to add paprika. You can skip it if you want.
How to Bake Chicken Legs
Prep the Vegetable and Chicken legs
- Cut carrots and potatoes medium sized cuts. If using baby potatoes cut into half, for larger quarters will do.
- Mix melted butter, ranch seasoning, paprika, salt , pepper along with 2-3 chicken stock. The consistency should neither be too thick or very thin
- Add 3/4 th of the marinade to chicken legs and toss to coat chicken.
Bake Seasoned Chicken Legs and Vegetables at 400
A 9X13 baking dish or a large oven proof cast iron skillet, add veggies and toss in the remaining reach mixture. Spread in a single layer. Place coated chicken legs on top
Recipe Tips
- Chicken legs with skin crisp up when tossed in a dry seasoning rub and baked. But in this recipe, as there is moisture, chicken skin will get soggy and rubbery. So save those chicken legs for some Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Drumsticks.
- Different veggies take different amounts of time to cook, hence add them to the oven accordingly. If using softer veggies like green beans, or pepper, add them to the pan midway, after you remove the foil.
- Make sure the melted butter has come to room temperature before adding the ranch seasoning to it. I had made the mistake of adding ranch seasoning to hot melted butter and the ranch marinade sort of turned into a weird consistency.
How Long To Bake Chicken Legs/Chicken Drumsticks in Oven?
Baking chicken legs is forgiving. There is no fear of the meat getting dry and chewy. How long to cook chicken legs in the oven depends on their size.
It takes 40-45 minutes for the chicken drumsticks to cook in an oven preheated at 400 degrees F.
Can I Use Any Other Cuts Of Chicken?
For long and slow cooking/baking, chicken cuts with bone work well and also helps to make an amazing pan sauce. Hence bone-in chicken legs and thighs are preferable. Boneless chicken thighs work in a pinch but chicken breast is not just the right cut for this recipe
Baking Chicken Leg Covered or Uncovered
I have tried both ways. While baking it uncovered does work. Baking it covered initially for about 20 minutes and then baking it uncovered for the rest yields the most moist chicken legs with perfectly caramelized exteriors.
Storing Leftovers
This stores well for up to 4 days in the refrigerator and also freezes really well. Reheat in the microwave until it is warm. ( Note: reheating in the microwave means you are cooking the chicken again, hence make sure you don’t microwave for long, else chicken will go dry).
More Easy One-Pan Chicken Recipes…
Baked Chicken leg and vegetables
Ingredients
- 6-7 Chicken Legs (2 Pounds) (ref note 1)
- 2 large Potatoes Quartered
- 2-3 Carrots Cut into big chunks
- 4-5 Garlic Cloves
- ⅓ cup White Wine or substitute with Chicken Stock
- ⅓ cup chicken stock
Ranch Marinade
- ⅓ cup Melted Butter (unsalted, cooled down)
- 4 tablespoon Ranch Seasoning
- 1 teaspoon Paprika
- ½ teaspoon Pepper
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 2 tablespoons Chicken stock
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients for Ranch Marinade
- In an Ovenproof pan add Chicken legs, halved Potatoes, Carrots, and Garlic Cloves. Drizzle ranch marinade on top and toss everything well.
- Pour wine and stock into the pan.
- Loosely cover with foil and bake at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes. Take out the pan, brush chicken drumsticks with the pan drippings, and bake uncovered for another 30-35 minutes.
- Serve with a side of green salad or with rice.
Video
Notes
- Use skinless drumsticks in this recipe. Vegetables when baked tend to lose moisture. Chicken with the skin doesn’t really get crispy when there is a lot of moisture.
Excellent flavor! Ranch marinade makes the dish.
My family and myself loves this recipe. My family request it twice a month. Thank you for this recipe .
My family and I really enjoyed this meal. Thanks for the recipe
Thank you for giving it a try.
Made a double batch the other night. Accidentally poured red wine instead of white and it still turned out great. Also used minced garlic in a jar in place of garlic cloves and added to marinade and that worked well. A forgiving recipe. The vegetables were tasty as was the chicken legs.
Good know that Red wine worked for the recipe. Next time when I make it might use red wine instead white. 🙂
Loved this recipe. Could you substitute the chicken with sausages?
Thank you for the feedback. I guess sausage would work also, but you might have to adjust the baking time.