14 Dinners To Make With Chicken Drumsticks

Drumsticks are super flavorful, inexpensive, and quick to cook up. They're also incredibly versatile. You can fry, bake, broil, or grill them, and they'll pair with so many different side dishes. They're the ideal cut of chicken to keep on hand to whip up a weeknight dinner.

Make recipes using drumsticks only, or mix them with thighs and breasts so everyone gets to have their favorite piece. You're sure to find inspiration in these 14 recipes for juicy, full-of-flavor chicken drumsticks.

Chicken Paprikash

This uncomplicated and unpretentious Hungarian recipe is a special dish. Chicken, onions, butter, stock, paprika, salt, and sour cream are the basis to make chicken in a sauce that's so good, you'll want to drink it. The recipe calls for drumsticks and thighs, but you can use all drumsticks if you prefer. Serve it over mashed potatoes, rice, potato gnocchi, or spaetzle.

Breaded and Baked Chicken Drumsticks

Mayo and Dijon mustard hold the breading onto these drumsticks that you bake in the oven for 45 minutes. Pair this chicken with mac and cheese and green beans to please the whole family.

Greek-Style Roast Chicken

Contributor Ivy Manning says, "Bone-in meat stays moist (especially chicken legs) when roasting, while the skin acts as a blanket, basting the meat with fat and flavor. If you’d prefer to use boneless, skinless chicken, I would recommend grilling it instead of roasting for the juiciest results."

Oven Roasted Piri Piri Chicken

Contributor Sharee Hill says, "I definitely use gloves or tongs when I’m putting the marinade on the chicken. This prevents any sauce residue from being on my hands that could cause burning if I touch my face."

Easy BBQ Chicken Drumsticks in the Oven

Make bbq chicken in the oven if it's too cold to light up the grill or if you don't have a grill. It gets a quick sear under the broiler to brown the skin, and then a longer roast in the oven until the chicken is completely tender. Use store bought or homemade bbq sauce.

Dakgangjeong (Sweet and Spicy Korean Fried Chicken)

Contributor Joy Cho says, "Instead of chicken tenders, use whole wings, drumsticks, or a combination of the two. You will need to fry them for longer to cook them through."

Classic Baked Chicken

All you need for this classic way of preparing chicken is the chicken, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Prepare an entire cut up chicken this way or just use a package of chicken drumsticks for the entire recipe—the quickest way to get your chicken dinner on the table.

Chicken Drumsticks, Ethiopian-Style

Rub drumsticks with berbere, a hot and earthy spice blend used in Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine. You can buy the blend premade or create your own—the spices needed to make it are in the recipe. Simply coat the chicken legs in oil or butter, sprinkle with salt, rub with the spice mix, wrap in foil, and bake. It's a simple way of switching up the way you bake chicken.

Air Fryer Fried Chicken

Crispy and juicy fried chicken from the air fryer? Try it! Drench chicken pieces, including drumsticks, in buttermilk then coat them in flour and spices. Then pop in the air fryer and let it do its thing.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

If you'd rather fry your chicken the original way, this recipe creates crispy fried chicken that will wow everyone around the table. Marinate the chicken in buttermilk, sliced onion, herbs, paprika, and cayenne for at least 8 hours, coat in flour and spices, then fry it in batches on the stovetop.

Guyanese Chicken Curry

This dish has its roots in Indian cooking and is a contribution to Guyanese cuisine by the Indian population of Guyana. Seasoned with Caribbean green seasoning combined with a spice blend of warm garam masala and curry powder, there's layer upon layer of flavor in these drumsticks and thighs.

Grilled Chicken with South Carolina-Style BBQ Sauce

South Carolina bbq sauce is a zesty, mustard-based sauce with a hint of sweetness and spice. Generously coat drumsticks and thighs—or just drumsticks—then grill until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches at least 175°F.

Sweet Tea Fried Chicken

Contributor Irvin Lin says, "Herbal teas (i.e. not green, white, or black tea) don’t have the tannins that help tenderize the chicken. It will still be tasty, but the black tea helps tenderize the chicken in a similar way that mildly acidic buttermilk does by breaking down the protein, allowing for a juicier fried chicken."

Indian Chicken Biryani

Contributor Prerna Singh says, "The recipe I am sharing today is a simpler, more approachable take on a traditional Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani. The technique and the ingredient list might look overwhelming but trust me, as long as you have all the ingredients in front of you, the hard part is already over."