This easy keto air fryer chicken legs recipe will soon become a regular low carb dinner for you. With a spicy rub you can have these flavorful and crispy chicken drumsticks in about 20 minutes of cooking. Each leg has only 1.3g net carbs!
You might also like this keto air fryer rotisserie chicken!
I’ve never been much a chicken leg fan but my family loves them. So I thought I’d try cooking some in the air fryer. Once again that air fryer succeeds in making friend food a bit healthier. It cooked the legs beautifully giving them a nice crispy skin.
So today I give you my easy keto air fryer chicken legs. You just mix the spices, rub it all over the chicken and air fry them.
This is such an easy and inexpensive keto dinner. I will definitely be keeping some drumsticks in the freezer to make this easy dinner whenever I’m in a pinch.
Making a tasty spice rub for chicken.
I use this rub for my air fryer ribs and it’s very tasty. The simple ingredients I used were garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, chili powder, paprika, cumin, salt, pepper and Swerve brown sugar sweetener.
This recipe makes a good bit of rub so try using half of the recipe and save the rest for the next time. Or you can use as much as you want and throw the rest away.
NOTE: You don’t want to touch the raw chicken and then touch the spices over and over again for contamination reasons.
Let’s make some air fryer
chicken legs!
- Preheat air fryer while you make the spice rub. Turn it to 400°F for 5 minutes to preheat.
- Mix the spices and set aside. Place the drumsticks into a large baggie and add the olive oil. Mix the legs around in the bag to get the olive oil on them.
- Pour in half of the spices and try to coat all of the legs.
- Stop the air fryer and spray the basket with cooking spray.
- Place the legs on in the air fryer basket and cook at 400°F for 10 minutes then flip them and cook for another 8-10 minutes until nice and crispy. You can use a meat thermometer to check that the internal temperature is 165°F.
- Let the crispy chicken legs sit for 5 minutes before eating. Note cooking time may vary a bit depending on the size of your drumsticks.
Frequently Asked Questions
It takes roughly 18 – 20 minutes to cook drumsticks in the air fryer. Here is an air fryer cooking times cheat sheet for future reference.
Yes, frozen drumsticks will take a little longer than fresh drumsticks but just a few minutes more. You want to cook them until the internal temperature is 165°F.
It is better to cook the drumsticks in a single layer in the air fryer basket so that the skin gets nice and crispy.
Chicken legs are fine on a keto diet. They are higher in fat than some leaner parts of the chicken like chicken breasts. But all parts of the chicken have 0g carbohydrates.
With the spices you don’t really need a sauce but if you want here is a low carb BBQ sauce and easy wing sauce to try.
Keto recipes to serve with
this main dish.
Assuming you are making these air fryer drumsticks because you want a quick and yummy keto dinner, I would suggest making some cheesy cauliflower broccoli rice which only takes 15 minutes.
Or you can try either some slow cooker creamed spinach or loaded broccoli salad. These are all rich and tasty vegetable side dishes.
Well I hope you give these air fryer chicken legs a try. It’s an inexpensive but very tasty keto dinner that is family friendly as well.
Check out all of my air fryer recipes. My air fryer is becoming one of my favorite kitchen appliances, especially for fried food.
The nutrition information for 1 leg is 240 calories
14.1g fat / 1.7g carbs / 0.4g fiber / 24.8g protein = 1.3g net carbohydrates
Keto Chicken Legs in the Air Fryer
These keto air fryer chicken drumsticks are so easy to make. Perfect for a tasty and quick low carb dinner.
Ingredients
- 8 chicken legs with skin
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Swerve brown sugar sweetener
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne powder
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cumin
Instructions
- Preheat the air fryer for a few minutes at 400°F.
- While that's preheating, mix all of the spices together in a bowl.
- Add the chicken legs to a large ziplock bag and pour in the oil.
- Mix the oli around the drumsticks within the bag. Then pour in half of the spices and try to get it all over the legs. You can keep the other half of the spices for another day or use a bit more if you want.
- Spray the air fryer basket with cooking spray. Lay the legs down but do not overlap. If your air fryer basket is on the smaller side you make have to make this in two batches. Sprinkle more of the spices over the legs if you want or save it for another time.
- Cook for 10 minutes at 400°F. Then flip them over and cook for 10 more minutes until the internal temperature is 165°F using a kitchen thermometer and the skin is golden brown and crispy.
- Let sit for a few minutes befre eating.
Note cooking time may vary a bit depending on the size of your drumsticks.
Notes
The nutrition information for 1 chicken leg is 240 calories
14.1g fat / 1.7g carbs / 0.4g fiber / 24.8g protein = 1.3g net carbohydratess
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 240
Denise
Delicious, can’t wait to try it on wings.
Denise
Hope you like it Denise!
John
What do you do with the other half of the spice mix?
Denise
Hi John, you can keep the other half of the spices for another day, use a bit more if you want or just cut the spice amounts in half. I was trying to keep the correct ratio of spices and sometimes it’s hard to measure out half of a tablespoon. Hope that makes sense.