Rosemary Parmesan Chicken Drumsticks

When I first started eating meat, I knew we couldn't afford really fancy meat.  We wouldn't be eating steak every night of the week.  So I did some research to find out what the cheapest kinds of meat were, and the first thing that I found was chicken drumsticks.  They were like 99 cents a pound at Wegmans if you bought the bulk packages.  Cool, I thought, I know Chad likes drumsticks.  But as it turns out, I didn't really like them very much.  They were hard to cook properly, and then difficult to eat.  So after that first package, we didn't buy drumsticks for quite some time.

Then on a whim last weekend, Chad picked up a pack and stuck it in the cart.  Seeing as it was like $4, I didn't argue.  If nothing else, I could use them for soup.

Well, yesterday I was feeling adventurous, and did a little research on how to make awesome drumsticks.  The first recipe I found was this one at Allrecipes.  It sounded pretty good, but I figured I could make it awesome with some tweaking.  Because that's what I do, baby.

And I was right!  After some changes to the recipe, I came up with something that was AMAZING.  I was in chicken heaven eating these.  Chad had two and a half drumsticks himself.  I managed to take a picture before they were all gone.

You ready for the recipe?

Rosemary Parmesan Chicken

6 chicken drumsticks
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup almond flour
1 egg
1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/4 ground black pepper
1 tsp dried rosemary
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 baking dish with bacon grease or butter and set aside.

Put a large pot of water on medium high heat.  Add about 1/4 tsp salt to the water.  Cover with a lid and bring to a rolling boil.

Meanwhile, combine the Parmesan, flour, salt, pepper, rosemary, garlic, and onion in a medium sized bowl.  Crack the egg into a separate bowl and whisk.  Set bowls aside.

Parboil the chicken drumsticks in the boiling water, three at a time, for about 5 minutes or until the water begins to boil again.  Chicken should look white instead of pink when you remove it from the water.  Set on a plate and let it cool for a few minutes while you add the other drumsticks to the water.

When the drumsticks are cool enough to handle, dip them first into the egg, and then into the Parmesan mixture.  Make sure to really get it coated in the cheese mixture.  I had to roll it around a few times before it was fully covered.  If you do it right, you should have just enough cheese mixture to cover all the drumsticks, with hardly any left over. If you need more, just add a little more cheese and almond flour, a dash of salt and a sprinkle of rosemary. 

Lay the chicken in the baking dish so that none are touching.  Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 165.  Let cool for a few minutes and then enjoy!

 Nutritional Info:
Serving: 1 drumstick
Calories: 221
Fat: 14
Sodium: 426
Carbs: 2
Fiber: 1
Protein: 21