These amazing oven baked chicken leg quarters with crispy skin and tender meat are so easy to make, and perfect for healthy weeknight dinners.

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Why you’ll love it
Ingredients
Instructions
Top tips
Serving suggestions
Variations
Leftovers
Frequently asked questions
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Recipe

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Reading: Roast chicken quarters in oven

Whether you love to serve your chicken with a simple Honey BBQ Sauce, a side of crispy Parmentier Potatoes or a healthier Black Bean Corn Salad, this easy recipe is perfect for you!

Table of Contents

Why you’ll love it

Really easy chicken entree
Juicy and tender meat
Perfect crispy chicken skin
Easy to adjust the seasoning to suit your preferences
Chicken quarters are really inexpensive
A great way to meal prep chicken

Ingredients

Chicken quarters: Chicken quarters are an excellent cut of chicken containing both the drumstick and chicken thigh. These pieces have chicken bones and chicken skin still attached.

Olive oil: The olive oil prevents the chicken from becoming dry, and allows the seasoning to stick to the meat. You can also use other cooking oils, such as vegetable oil.

Seasoning: I use a combination of cayenne pepper or chili powder, salt, black pepper, garlic powder and paprika to season these chicken quarters. You can also find other seasoning options in the Variations section below.

Instructions

Dry the chicken quarters with a paper towel to remove excess moisture. Then, add them to a bowl along with seasoning and olive oil, and mix until the chicken pieces are evenly coated.

Preheat your oven to 400 F / 200 C. Place the chicken leg quarters on a sheet pan fitted with a cooling rack. Baking the pieces on the rack will allow the grease to drip down into the pan, and prevents the bottom of the chicken from becoming soggy.

Bake the chicken quarters in the middle of the oven for about 45 minutes. Then, increase the temperature to 475 F / 225 C, and continue to bake for about 10 minutes. The increased temperature will ensure that the chicken skin is crispy.

Use a meat thermometer to check that the chicken has reached an internal temperature of 170 F / 77 C. Remove the chicken from the oven, leave it to cool down for a few minutes, then serve.

Top tips

Use a meat thermometer to make sure that the baked chicken leg quarters are done. Chicken is safe to eat when it reaches an internal temperature of 165 F / 74 C, but with chicken quarters I prefer to cook them until they are 170 F or 77 C.
Wipe the chicken dry with a paper towel before you add the seasoning. This will help the meat absorb the flavor.

Serving suggestions

Chicken quarters are perfect to serve as a healthy entree for lunch or dinner. You can also roast the chicken pieces and carve the meat to use in other dishes like chicken salads, casseroles or sandwiches.

Here are some of my favorite side dishes to serve with chicken leg quarters, or some great chicken salads to use the meat in:

Side salads: Asparagus Pasta Salad, French Potato Salad
Rice: Instant Pot Mexican Rice, Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice
Potatoes: Mexican Potatoes, Healthy Mashed Potatoes
Sauces: Authentic Tzatziki Sauce, Cilantro Lime Aioli
Chicken salads: Artichoke Chicken Salad, Hawaiian Chicken Salad

Variations

Leftovers

You can store leftover chicken quarters in a refrigerator for up to 3 days. Use the cooked chicken cold in sandwiches or salads, or reheat and serve as an entree.

Leftover chicken quarters will not be as crispy as when they are freshly made. They still taste great, and are really versatile!