October 20, 2008

Jen's Baked Buffalo Chicken Legs

I am still reluctant to cook dinner, and I really struggled with what to make tonight. I think I am just in a rut. I typically don't mind cooking...in fact I usually enjoy it...but lately cooking has been a huge drag. I am not sure what that is all about. Sigh. Oh well, I guess I will just suck it up so my family does not starve.
Originally, I was thinking about making a shrimp pasta dish, but I did not have all the ingredients on hand. So, I had to revise my plan. I spotted these chicken legs in my freezer, and I made the decision to scrap the shrimp idea altogether. This is a relatively simple recipe, and fairly inexpensive to make. Cheap and easy...what is better than that??? I think I will serve these legs with baked potato and a frozen vegetable (the usual side items). I don't have any ranch, but I do have ranch dressing packets that I could mix with some sour cream for dipping. That concoction usually works in a pinch. I haven't made these in a while, so I will let you know how it all turns out.

Jen’s Baked Buffalo Chicken Legs

Ingredients:
Cooking Spray
4 chicken legs
1 cup of seasoned bread crumbs
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon parsley flakes
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 egg, beaten
1 Tablespoon of milk
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons of melted butter
1/2 to 3/4 cup of Louisiana Hot Sauce (mix with Tapito Hot Sauce for extra spicy)

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat cookie sheet with cooking spray and set aside.
2) Combine breadcrumbs, onion power, garlic powder, paprika, parsley flakes, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper into a bowl.
3) In a separate small bowl beat egg with a tablespoon of milk.
4) Dip chicken legs separately into egg mixture, then dredge into breadcrumb mixture, coating thoroughly. Repeat process so each leg is double coated. Set breadcrumb coated chicken aside on cookie sheet. Spray legs with small amount of cooking spray.
5) Bake chicken for 45 minutes at 400 degrees.
6) While chicken is baking combine melted butter with hot sauce into a large bowl.
7) Once chicken is finished, dip each chicken leg into hot sauce mixture and coat thoroughly. Repeat with all chicken legs.
8) Serve immediately with ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing for dipping.



The Result:
This was really awesome! This dish tastes exactly like a big, spicy, hot wing. Oh man, I love me some spicy food...and this certainly fits that description. I actually made it a little hotter than normal by combining Tapatio brand Mexican hot sauce with the Louisiana Hot Sauce. If you are a spicy food fanatic like I am, I highly recommend using two types of really spicy sauce. As you can see, I made baked potato and a peas/corn combo for my side items. Also, aside from the butter, I don't think this is too terrible for you health-wise. Cooking Spray is used in lieu of oil and these are baked and not fried. Okay, I am not saying that they are healthy...I am just saying they not 'too bad' for you. I need to remember this dish more often, since it is yummy, easy, fast, and cheap!

3 comments:

Jen said...

This sounds yummy. I can't wait to hear how it turns out.

Bethany said...

Made this tonight and it was excellent!

City Share said...

I googled "baked buffalo chicken legs" and came across your site. Those look really good. We aren't eating grain, so I'm skipping that step, but we will be having something similar tonight.