| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 45 min |
| Prep: | 35 min |
| Cook: | 1 hr 10 min |
| Yield: | 6 |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 12 skin-on chicken drumsticks (3 1/2 to 4 1/4 pounds)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- Olive-oil cooking spray
Instructions
- Mix 1 tablespoon lemon zest and the lemon juice in a large bowl. Add 1 cup water and the sugar and whisk to dissolve, then whisk in the buttermilk. Pierce the drumsticks several times with a fork and season with salt and pepper. Toss in the marinade, cover and refrigerate 4 hours, or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bring the chicken to room temperature. Put the panko, thyme, the remaining 1 tablespoon lemon zest, the cayenne, 1 teaspoon salt, and black pepper to taste in a large resealable plastic bag and shake to mix. Put the mayonnaise in a bowl. Set a rack on a baking sheet and spray with cooking spray.
- Remove the drumsticks from the marinade, dip in the mayonnaise, then drop into the bag and shake to coat; transfer to the rack.
- Mist the chicken with cooking spray. Bake until golden, about 35 minutes; flip and bake until browned and crisp, 35 to 40 more minutes. Cool completely, then pack in an airtight container.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 344 |
| Total Fat | 18 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Carbohydrates | 24 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 9 g |
| Protein | 21 g |
| Cholesterol | 96 mg |
| Sodium | 855 mg |
Reviews
I follow the recipe to the letter but hang the drumsticks from drumstick racks.
Meh. Labor intensive for just “okay” results.
Very tast
They were very good.
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Not impressed – like other reviewers, the crumbs did NOT stay on the chicken. So, what is the point of this recipe if you can’t have the breading??? 2 stars because the flavor was okay.
The flavor came out to be good but crumbs fell off. I don’t think using mayonnaise as emulsifying agent was a good idea. I am going to dip the chicken pieces in eggs next time so the crumbs stay on chicken.
First time the breading came off while turning as others described. As mayo is egg based, the egg needs something to stick to. So, just like dredging for frying, I coated the pieces lightly in corn starch first, then the mayo, then the panko. I flipped using the leg bone rather than grabbing the meat. I ended up with a much better result.
Tried this recipe tonight and it turned out great! Put a little extra seasoning after reading the reviews. Family loved it! Great lemon taste. I did lose a little bit of skin even though I turned it over on the bone and sprayed my rack before baking, but, what was left was very tasty.
Chicken was juicy with crispy, light lemon flavored crust. After reading the reviews, I used what I had on hand and substituted greek yogurt for the mayo, half and half for the buttermilk, regular bread crumbs for the panko and raised the temp to 425. I added a lot more thyme and cayenne. Family was thrilled.
This turned out really really good. Marinated for about 5 hours, in 2% milk because I didn’t have buttermilk. Was juicy and crunchy and you could really taste the lemon flavor. Could add extra cayenne if you like spice, you couldn’t really taste the spice using the amount in the recipe.