Crispy Chicken Thighs

I started working on a new project that I am seriously SO excited about. Don’t you love when you have something new to focus your energies towards and it’s fun and exciting and challenging? I’m totally one of those people that LOVES to start projects. Everything about approaching something for the very first time excites me. I usually make my best effort to finish everything I start, but I definitely get a bit of a high off those first few weeks. Are you one of those people who has endless projects half finished??

Today’s recipe can be started and finished in about 30 minutes. WIN! These chicken thighs are seriously goooood. They’re total comfort food to me because they involve both my favorite flavors (garlic, lemon, and rosemary) and my favorite texture (crisp crackling goodness). You basically start off the chicken in a cast-iron pan on the stove to sear, then finish it off in the oven. The cast-iron gets super hot, so hot that it might actually smoke so be sure to turn your hood fan on. That heat is what imparts that super golden crispness to the skin while making the inside stay nice and juicy. You could use another type of oven-safe pan for this recipe, but I can’t promise it will make as crispy of results as that good ole’ cast iron will. I promise, it’s so worth the clean-up.

5 from 6 votes

How to make

Crispy Chicken Thighs

Yield: 4 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Crispy Chicken Thighs are loaded with classic lemon, garlic, and rosemary flavors and are cooked in a cast-iron skillet to get PERFECTLY golden crisp skin.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 6 to 8 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2. Combine the salt, pepper, garlic powder, lemon zest (reserve the juice), and rosemary in a small bowl. Sprinkle mixture evenly over both sides of the chicken thighs.
3. Heat the oil in a large cast-iron skillet over high heat until hot but not smoking. Place the chicken thighs, skin side down, and cook for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-high and continue cooking with the skin side down until the fat renders and it is golden brown, about 5 minutes.
4. Transfer the skillet to the oven and cook for another 6 minutes. Flip the chicken so the skin side is facing up and cooking until the skin is crisp and a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat registers at least 165°F, about another 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and let rest for 5 minutes. Squeeze the lemon juice over the chicken before serving.

Recipe Notes

Cast iron pans get very hot which makes them great for crisping chicken skin, but also means they tend to smoke. Make sure you turn your vent hood on and, if possible, open a window. Also, chicken thighs can vary greatly in size. You may need to shave the cooking times slightly for really small thighs, and increase the cooking times for larger thighs.

Course : Main Course

Cuisine : American

Recipe by Tessa Arias

Author: Tessa Arias

I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)