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Yogurt-Marinated Chicken Drumsticks

Just packed with flavor: Oven baked Yogurt-Marinated Chicken Drumsticks are reminiscent of tandoori chicken, but simpler to throw together.

Here’s a super budget-friendly (and super flavorful) Yogurt-Marinated Chicken Drumsticks recipe! I wanted to try something different this week, and this baked yogurt-marinated chicken recipe is mildly reminiscent of tandoori chicken — but simpler, and oven baked with its own tangy sweet + smoky flavor.

plate of flavorful chicken drumsticks

Marinating in yogurt also helps keep the drumsticks juicy and infuses them with flavor. (Try squeezing a little fresh lemon juice on these before serving to really bring that out, too!) And you want to talk about affordable: This whole big pack of 10 chicken drumsticks was just $2.48 on sale, and handily fed all four of us with some left over.

Yogurt-Marinated Chicken Drumsticks

yogurt marinated chicken drumsticks ingredients

Ingredients

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
4 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1.5 Tbsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
Juice of 1/2 a small lemon
Generous amount of fresh ground black pepper
sea salt, to taste
3-3.5 lbs chicken drumsticks

Directions

make the yogurt marinade

To make your marinade: Combine yogurt, 2 Tbsp olive oil, lemon juice, and spices. Trim excess skin off the drumsticks if necessary, then place them in a large bowl, pour marinade over, and toss to coat. (This is a good time to start the oven preheating to 425 degrees while you let the chicken marinate for at least 20 minutes.)

place drumsticks on cookie sheet

Drizzle a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet with remaining olive oil, then arrange drumsticks in a single layer on the baking sheet. Bake chicken at 425 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until cooked through, flipping over halfway through.

roast drumsticks in oven

Garnish chicken with chopped green onions (optional) and serve with lemon wedges.

Boom! Change it up with this Yogurt-Marinated Chicken…

plate of savory drumsticks

Give this yogurt-marinated chicken a try when you want to change up your standard chicken drumsticks recipes and add some new flair to this affordable type of meat. The mix of spices, yogurt, and lemon juice is nice and flavorful without being overly spicy.

By the way: If you don’t yet have smoked paprika in your spice cupboard, it’s worth the investment because it adds an amazing flavor to so many recipes. I’ve started buying it in larger containers on Amazon in order to save. 🙂

delicious marinated drumsticks piled on a plate

Yogurt-marinated chicken drumsticks are also naturally low carb and gluten free!

Yogurt-Marinated Chicken Drumsticks, printable recipe

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5 from 2 votes

Yogurt-Marinated Chicken Drumsticks

This baked yogurt-marinated chicken recipe is somewhat reminiscent of tandoori chicken — but oven baked with its own tangy sweet+smoky flavor.
Course dinner
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 4 Tbsp olive oil, divided
  • 1.5  Tbsp smoked paprika
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • Juice of 1/2 a small lemon
  • Generous amount of fresh ground black pepper
  • sea salt, to taste
  • 3.5 lbs chicken drumsticks

Instructions

  • To make your marinade: Combine yogurt, 2 Tbsp olive oil, lemon juice, and spices.
  • Trim excess skin off the drumsticks if necessary, then place them in a large bowl, pour marinade over, and toss to coat. (This is a good time to start the oven preheating to 425 degrees while you let the chicken marinate for at least 20 minutes.)
  • Drizzle a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet with remaining olive oil, then arrange drumsticks in a single layer on the baking sheet.
  • Bake chicken at 425 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until cooked through, flipping over halfway through.
  • Garnish chicken with chopped green onions (optional) and serve with lemon wedges.

Recipes in the real world

weekly ALDI meal plans from Mashup Mom -- six complete dinners for four, $60 out the door! MashupMom.com, every Wednesday.

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Recipe Rating




Elizabeth Bond

Monday 29th of July 2019

Another yummy night. Aldi's didn't have drumsticks, so I switched in ground turkey, put everything into a ziplock bag, and mashed together, piped it onto the cookie sheet, and baked, then broiled for a few minutes.

rachel

Wednesday 31st of July 2019

I never would have thought of doing that! Glad it turned out well. :)

katie

Thursday 31st of January 2019

Can these be marinated all day and then cooked in the evening? Or is that too long for this kind of marinade?

rachel

Thursday 31st of January 2019

I wouldn't marinate it for more than a couple hours (refrigerated) at most because of the lemon juice in there; the acidity can change the texture of the chicken.

Lori

Thursday 31st of January 2019

Could you use vanilla yogurt or plain yogurt? I don't typically buy greek yogurt and am trying to be really conscious of what I buy, we use. So far it has been good. I have some chicken thighs that I need to use up from when I made Lemon Oregano Chicken, I had leftover thighs and no room in the pan.

rachel

Thursday 31st of January 2019

I would absolutely not use vanilla yogurt, which is sweetened and would be weird. Plain, maybe, but I haven't tried and it doesn't have the same tang or thickness so wouldn't be quite the same.

There are other recipes in this week's meal plan that use the Greek yogurt if you are worried about using it up, and you can also substitute it for sour cream. Otherwise, ALDI no longer carries plain Greek yogurt single cups, but other stores do if you just want enough for the recipe.

Mindi

Thursday 31st of January 2019

Do these have a sour cream-ish flavor at all? My husband doesn't like sour cream...

rachel

Thursday 31st of January 2019

They are slightly tangy. I don't know if I would call it a sour cream-ish flavor, but I do like sour cream, so?

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