These tender and insanely tasty slow-cooked chipotle chicken drumsticks are a crowd-pleasing dish! It’s a perfect keto chicken recipe to serve during family gatherings or holiday parties. Sweet from the tomatoes and spicy from the chipotle pepper, this recipe is perfect for keto and paleo people!
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Step by step directions
It takes a little bit of time to make this recipe, but it’s 100% worth it!
Let’s start by seasoning our chicken drumsticks with salt and pepper and making the chipotle sauce by combining together the tomato purée, chipotle paste, and sea salt to taste.
The next step will be browning the meat. When the Dutch oven is hot, fry a maximum of 4 drumsticks at a time for 3-4 minutes on each side or until the surface becomes slightly golden. You don’t need to cook them through!
One thing that I need to mention here is that, if you try to brown all the drumsticks at once, steam won’t have enough space to escape and you’ll end up boiling your chicken instead of browning it.
After you remove the last browned piece of chicken from the Dutch oven, add some extra olive oil and the onions with garlic. Cook until they become slightly golden.
Now you can return the chicken drumsticks to the Dutch oven and add the tomato mixture. Make sure that the drumsticks are completely covered in the tomato mixture, cover the Dutch oven with the lid, and pop it into the oven for 45 mins.
Lastly, take the Dutch oven out from the oven, open the lid, add the remaining water, and return to the oven for another 30 mins or until the drumsticks are starting to turn brown
and crisp.
Serve your yummy and a little bit spicy, slow-cooked chipotle chicken drumsticks with some freshly chopped cilantro!
What can be used instead of Dutch oven
First of all, I want to mention that you can’t use a non-enameled Dutch oven for this recipe. Acid from the tomato purée will react with the metal and can cause some of the iron to leach out into your food.
If you don’t have an enameled Dutch oven, you can make this recipe in a casserole dish! Yay! To do so, you must do all frying in a non-stick skillet and then transfer all the ingredients to a casserole dish, cover it well with a piece of foil, and bake for 45 min. Then, remove the foil and bake for another 30 mins or until the chicken is turning brown and crisping.
Serving ideas
CREAMY KETO CAULIFLOWER MASH – this is a great side dish for those who like to have mashed potatoes on the side with their main slow-cooked chipotle chicken dish, but don’t want all those carbs!
GARLIC RANCH SAUTEED BROCCOLI AND SWEET POTATOES – a very light side dish with creamy sweet potatoes and crunchy broccoli to balance out all the intense flavors and spiciness of the chipotle.
More chicken keto recipes
BRINED AND BAKED MUSTARD CHICKEN BREASTS
Recipe
Slow-Cooked Chipotle Chicken Drumsticks
Ingredients
- 1 kg chicken drumsticks (8 medium drumsticks)
- 115 g (½ cup) tomato purée
- ½ large onion, cubed
- 2 clove garlic, minced
- 2 tbs chipotle paste
- 250 ml (1 cup) water
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Olive oil
- Cilantro to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175C (350F).
- Season the chicken drumsticks with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to your taste and set aside.
- Combine the tomato purée and chipotle paste in a small mixing bowl, season with salt to your taste, and set aside
- Heat an enameled Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add some olive oil.
- When the Dutch oven is hot, fry a maximum of 4 drumsticks at a time for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until the surface becomes slightly golden. You don’t need to cook them through!
- When you’re done browning the chicken drumsticks, remove them from the Dutch oven and set aside.
- Add some extra olive oil to the Dutch oven and cook the onions and garlic until they just turn golden.
- Without removing the onions and garlic, add half the water to the Dutch oven to deglaze it.
- Return the chicken drumsticks to the Dutch oven and add the tomato mixture. Rotate the drumsticks so they are completely covered in the tomato mixture, cover with the lid, and pop into the oven for 45 mins.
- Take the Dutch oven out from the oven, open the lid, add the remaining water, and return it to the oven for another 30 mins or until the drumsticks are starting to turn brown and crisp.
- Serve warm with some freshly chopped cilantro!
Notes
This website, https://heretocook.com, offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. This information is a product of online calculators such as Cronometer.com and MyFitnesPal.com
Martin says
Juicy and spicy, how it should be.
Anna says
Exactly!!!
Ryan says
Very good and easy to make, didn't know chipotle paste so I just used a few chopped chipotle peppers instead
Anna says
Thank you for your comment, Ryan! I’m so glad you liked my recipe!