Crunchy keto chicken drumsticks with coleslaw

Crunchy keto chicken drumsticks with coleslaw

Turn chicken up a notch with this crunchy coating spiced with hot, flavorful Jamaican jerk seasoning. Perfect for drumsticks or wings. It’s so tasty you will never know it’s keto and gluten-free. But it is. And so is the coleslaw, so dig in!
January 23 2017 recipe by , photo by , nutritional review by in Recipes, Dinner, Meal

Crunchy keto chicken drumsticks with coleslaw

Turn chicken up a notch with this crunchy coating spiced with hot, flavorful Jamaican jerk seasoning. Perfect for drumsticks or wings. It’s so tasty you will never know it’s keto and gluten-free. But it is. And so is the coleslaw, so dig in!
USMetric
4 servingservings

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs 900 g chicken drumstick, skin-onchicken drumsticks, skin-on
  • ½ cup 120 ml sour cream or Greek yogurt (4% fat)
  • 2 tbsp 2 tbsp jerk seasoning
  • 1 tsp 1 tsp salt
  • 5 oz. 140 g pork rinds
  • 1 cup (3 oz.) 240 ml (85 g) unsweetened finely shredded coconut
Coleslaw
  • 1 lb 450 g green cabbage
  • ½ tsp ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp ½ tsp ground black pepper
  • 2 tsp 2 tsp white wine vinegar
  • 1 cup 240 ml mayonnaise
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Instructions

Instructions are for 4 servings. Please modify as needed.

    Chicken and marinade

  1. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Grease a wire rack and place over a baking dish, or grease a broiler pan.
  2. In a small bowl, mix together a marinade of sour cream or Greek yogurt, jerk seasoning, and salt.
  3. Add the drumsticks and marinade to a large bowl, and toss to coat. Set aside for 15 minutes, and then transfer the drumsticks to another large bowl.
  4. Blend the pork rinds into fine crumbs using a food processor or blender. Add the coconut flakes and blend for a few more seconds.
  5. Pour the crumbs over the drumsticks, and toss to coat on all sides.
  6. Place the drumsticks on the middle rack and bake for 20 minutes. Using tongs, gently turn the drumsticks over and bake for another 20 minutes, or until crispy and the internal temperature reads 165°F (74°C). While baking, prepare the coleslaw.
  7. Serve the drumsticks with a side of coleslaw, and enjoy!

    8. Coleslaw

  8. Using a sharp knife, mandolin, or food processor slicing blade, finely shred the cabbage.
  9. Place the cabbage, salt, and pepper in a large bowl and mix to combine. Set aside for 10 minutes before serving.

Recommended special equipment

Blender or food processor.

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What did you think? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!
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63 comments

  1. 1
    Sami
    November 25 2016
    Can you think of an alternative to pork rinds?
    Reply: #38
  2. 1 comment removed
  3. 3
    carol
    January 4 2017
    I just made this and used seseme seeds in place of pork rinds, I also made my own jerk spice mix. They were lovely.
    Reply: #5
  4. 4
    Andy Schnick
    January 6 2017
    A little faster alternative is get a deep fryer or a pan you can fry chicken in and buy lard to fry the chicken in, which I do and I only fry 6 or 7 minutes each side of the chicken at 300°F.
  5. 5
    Reply to comment #3 by carol
    Sami
    January 12 2017
    Thanks Carol I might give that a try.
  6. 6
    Sarah
    January 23 2017
    I often do something similar using almond meal as the "breading." To avoid discarding plastic bags, I marinate in a bowl, turning the pieces with a spoon, then fill the bottom of a shallow pan with the seasoned almond meal and toss and turn the pieces with my hands until they are coated. It also works for pieces of fish. For the fish, or with boneless chicken, I usually saute the pieces in a pan with a small amount of hot oil. It only takes a few minutes per side.

    I plan on trying this with the shredded coconut soon. It sounds like a nice addition.

  7. 7
    Susan
    January 24 2017
    Do you use the 2tbsp of oil in the marinade and pour the 1/4c. on top when cooking?
    Replies: #8, #10
  8. 8
    Reply to comment #7 by Susan
    Michael
    January 24 2017
    I was wondering the same thing! ?

    Do you use the 2tbsp of oil in the marinade and pour the 1/4c. on top when cooking?

  9. 1 comment removed
  10. 10
    Reply to comment #7 by Susan
    Cynthia
    January 27 2017
    That's what I did and it worked well! The 2 T oil isn't mentioned, so I think it may be an oversight in the directions.
  11. 11
    Kath
    January 27 2017
    Are we meant to make our own pork rinds? Any proprietary pork rinds in Britain have added sugar. Happy to do it but it would be good to have some instructions. I'm sure it would be possible to buy some pork skin/fat to make it.
  12. 12
    Holly
    February 26 2017
    I just made these and have had them in the oven at 350 for one hour on a broiler pan. They are still not all the way done. Were they supposed to go IN the broiler pan? Tips/suggestions for next time, higher heat perhaps? Thank you.
  13. 13
    April
    March 13 2017
    I made these with boneless skinless legs and thighs since I dislike the toughness of bone in dark meat chicken. To overcome this I buy the boneless/skinless dark meat and use a meat tenderizing mallet on them just a tad to loosen up the thick tough parts and make it a uniform thickness. It makes buttery soft chicken. This recipe was very good and the flavors weren't overwhelming. I made dietdrs jerk seasoning and only had crushed red peppers not the scotch bonnet that was recommended. If you like heat and can only find CRP I recommend doubling it or even tripling it to get heat or just add hot sauce to the marinade with the jerk seasoning salt and mayonnaise. I also added apple cider vinegar to my coleslaw and a drop of liquid stevia It wasn't palatable to us with out the the tangy taste.
  14. 14
    John Campbell
    March 26 2017
    My overall cook time was over an hour and a half. Midway through there were massive black spots on the chicken, I assume from chicken blood? I've never cooked big drumsticks like this before, so I don't know. After what felt like forever, they turned out pretty good. There were a few super hard and crunchy pork rinds in there so next time I'll be selective of which rinds go in the food processor. The initial marinade was quite spicy! But the end result was not! Maybe I'll throw a little hot sauce on there! All in all, not bad!
  15. 15
    Martha Vargas
    April 21 2017
    My jerk seasoning has sugar in it..Grrrr!
  16. 16
    Reagan
    April 23 2017
    I would not use plastic bags.... plastic is the enemy of our planet.
  17. 17
    Joanne
    May 3 2017
    I liked this recipe, but didn't love it as written. It took forever in the oven to cook, so I ended up taking it out and pan frying in coconut oil. I don't recommend pan frying with pork rinds. The oil was popping like crazy. The chicken skin still didn't get fully crispy. The coating would have burned if I fried it any longer. I didn't make the coleslaw as just plain mayo with salt and pepper doesn't sound tasty to me. Next time, I think I would just make the jerk seasoning, rub it on the chicken, omit the pork rinds and sour cream and just fry the chicken in a pan. I will do what a previous poster mentioned and add some acv and stevia to the coleslaw to make it more palatable. I didn't use plastic bags either.
  18. 18
    Theresa
    May 13 2017
    This can be made without the coconut which is why it can burn. Just using crushed pork rinds with the jerk seasoning is a great recipe--thanks!
  19. 19
    Dana Griffin
    May 28 2017
    Just made this chicken (although I used thighs) and the temperature for the oven was way too low. After 45 minutes on 350°F with the chicken nowhere near done, I increased the temperature to 450°F and gave it another 15-20 minutes to just barely be done and the skin not crispy (but the pork rind, coconut flake mix beginning to burn) so we ate it anyway. The taste was great but next time I'll start out at 450°F.
  20. 20
    Janet
    May 30 2017
    This was my least favorite recipe so far. I made everything according to the recipe. The chicken did not crisp (I even used a roasting rack) and the coleslaw had no flavor. I love all the other recipes I have made.
  21. 21
    Sab
    June 21 2017
    I don't eat meat and have been substituting fish where the meal calls for meat. Anyone have any ideas on a substitute for pork rinds?
  22. 22
    Jason
    July 2 2017
    Maybe a stupid question.. Many of the recipes presented are fantastic and offer a great way for you to eat low carb. I have come to a point where even though I have lost a lot, I know the amount of food I need to consume has decreased, especially as I want to continue to loose another 90-100 pounds (already down 160) How do you determine what a "serving" is of any of these recipes? I know the concept of eating until satiety, unfortunately that is easier said than done often times. looking for any thoughts...
    Reply: #24
  23. 23
    Renee
    July 6 2017
    My chicken and Cole slaw turned out very good. I did change the cooking time. I did 425 degrees using my convection back cycle. I turned them at 15 minutes and turned temp down to 350 degrees F. I then baked them another 10 minutes and checked internal chicken temp and had reached 165. I did add some oil to bottom of pan with a tablespoon of butter. I put some of the extra "breading" on the bottom of pan. It was tasty this way. I also did not drizzle the oil over the chicken. I instead took the olive oil and mixed it into the ground pork rind and coconut then coated the chicken.

    The Cole slaw was tasty - I just needed to make sure I added enough pepper.

    All in all...this hit the spot.

  24. 24
    Reply to comment #22 by Jason
    Renee
    July 6 2017
    JASON, Toggle the servings on the top of the recipe. in general, if you are making the food just for yourself, you would make 2 servings and use one for dinner and one for lunch the next day - just split the food in half. You don't have to be exact - it is all going to come out the same over the 2 day period. I also found that sometimes it was hard to measure the #ounces given so switching my scale to grams helped to make this easier. You can toggle from US to metric at the top of the recipes as well. Hope this helps.

    Good luck!

  25. 25
    Stephanie
    July 11 2017
    It took about an hour and a half to get the chicken cooked through at this temperature. If I make this again, I will definitely try starting with a higher heat. After all of that time, a few spots got dark, close to burning, but it did not adversely affect the flavor, so I think it's worth the risk of higher heat. The jerk flavor was not all that strong, it was just a little spicy. I almost think this recipe would be better with a jerk/vinegar/butter sauce instead of a "breading". The jerk flavor would be more prominent and you'd get fat from the butter instead of the pork rinds. My pork coating also did not get crispy... only in a few spots after all that time. Maybe higher heat would help that too?

    Now let's talk about that coleslaw... mayo and cabbage does not coleslaw make. I made some changes to mine to make it more like traditional southern coleslaw. If you'd like to try my mix, here's what I did:

    Added 2 tablespoons of lime juice, 1 tablespoon of ACV (though I might use plain vinegar next time, I could taste that it was ACV). I also added some onion powder, salt and pepper, and a bit of splenda ( you could use stevia... doesn't take much, just enough to take the edge off the vinegar). I also added a small amount of shredded carrots for color because eating a pile of plain cabbage is just depressing... lol. All of these changes greatly improved the flavor without really affecting the carb count for the recipe.

    All in all, this recipe was ok, but not as good as it looked like it would be. Not sure if I'd make it again, just because the chicken was a lot of work for not as much flavor as I expected. I'll decide on that another day =)

    Reply: #33
  26. 26
    Mark
    July 24 2017
    I thought these were pretty bad. Bland and not a crunchy crust, just powdery. If I had to make this again I wouldn't use drumsticks, boneless chicken thighs would be easier and you wouldn't have to mess with all the stringy cartilage on a drumstick.
  27. 27
    Dana
    July 30 2017
    Here's the trick to frying chicken: boil it. Seriously. It gives you so much flexibility. You can boil a ton of chicken legs, or whatever, then freeze it (dry it first). I do this with gizzards. I can't eat a whole package of them, so I boil them all and freeze part of them. You can pull chicken out of the freezer and boil it (you'll need to cook it longer). I boil the legs (you can also make buffalo wings this way) for 20 minutes. You can wipe off the congealed blood if it bothers you. Dip in egg then in the pork rinds. I season them with a variety of things- a chili pepper mix, organic general seasoning- whatever sounds good at that the time. I deep fat fry them (best investment) in lard or tallow, or you could pan fry them. Because they're cooked through, you only have to brown the coating, so you are avoiding them burning. Drain on paper towels and salt them after frying. Give it a try!

    Also, there are tons of good slaw recipes out there- mostly a mix of mayo, vinegar, ground mustard, celery seed.

  28. 28
    Ted
    August 6 2017
    Delicious. Down 11 lbs in 6 days with no working out.
  29. 29
    John J
    August 8 2017
    I just made and to the letter. Chicken way under cooked. (My oven is calibrated within 1 degree so it ain't the oven). I have to say I am glad I learned to really read ahead and check similar recipes. I have a 12-year-old nephew that writes better than these recipes were written. So this is my 5th and final recipe on diet doctor. 3 out of 5 came out horrible and I am not really a picky eater. So I love the information on this website but your recipes look like they were thrown together by someone with little to no experience with low carb cooking. I am writing this to warn others. Try at your own risk. Be ready to throw a lot of food in the garbage. Can't say I did not warn you! and Diedoctor seriously do some research and taste testing for God's sakes! And do not go and lie to me and say you already did. That will fall on deaf ears just like my post here probably will. lol smh, I have thankfully found alternate web sites with low carb keto meals and everyone I tried came out delicious! Reading the other posts here I am amazed. Dana Knows at least(pre cook chicken first) SMH ridiculous At this rate you are likely to have a member contact salmonella poisoning!
    Reply: #31
  30. 1 comment removed
  31. 31
    Reply to comment #29 by John J
    Kristin Berglund Team Diet Doctor
    August 9 2017

    I just made and to the letter. Chicken way under cooked. (My oven is calibrated within 1 degree so it ain't the oven). I have to say I am glad I learned to really read ahead and check similar recipes. I have a 12-year-old nephew that writes better than these recipes were written. So this is my 5th and final recipe on diet doctor. 3 out of 5 came out horrible and I am not really a picky eater. So I love the information on this website but your recipes look like they were thrown together by someone with little to no experience with low carb cooking. I am writing this to warn others. Try at your own risk. Be ready to throw a lot of food in the garbage. Can't say I did not warn you! and Diedoctor seriously do some research and taste testing for God's sakes! And do not go and lie to me and say you already did. That will fall on deaf ears just like my post here probably will. lol smh, I have thankfully found alternate web sites with low carb keto meals and everyone I tried came out delicious! Reading the other posts here I am amazed. Dana Knows at least(pre cook chicken first) SMH ridiculous At this rate you are likely to have a member contact salmonella poisoning!

    Hi John J!
    I’m sorry our recipes haven’t turned out for you. We are thankful that you have taken the time to tell us and thereby given us a chance to improve. We are constantly trying to make everything on our site better. We do have more than 400 recipes on our site and many of them have been rated highly by thousands of people, I am sorry you did not like them.

    Best, Kristin

  32. 32
    Kathy Vescovi
    August 28 2017
    After reading the comments, I adjusted the cooking method and it came out perfect. I put the chicken in a convection oven (which happens to be an option on my microwave) and cooked it 425 degrees for 20 minutes or so. They looked evenly browned but their temperature was at 140 degrees. I then put them in the regular oven on a heated roasting pan (left it in the oven) at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. They came out great. I did use a combination of plain pork rinds with "hot" pork rinds. My 16-year-old son liked them except for the coconut, a taste he does not like.
  33. 33
    Reply to comment #25 by Stephanie
    Rita
    September 2 2017
    Thank you for ur comment, i was brainstorming about the coleslaw. I was wondering how i could make it more like a coleslaw. I made it your way. I like it very much. I add white vinegar as u suggested.
    Chicken still in the oven.
  34. 34
    s
    September 15 2017
    I thought this recipe was disappointing. Thought it would be flavorful with the sour cream and jerk seasonings but I found it completely blah. I made a ton for dinner and lunch for my husband and I and now I don;t want any leftovers.
  35. 35
    Donna Wygal
    November 11 2017
    I am so glad for all the comments here. I am making this recipe today for the first time, so I'll know what to look out for.
    I have enjoyed all the other recipes this week, and only had to adjust one, to suit our tastes. Love the Diet Doctor.
    Donna
  36. 36
    Kari
    November 15 2017
    Not a fan of these...too bland. This is the only recipe that we've tried that we won't be repeating.
  37. 37
    Dale
    November 27 2017
    This post is meant for people (like me) who can't find pork rinds to buy (and not for those who can't eat pork, for whatever reason).

    I wonder if, instead of pork rinds, we could use pepperoni crisps. Put a paper towel on a plate, half on and half off. On the plate half, put pizza pepperoni. Fold over the paper towel so the pepperoni doesn't splatter. Pop in the microwave for 30 to 40 seconds. Put in a food processor and blitz. Just a thought. I haven't tried this yet...

  38. 38
    Reply to comment #1 by Sami
    Debra
    December 14 2017
    Next time I do this recipe I thought I would replace the pork rinds with dried onions, you can by them in a can. I'll let you know how it turns out. I really think it would work. If you try it, before I do let me know.
    Reply: #40
  39. 39
    Emmalie
    January 25 2018
    I was skeptical when I first tried this because I am not really "Pork Rinds" kind of person, but this was AMAZING! I prefer this to real fried chicken. If you can find Spicy pork rinds then you can leave out the spices in the recipe and make it easier on yourself. Even my 6 year old daughter and very picky 6 year old nephew love it. Definitely try this one!
  40. 40
    Reply to comment #38 by Debra
    Emmalie
    January 25 2018
    I have tried this with those fried onions and it *is* amazing. However I would caution you to look at the nutrition label on those onions first because they are not very low carb. It might be an idea to add just a little of them for the flavor.
  41. 41
    Angel
    March 25 2018
    Definitely agree that the cooking temperature is not right here - we did 400F for 40 mins and that seemed to work. I don't like sour cream, so we used geek yogurt in the marinade, which worked well. The amount of pork rinds called for is waaay too much. Ended up throwing about 1/2 the mix away. Next time, I would only use one bag of pork rinds (3 oz) + 3 oz coconut to make 4 servings (8 drumsticks). "Coleslaw" was okay, would definitely add vinegar next time to make it less boring.
    Finally, agree with others that a recipe editor or something is very much needed - although this is far from the worst, many of these recipes are almost impossible to follow and ingredients are just abandoned, directions aren't complete, etc. I appreciate that the recipes are free, but it would be great to find a way where some of the changes proposed by the commenters (particularly when they are things like the cooking temp here, which has been noted by many) can be flagged for review by the team and considered for revision of the recipe!
  42. 42
    Jill
    April 22 2018
    Agree with most of these comments. There is no way 350F is the correct temp for this recipe. The results were soggy skin with soggier rind coating. Definitely needs to be pan-fried or at least 400F for crispy crunch to mimic fried chicken.
  43. 43
    Marléna Gohm
    May 15 2018
    My coating didn’t stick at all.
  44. 44
    Brenda
    October 21 2018
    Andy think I will try the lard , thanks
  45. 45
    Jenni
    January 27 2019
    I made these, but the crust was soggy. When I reheated my leftovers, I broiled them and they were a little crunchier, but not sure I'd make these again.
  46. 46
    karen johnson
    January 28 2019
    Im working really hard on my Keto bread buns.why do they drop like a suflay
  47. 47
    Aleah
    January 29 2019
    What is the nutrition breakdown for just the chicken?
    This recipe is amazing, the chicken is so crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside
  48. 48
    Holly
    January 30 2019
    The best chicken ever - super moist and flavorful! I used party wings and put them in my air fryer at 380 for 24 minutes turning them half way and they turned out crispy and perfectly cooked. Will definitely use this recipe over and over again!
  49. 49
    Julie C
    March 3 2019
    March 3, 2019
    I tried this recipe today. After reading the comments, I baked at 450 for 20 minutes, turned them over and baked an additional 25 mins at 350. I was lazy and just crushed the pork rinds in a bag rather than dragging out the food processor. Other than that, I followed the recipe and they turned out great. Will definitely make again. Thanks
  50. 50
    Deb
    March 5 2019
    Mine came out great. I used Cajun instead of jerk spice. I mixed the two tabs of oil into the marinade and used my olive oil sprayer liberally after the coating was on. I cooked it on 450 for the whole time and it was cooked within the time and it was very crunchy and flavorful. I did just use one 3oz bag or pork rinds and that was plenty without having to throw a bunch out. I would definitely make it again but can totally see how it wouldn’t have been cooked or crispy without jacking up the temp
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