Air fried chicken leg quarters are the best. Not only are they super affordable but you get a thigh and drumstick in one serving – nice juicy flavorful meat!
I hadn’t had chicken leg quarters in years, until I noticed how often they go on sale in my grocery store. I bought a big bag of them this one time and didn’t regret it. They’re really meaty and remind me of the kinds of meals my mom made when I was growing up.
Chicken leg quarters are usually sold with the skin on. If you don’t want the skin, you have two options that I’ll walk you through below.
Video: Air Fryer Chicken Legs
How To Remove Skin From Chicken Leg Quarters
If your chicken leg quarters have skin on them, as most of them do, and you want to remove it, you have two options.
Option #1: Remove the skin before cooking. With leg quarters, the skin is often attached pretty firmly in a couple places and it can be tough to get off just by pulling. I grip the skin at the edge of the thigh end and pull it off as much as I can. Anywhere that I run into trouble and find that it’s stuck to the meat or bone, I use clean kitchen shears (these are essentially just sharp scissors) to snip it off.
Option #2: Cook the chicken with the skin on, as instructed below. Then let it rest for 2 minutes before using your fingers to pull off the skin. It will come off super easily. If it happens to be stuck somewhere, go in with those kitchen shears as above. Just make sure the shears are clean and have not had contact with raw chicken.
How to choose between option 1 and 2? I prefer option 2 because it’s easier and because you get the flavor and some juice from the skin dripping onto the chicken meat as it cooks. This adds moisture and flavor but doesn’t add much in the way of fat.
But here’s a warning… that skin is going to be plentiful and crispy and seriously delicious. If I pull it off at this point, I tend to eat it. If you don’t want that temptation, remove the skin and discard it before cooking the chicken. If you have better willpower than I do, go ahead and remove it after cooking.
How To Cook Chicken Leg Quarters In The Air Fryer
To start, coat the chicken leg quarters in a little bit of oil. Do this whether or not the chicken has skin on it. I use olive oil in an oil sprayer like this one. I love it because I can fill it with my own olive oil, making it much cheaper and more convenient than canned cooking spray. Also, the sprayer works great. I’ve had mine for years!
Next, season the chicken with salt, black pepper and garlic powder. Go in with different seasonings if you’d like, but make sure to include salt.
Put the chicken leg quarters into the air fryer basket skin-side-down (or more-rounded-side-down if they’re skinless) and cook them for 20 minutes. Flip them. My air fryer has a non-stick basket so I use tools that are non-metal and thus won’t scratch and ruin the surface. I turn to these kinds of silicone-coated tongs for this. After flipping them, you’re going to cook them until they reach 165°F inside, as read on an instant read thermometer. It will take 10-12 more minutes.
Finally, you take the chicken out of the basket (use those silicone tongs again) and let it rest for 2 minutes before serving.
Grab and knife and fork and dig in for a hearty and delicious piece of chicken!
More Cuts Of Chicken In The Air Fryer
Find out the perfect temperature and timing for these other cuts of chicken.
Podcast Episode: Air Frying Chicken
Listen to our editor, Christine Pittman, explain briefly how to make this chicken, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
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Air Fryer Chicken Leg Quarters Recipe
Air fried chicken leg quarters are the best. Not only are they super affordable but you get a thigh and drumstick in one serving – nice juicy flavorful meat!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Air Fryer
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 chicken leg quarters with skin* (one pound each)
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil (or use olive oil sprayer)
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
Instructions
- Remove chicken leg quarters from refrigerator.
- Preheat air fryer to 400°F.
- Coat chicken on all sides with olive oil.
- Sprinkle on all sides with salt, pepper, garlic powder.
- Put chicken in air fryer basket, skin-side-down, in a single layer. The two chicken quarters should not overlap. Cook 20 minutes.
- Flip chicken and cook until 165°F on an instant read thermometer, 10-12 more minutes. It could take longer depending on your brand of air fryer so do check with the thermometer and cook longer if needed.
- Remove from basket and let rest at least 2 minutes before serving.
Love this recipe? I’d appreciate it if you could scroll down and add a *5 star rating* to help others know they’ll love it as well!
Notes
*For skinless chicken leg quarters, use the exact same method. Nothing needs to be changed except put them in rounded-side-down (that’s the side that would have had the skin on it if it had skin).
This post originally appeared in September 2019 and was revised and republished in November 2022.
Very easy and very delicious she made it easy to understand and straight to the point give it a try you won’t be disappointed.
Thank you for the kind words, Miles! I’m so glad you enjoyed.
Love your recipe simple and delicious
Thank you so much, Bill! Glad you enjoyed.
So good, really enjoyed them!
Thank you so much, Terry! I love the way these turn out.
Just made this and it was delicious. Lovely crispy skin, juicy meat, really good.
Thankyou for this recipe, will be making this again.
You’re welcome, Tom! I’m happy you enjoyed.
Sounds good but my chicken quarters are rather thick. At such a high temperature and time as you recommend my chicken would be quite well done on the outside while retaining a lovely reddish/pink color inside close to the bone. Experimenting I have found that I should cook it at a lower temperature for a longer period of time flipping every ten minutes. Even then it takes a good hour to achieve proper temperature. Apparently it works too good.
Paul, mine are typically about 1 pound each, and 1 and 3/4 inches thick at their thickest point. I’m going to try to find some thicker ones so I can do some testing and give some extra guidelines above. Thanks for letting me know!
Absolutely wonderful
Thank you so much, Dreena!
First time making this and the chicken is divine, thank you
You’re welcome, Karen! I love making these too.
Absolutely FANDABEOSI!!
Thank you for this brilliant recipe!!
Thank you, Jeannie! I’m so happy that you loved it.
Top tips.
Glad it was helpful, Steve!
It’s hard to explain how such a simple recipe is so good, the chicken was perfectly cooked.
Instead of regular pepper and garlic powder; I used Pampered Chef Crushed Peppercorn and Garlic seasoning.
Thanks so much, Edward! It really is a fabulous basic recipe to know.
I put chilli paste and chopped jalapeños under the skin. Sensational!
Wow, that sounds amazing, Jon! Thank you for sharing.
Skip the legs. Feed them to dogs. . Leave the skin on. Take the bone out. Add two more thighs.
Just great. So simple and comes out perfect. We are on low sodium diet, so we cut the salt.
Glad to hear it, Suzi! Thanks for coming back to comment.
Was looking for a quick and easy Air Fryer recipe for chicken leg quarters, since they are the cheapest to purchase in the grocery stores at the moment. Yours popped up in my search and, your simple way to cook the leg quarters, got my attention. I have been experimenting with my air fryer and chicken with the seasoning savory, I am glad that you mentioned the salt, I am always skipping this seasoning when I use, savory, garlic seasoning. Thank you for a great recipe. Kudous to you.
You’re welcome, Keith! Yes, the leg quarters are such a great buy.
Wonderful full of flavour.
Thank you so much, Susan!
This was exactly perfect. The skin was so crispy. Exactly right!
Thank you so much, Shawn! I’m glad you enjoyed.
First time using the Power XL and this receipt was simple and good
Shawna, I’m so happy to hear that. I love the chicken leg quarters in the air fryer. That crispy skin is so incredible!
The simplest and yet the best air fried chicken recipe I have tried.This is the best chicken! I did take the suggestion of yours and cooked them as u said on each side. They are juicy, crispy and flavorful! Thank you for the recipe!
Thank you, Manoj. I’m so happy you liked them!
Perfect recipe for leg quarters. Very tender. Left skin on and they were crispy, hard to resist.
I’m new at air frying and you can’t go wrong with this recipe.
I added some Italian seasoning for my taste and it was good.
Happy Air frying.
Thanks so much, Phyllis! We’ve got plenty of air fryer recipes for you, you’ll be an expert in no time. 🙂
Thanks for sharing
Thanks to the pretty lady Christine,
Easy, tasty dinner!
How long for frozen chicken quarters please?
Lisa, I haven’t tried this in the air fryer for chicken leg quarters, but the general rule of thumb is 50% more time for frozen chicken than for fresh chicken. So, I’d try doing 30 minutes skin-side-down and then flip and cook for 15-20 minutes skin-side-up. Use an instant read thermometer to make sure it’s at 165F, or cut into one and make sure it’s not at all pink inside anymore.