How Many Calories in a Chicken Leg?
How many calories in a chicken leg comes down to whether you count the skin. A whole roast leg quarter, eaten off the bone, delivers about 240 kcal, and the roast meat with skin works out at 236 kcal per 100 g. Pull the skin off and the same meat drops to 176 kcal per 100 g.
You'd need to walk about 48 minutes to burn the 240 calories in a whole roast leg quarter (~200 g with bone).
How long does it take to burn off a chicken leg?
A whole roast leg quarter (~200 g with bone) is 240 kcal. Enter your weight and the amount you ate to see how long it takes you to burn that off:
lb
| Activity | Time to burn 240 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 48 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 30 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 34 min |
| Jogging | 28 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 53 min |
Times are for a 154 lb (11 st) adult at a steady pace; change the weight to see yours. The amount is set to the portion in the text (200 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Quick facts
- Chicken leg portions
- Skin on or skin off
- How does a chicken leg compare?
- Most popular chicken leg brands
- Chicken leg FAQs
Quick facts
Figures are for roast leg quarter meat, skin on, per 100 g.
| Per 100 g | Amount | % RI* |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 236 kcal (987 kJ) | 12% |
| Protein | 20.9 g | 42% |
| Carbohydrate | 0 g | 0% |
| Fat | 16.9 g | 24% |
| – of which saturates | 4.6 g | 23% |
| Fibre | 0 g | – |
| Sugar | 0 g | 0% |
| Salt | 0.24 g | 4% |
*RI = reference intake of an average adult (2,000 kcal). If reading percentages off a packet is new to you, the NHS guide to food labels explains the system in two minutes.
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from CoFID, the UK government’s Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified August 2026. How we verify our data →
Notice what is missing: carbs, sugar and fibre all sit at zero. Everything on that plate is protein and fat, which is why the skin decision moves the number so much.
Chicken leg portions
A "chicken leg" on a UK menu usually means the leg quarter, thigh and drumstick together. Weighed with the bone, roast leg quarter comes out at 120 kcal per 100 g, so a typical 200 g leg lands at about 240 kcal.
- Whole roast leg quarter, skin on (~200 g with bone): ~240 kcal
- Roast drumstick, skin on (~100 g with bone): ~116 kcal
On the plate, that means two drumsticks roughly equal one leg quarter. The bone is doing you a quiet favour here: it looks like a big piece of meat, but a fair chunk of the weight is never eaten.
Skin on or skin off
The skin is where the calories concentrate. Compare the versions, all per 100 g of meat actually eaten:
- Roast leg meat with skin: 236 kcal
- Leg meat, no skin, casseroled: 176 kcal
- Roast drumstick meat with skin: 185 kcal
- Roast drumstick meat only: 152 kcal
Strip the skin and you drop the count by roughly a quarter to a third, while the protein stays put at around 20.9 g per 100 g. That makes skinless leg meat one of the better value protein sources going, in both senses: legs cost far less per kilo than breast fillets. Chicken also counts towards the protein foods in the NHS Eatwell Guide, which nudges towards leaner cooking most days.
A fair rule for the week: skin off when it's a Tuesday tray bake, skin on when it's a proper Sunday roast. Crispy skin is the point of a roast; soggy skin on a reheated drumstick is just fat you didn't enjoy.
How does a chicken leg compare?
| Food | Typical serving | Per 100 g |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken leg (roast, skin on) | ~240 kcal (whole leg quarter) | 236 kcal |
| Chicken breast | – | 148 kcal |
| Turkey | – | 155 kcal |
| Pork chop (grilled, lean) | ~233 kcal (~120 g chop) | 194 kcal |
| Egg | 72 kcal (one egg) | – |
For the fewest calories per gram of protein, breast wins at 148 kcal per 100 g and it isn't close. The leg earns its place on flavour and price: skinless, at 176 kcal per 100 g, it sits nearer to breast than most people assume, and it survives slow cooking without turning to sawdust.
Most popular chicken leg brands in the United Kingdom
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United Kingdom, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each label.
| Product | Calories (per 100 g) |
|---|---|
| Tesco BBQ Chicken Drumsticks | 154 kcal |
| Ashfield Farm Roast Drumsticks | 148 kcal |
| Aldi Chicken Drumsticks | 125 kcal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels.
Chicken leg FAQs
How many calories in a chicken drumstick?
About 116 kcal for a roast drumstick with skin, using the weighed-with-bone figure of 116 kcal per 100 g. Counting only the meat you eat, drumstick runs 152 kcal per 100 g without skin and 185 kcal per 100 g with it, making it the leanest part of the leg.
Is chicken thigh or breast lower in calories?
Breast, clearly: 148 kcal per 100 g against 236 kcal per 100 g for roast leg meat with skin. The gap is fat, 16.9 g per 100 g in skin-on leg. Take the skin off and casserole the leg meat and it closes to 176 kcal per 100 g.
How many calories in a chicken leg without skin?
About 176 kcal per 100 g for skinless casseroled leg meat, versus 236 kcal with the skin on. One tug removes roughly a quarter to a third of the calories from the piece while leaving the protein where it was. Drumstick meat alone goes lower still, at 152 kcal per 100 g.
How much protein is in a roast chicken leg?
Roast leg meat with skin carries 20.9 g of protein per 100 g, which is 42% of the 50 g daily reference intake. A whole roast leg quarter at about 240 kcal therefore buys a serious protein hit, and legs are one of the cheapest cuts per kilo in the supermarket.
Are there any carbs in a chicken leg?
No: 0 g of carbohydrate, sugar and fibre per 100 g. All 236 kcal come from protein (20.9 g) and fat (16.9 g). Any carbs on the plate arrive with the coating, the chips or the sauce, never with the chicken itself.
How many calories in a chicken leg quarter?
Around 240 kcal for a roast leg quarter with skin, based on 120 kcal per 100 g weighed with the bone and a typical 200 g piece. That is the thigh and drumstick together, the standard "quarter chicken" of rotisserie counters and Sunday roasts.
Is a chicken leg good for weight loss?
Skinless, yes: 176 kcal per 100 g with about 21 g of protein is a filling trade. The NHS guide to meat in your diet points the same way, towards leaner poultry cooked without extra fat. Save the skin-on version for the actual roast.
Chicken leg or doner kebab – which is lighter?
The chicken leg, by a distance: 236 kcal per 100 g with skin against 377 kcal per 100 g for doner kebab meat. Even the most indulgent skin-on roast leg is a lighter pick than the same weight off the spit.
Similar foods
- Salmon — 287 kcal per grilled fillet
- Scotch egg — 272 kcal each
- Cheese toastie — ~440 kcal whole
- Fish and chips — about 1,074 kcal a regular order
- Cheeseburger — 254 kcal per 100 g takeaway
- Samosa — 152 kcal each
Count it without the maths
One photo of the roast and BodyPal logs the leg, the spuds and the gravy with calories and macros filled in for you.
