Oven-Roasted Chicken Leg Quarters with Mac and Cheese and Green Beans
August 22, 2026
Good old-fashioned Sunday dinner without a special-occasion grocery bill.
Four chicken leg quarters feed four people generously, and they’ll cost you less than almost anything else you could put in the center of a plate. Season them, put them in a hot oven, and spend the next forty-five minutes not cooking. The mac and cheese takes an oven. The green beans take a bag, some seasoning, and some butter.
It’s the meal a lot of us grew up on, and it holds up for a reason.
What a Leg Quarter Actually Is
A leg quarter is the whole back leg of the chicken in one piece: the thigh, the drumstick and the joint that connects them, still attached, with a bit of back attached to some of them.
That’s why it’s cheap. It’s a bigger, less-processed piece — the butcher hasn’t separated it into two more convenient parts, and you’re not paying for that step. It’s also why it’s good: dark meat throughout, plenty of fat, and a big continuous sheet of skin over the top.
The thing to know about cooking one: it’s two different cuts on one bone, and the joint in the middle is the slowest part to come up to temperature. That’s what makes leg quarters seem tricky. They’re not. You just check the temperature in the thickest part of the thigh, near but not touching the bone, and give them the full forty-five to fifty-five minutes. A leg quarter that reads done at the drumstick may still be underdone at the joint.
Chicken is safe at 165°F. Dark meat is happy well past that, so there’s a wide margin here. This is a forgiving piece of chicken. Our chicken is cut fresh in-house; located in the chicken cooler.
The Cost Math on a Sunday Dinner
Here’s why this plate keeps showing up on Southern tables.
A leg quarter is one of the least expensive proteins per serving in any meat case, and unlike most cheap proteins, it isn’t a compromise. It’s the same dark meat people pay a premium for when it’s cut into boneless thighs. The bone and the skin do you a favor while it cooks: the bone moderates the heat around the joint and the skin bastes the meat as its fat renders.
Add our homemade mac and cheese and a bag of frozen green beans and you have four full plates for about the price of a couple of sandwiches out. That’s the entire argument, and it’s a good one.
Oven-Roasted Chicken Leg Quarters with Mac and Cheese and Green Beans
Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 110 minutes Serves: 4
You’ll Need
- 4 Lil Butcher Shoppe Chicken Leg Quarters
- 1 pan of LBS white cheddar macaroni and cheese
- 1 bag frozen green beans
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Let’s Cook
- Cook your Mac and Cheese first; 1 hour at 350°F, then set in the microwave (do not turn the microwave on, that pan is metal!) to stay warm.
- Heat the oven to 425°F.
- Pat the chicken leg quarters dry and arrange them on a rimmed sheet pan or in a baking dish.
- Rub the chicken lightly with olive oil.
- Combine the garlic powder, paprika, onion powder, thyme, salt and black pepper. Season the chicken generously on all sides, working some underneath the skin where you can.
- Roast for 45–55 minutes, or until beautifully browned and the thickest part of the thigh reaches at least 165°F.
- For the last 5 minutes, set the Mac and Cheese back in the oven if it’s cooled a bit.
- Cook the frozen green beans according to the package directions, then toss with butter, salt and black pepper.
- Serve it all together for an easy, affordable Sunday supper.
Good old-fashioned Sunday dinner without a special-occasion grocery bill.
What Else Is at the Chicken Counter
Fresh chicken is cut here rather than arriving portioned in a box, which means you can ask for what you want:
- Leg Quarters
- Chicken Thighs, bone-in and boneless
- Whole Chickens
- Chicken Breasts
- Whatever you need cut a particular way — just ask
We also make the chicken pot pies in the homemade freezer section, if you want the version where somebody else does all of it.
Tips from Behind the Counter
Season under the skin. Slide a finger between the skin and the meat and work some of the mixture in there. Seasoning sitting on top of the skin mostly seasons the skin.
Salt them an hour ahead if you can. Salt the leg quarters and leave them uncovered in the refrigerator. The skin dries out, which browns better, and the salt has time to work into the meat. Even thirty minutes helps.
Use a rimmed sheet pan and leave space between them. Crowded chicken steams. Steam is the enemy of browned skin.
Cook the green beans in chicken stock instead of water, with a little butter and black pepper. Same trick, same result and the cheapest upgrade on the plate.
Save the bones. Four leg quarters give you a good start on stock, and roasted bones make better stock than raw ones.
Ways to Change It Up
- Add potatoes and onion wedges to the pan. They roast in the drippings in about the same time and turn this into one pan.
- Swap the paprika for Cajun seasoning or add a half teaspoon of cayenne.
- Make it barbecue. Roast for 35 minutes, brush with sauce, and finish for another 10–15.
- Swap green beans for field peas, butter beans or lima beans.
One Stop for Sunday Dinner in Hattiesburg
Chicken, the mac and cheese, the green beans, the seasonings. All one trip. Our shop at 1910 Broadway Drive carries fresh-cut chicken and the grocery staples that go around it, so you’re not running between a meat counter and a grocery store to finish supper.
We’re closed on Sunday, so a Sunday dinner is a Saturday shopping trip (or take the grocery list sent in our newsletter in on Monday/Saturday for the whole week!). We’re open Saturday until 5:30.
We’ve been family owned and operated in Hattiesburg since 1991. Along with the fresh meat counter, the case is full of homemade cooking that’s already done for you: stuffed potatoes, boudin, gumbo, meatloaf, chicken pot pies, crawfish pies and stuffed bell peppers.
Hours: Monday–Tuesday and Thursday–Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Closed Wednesday and Sunday.
Phone: 601-261-2765
Address: 1910 Broadway Drive, Hattiesburg, MS 39401 — get directions or reach out
Outside the area? Our smoked sausage ships nationwide, and you can find us on the shelf at stores across Mississippi and the Gulf South.