Air-Fried BBQ Chicken Legs: A Quick & Easy Meal for Busy Summer Nights
June 06, 2025 · by Ashton Dorow
My husband and I have found our new favorite, easy, quick, and low-cost weeknight meal: air-fried chicken legs. At our local H-E-B, we got a pack of about a dozen drumsticks for $5.12 and split them between two meals. I used a Pinterest recipe to make Garlic Parmesan air-fried drumsticks last week (they were ridiculously good!), and then this week, my husband threw together his own BBQ version. Man, they were so crazy DELICIOUS! My husband is a good cook, but I'd say these chicken legs were one of his best concoctions to date.
While we were eating, I couldn't help thinking that this makes for the perfect weeknight meal for busy families. You can throw these together for a quick meal before mid-week church service or some other event, make them for a family night in the backyard or around the pool. Or on a night when you just don't feel like cooking!
Full disclosure, I had to guess a bit on the measurements since my husband never measures anything LOL. But these quantities should produce the same end product as we enjoyed!
Ingredients:
- 6-8 chicken drumsticks (though you could easily multiply this recipe to make more)
- BBQ Sauce (we used H-E-B Texas Style BBQ sauce, but whatever sauce you prefer is fine)
- Olive oil
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tablespoon dark roast coffee grounds OR Trader Joe's BBQ Rub & Seasoning with Coffee and Garlic
Instructions:
- Place the drumsticks in a large bowl, drizzle with olive oil (about a tablespoon or two), and toss until well-coated.
- In a separate bowl, mix together all your seasonings, including the coffee grounds/coffee rub.
- Sprinkle the seasonings over the chicken and toss until well-coated.
- Preheat your air-fryer to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (or if yours doesn't pre-heat, set it to 400 degrees). Once it's preheated, place the chicken inside and set the timer for 20 minutes.
- At the 11 min mark, baste the chicken with the BBQ sauce. At the 10 min mark, flip the chicken. Then at the 1 min mark, baste the chicken again and let it finish cooking.
- Serve promptly with your favorite side dishes: fries, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, green beans, mac-and-cheese. The possibilities are endless!
NOTE: you could easily grill the drumsticks, instead, if you don't have an air-fryer or need to be able to make more chicken at one time.
Photo from Cavna
