Dinner never looked better than with these cocoa-rubbed chicken legs. This marinade is so easy- it is just unsweetened cocoa powder mixed with lemon juice, brown sugar, cayenne pepper, garlic and dried herbs. They are also low-maintenance so you don’t need to spend a long time on them or do anything extra. Just flip it halfway during baking and that’s it. I can’t emphasize how delicious these are, you guys! This cocoa chicken has a really nice crusty exterior but is super juicy on the inside.
This recipe is for chicken legs but you can apply this marinade to bake whole chicken, chicken thighs and chicken wings. Using cocoa powder in a marinade sounds uncanny but it really works magic on the chicken. It tenderizes the meat and gives it a unique taste, which tastes absolutely nothing like bitter cocoa powder. You will need unsweetened cocoa powder for best results. Please note that this is a marinade so it doesn’t taste good as a dipping sauce; it needs to be cooked with the meat.
After applying the marinade, I added a handful of fresh chopped sage and lemon juice prior to baking the chicken legs. It keeps things fresh and moist because dry chicken is always a high possibility when roasting chicken. These cocoa chicken legs go best with potatoes- mashed, baked or fried. Another great side to this is boiled rice or fried rice.
Ingredients
8 chicken legs, skin removed
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon table salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder or minced garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vinegar
Handful of chopped fresh herbs (I used sage leaves)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F/205°C.
- Mix the salt, brown sugar, Italian seasoning, black pepper, garlic, lemon juice, vinegar together until smooth. This is your cocoa marinade.
- Generously rub the chicken legs with the cocoa marinade.
- Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and place the marinated chicken on it.
- Bake for 25 minutes, flip and then continue baking for another 15-20 minutes.
- The internal temperature of the chicken should read at least 165°F/74°C.