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Easy Chicken Legs with Creamy Mushroom Sauce - delicious, easy recipe that uses just a few simple ingredients. A perfect weeknight dinner!
The sauce I made for these easy chicken legs is so good - you will have a hard time keeping yourself away from it. I made the sauce by simmering everything in one skillet: mushrooms, garlic, chicken legs, chicken stock, and then adding heavy cream at the very end. And, of course, make sure to add just the right amount of salt and pepper.
It's been a long time since I cooked whole chicken legs last time. In fact, I think it's been years. I am so glad I finally made something with them - this easy chicken legs recipe is one of the best ways I ever cooked chicken. So juicy! And, you'll love creamy mushrooms, too!
What is chicken legs, by the way?
Chicken legs are often confused with chicken drumsticks, while in fact whole chicken legs are the combination of BOTH drumstick and thigh. Chicken legs are pretty large. For example, these 3 chicken legs in the photo are total 2 lb in weight:
This recipe is perfect for those days when you are busy and want something quick, yet delicious and nice looking - try these easy chicken legs with creamy mushroom sauce and you'll love it!
I used regular white mushrooms, sliced in half and cooked with minced garlic in olive oil:
Here are a few photos showing you how to cook chicken legs in a skillet on stove top. First, coat the chicken in flour mixture (flour, salt and pepper):
Next, brown chicken legs on high-medium heat in olive oil:
Then, remove chicken legs from the skillet, add mushrooms and garlic and cook for a couple of minutes:
Next, add chicken stock, add chicken legs back, add extra salt, cover and cook for 25-30 minutes until chicken legs are completely cooked through.
Finally, remove the chicken from the skillet, make the cream sauce by adding heavy cream, add the chicken back, and your easy chicken legs are ready!
If you love chicken and mushroom combination, you might enjoy these 2 recipes:
Chicken Thighs with Mushroom Rice
Chicken Thighs with Creamy Bacon Mushroom Thyme Sauce
Easy Chicken Legs with Creamy Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients
- ¼ cup flour (you can use gluten free flour)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 lb chicken legs (about 3-4 large chicken legs)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 10 oz mushrooms (each sliced in half)
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (if needed)
- 1 cup chicken stock
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup heavy cream
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper. On a large plate, dredge chicken legs in this seasoned flour mixture.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken legs skin side down and brown for about 4 minutes until the skin turn nice golden color. Flip chicken legs over to the other side and brown the other side for about 3 minutes. Remove browned chicken legs and set aside. Also remove those parts of olive oil that got too dark from browning the chicken with flour mixture.
- To the same, now empty skillet, add mushrooms (sliced in half) and minced garlic, add extra tablespoon of olive oil (if needed) and saute them together on medium heat for 2 minutes.
- Add chicken stock to the skillet, scraping up the browned bits at the bottom of the pan. Add ¼ teaspoon of salt and stir.
- Place chicken legs back in the pan.
- Bring the chicken stock to boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer on low-medium. Simmer chicken legs for 25-30 minutes, until the chicken is completely cooked through and the juices run clear when chicken is cut in the middle.
- Remove the cooked chicken legs to a plate and keep warm.
- Turn heat under skillet to medium-high, and simmer the mushroom sauce for about 4 minutes until it is reduced by about a third. Stir in the ½ cup heavy cream into the mushroom sauce and simmer for another 2 minutes on low-medium heat, constantly stirring and scraping from the bottom of the skillet, until the sauce gets thicker.
- Add chicken legs back to the skillet to warm them up. Serve
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
I made this dish yesterday and it was a hit! Thank you Julia.
I wanted a recipe that had some type of sauce that I could put on mashed potatoes and I came across this recipe. IT IS AMAZING! I did do some things different, I didnt have mushrooms, so I took those out and I added some different spices to make up for the lack of mushrooms. And I used regular milk instead of heavy cream. (Lockdown and didnt want to go to the store).
But very very tasty and will 100% make again.
What spices did you use since you didn't have mushrooms
These are leg quarters, the drumstick is the little “leg” on the wings, a chicken leg is just the leg. Funny how different geographical areas have different ideas. Regardless, this recipe sounds fantastic. Can’t wait to try it!
Can I use greek yogurt instead of the heavy cream?
I have not tried it with Greek yogurt, but the texture would be different from the heavy cream. I would use heavy cream or half-and-half.
It won’t turn out right. You need heavy cream to make an alfredo sauce which is what this is.
Absolutley delishes, only thing was my husband asked is there more. Lol
The best compliment to the cook is when people ask for more! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Giving it a shot only thing i did before was brine the chicken
Enjoy the recipe!
Tried this tonight absolutely delicious fried an onion first before mushroom and garlic ....I’ve passed the recipe to my daughter .........will be on my list to have again so glad I saw this had it with new potatoes and garden peas didn’t need strong veg ....totally recommend trying this recipe
Thank you, Denise, for such a wonderful comment! Glad you liked this recipe! What a great idea to serve this with new potatoes and garden peas!
Horrible! The skin toasted and burnt on the skillet w the oil I had to take the skin off the taste of brunt oil stayed in the meal.
This is a really great recipe, I hope you will try it again. Sounds like you had your oil too hot. I am making it again tonight. I am not associated with Julia's Album in any way. I just saw your comments and felt like perhaps you should give it another try. I replace the cream with coconut milk for health reasons.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed this recipe! Using coconut milk is an excellent idea!
Fantastic recipe! However, I added chopped onion and red bell pepper in with the mushrooms and fresh spinach at the end with the cream. Yummy!! Served over egg noodles, made for great leftovers too! Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed this recipe! Love your addition of chopped onions and red bell pepper, as well as fresh spinach. Excellent idea to serve this over egg noodles!
Perfect easy recipe - we Loved it!
Happy to hear that!
Super delicious! I added onions and spinach to the sauce and once I added the heavy cream I also added a bit of shredded parmesan cheese. My husband loved it and my sister had never tried muschrooms before. She is now a fan of them because of this dish!
I am so happy your family enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for leaving such a wonderful comment!
I actually tweaked this recipe to suit my ingredients. I didn’t have flour so I salted my chicken drumsticks and let them sit at room temperature while I chopped some spring onions and two cloves of garlic. I then browned the chicken in butter while I chopped my mushrooms and enjoyed some wine. I then removed the browned and chicken and a little more butter to the pan before adding the garlic, followed by the spring onions and then the mushrooms. After that I followed the recipe (maybe with a touch more stock and cream). It was delicious.
Thank you! So glad you liked this recipe! Thank you for sharing your feedback and for such a kind comment!
Could you do this with just bone in chicken thighs? Thanks.
Yes, you can use bone-in chicken thighs. Might have to adjust cooking times slightly.
Do have a side dish to go with the chicken legs?
I would suggest cooked spinach, cooked Swiss Chard, steamed asparagus. Or, simple pasta. Or, baked potato. Something simple.
I put fresh spinach over the chicken till it wilted,with a side of pasta in the sauce.Delish.
Great choice!
This looks delicious, Julie! Thanks for sharing!
You're very welcome, Deb!