Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Richly savory and, well, like chicken! Texture: Salty, oh-so-crisp skin with a super moist meat. Ease: This is probably the easiest way to enjoy perfectly cooked dark meat chicken with a scrumptious fried skin. Appearance: I don’t know about you but crisp skin makes my mouth water. Pros: Better than KFC! Cons: None that I thought up. Would I make this again? Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yesThis post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
Have you seen the latest issue of Bon Appetit? The one where Gwyneth is smiling at you from the cover? If not, take a look the next time your standing in line at the grocery store.
Gwyneth’s pictures are redonkulous. I don’t know anyone who prances around in their kitchen wearing skin-tight, thigh-high dresses eating huge plates of pasta. I wanted to dismiss the issue after laughing at those photos but luckily I didn’t because there was at least one gem of a recipe in there. This recipe promised a simple technique to produce outstanding results and I’m happy to say it lived up to it’s promise. The chicken is succulent and flavorful with a beautiful crisp, salty skin. It’s great for those days when you are craving crispy chicken but don’t feel like frying or roasting a whole bird. Also, chicken thighs are dirt cheap so it makes a great family meal. If you want to add another punch of flavor, throw in some sprigs of thyme or rosemary or even a few lemon wedges.
*post edited 5/27/13 to add new and improved photo!
Pan-Roasted Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 6 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- fresh thyme or rosemary sprigs, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Season chicken liberally with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet over high heat until hot but not smoking.
- Nestle chicken in skillet, skin side down, and cook 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-high and continue cooking skin side down, moving chicken around to ensure even heat. Cook skin-down until fat renders and skin is golden brown, about 12 minutes.
- Transfer skillet to oven and cook 10-13 minutes more. Flip chicken so the skin side is facing up and cook until the skin is crisp and the internal temperature registers at least 165 degrees, about 5 minutes more. Transfer chicken to a plate and allow to rest 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh herbs, if using.
So no flour? And can I use lard? It has no oil taste, no taste at all actually. Sounds good, I have a chicken brine goin now, gonna make it tonight.
With the garlic, rosemary & sage under the skin, to Die For, added great flavor.
I found the same recipe in an issue of bon appetit, it is THE BEST, chicken verry crispey, and full of flavor, verry easy will not pnr roast chickin thighs any othert way.
cooking tonight adding garlic, roesmarry & sage under the skin??
i'll b cookn this n jus a few, hope its good i got sum picky eaters to plz
I tried this and am hooked! This is my favorite fried chicken recipe! My husband and I both love it. Who would have thought that fried chicken without the flour would be SOOO delicious.
In spite of my weary reservations I decided to give this recipe a try. Should have known better. It wasn't long before awful regret set in, the recipe itself shows a complete lack of even the most basic grasp of cooking – the author clearly does not understand how oil works. Still I followed the instructions, working with quite large thighs I found the heat and timing suggestions were very very far from how little time it took. It is very difficult without a window to monitor them once they are transferred to the oven (which in itself is a very stupid thing). However, they came out more or less as shown with a great deal of paranoia executed on my behalf (particularly since there are sprinklers all over my apartment). They were the correct temperature, they were a lovely golden brown, delicately crisp and inviting looking.
Too bad the flavor was a combination of horribly bland and oil. I'd say this recipe is barely edible, it leaves quite a nasty aftertaste. There are so many more delicious and simple ways to cook chicken that don't take nearly as much work as this recipe. Unless you lack taste buds, don't bother.
Yeaaah, I wouldn't demote the entire recipe to “bad” because of your experience. Maybe it's a bit of a misjudgement to call it a recipe, but I used it as a general inspiration and all of mine have turned out deliciously. I'm sorry you had such a bad time with it, though.
I followed the recipe as best I could, but unfortunately I charred the hell out of the skin (which is also my favorite part).
I added a tablespoon of vegetable oil to the pan, turned the heat on high, and while it was warming up I liberally salted and peppered both sides.
Then I added the chicken to the pan, skin side down, and let it sear for about 2 minutes on high heat. Then I left the chicken skin side down and turned the heat down to even a little less than medium-high.
I let it continue to cook skin side down for about 10 minutes (which made me pretty nervous, apparently for good reason). After that I transfered the pan into the oven preheated to 475 degrees.
It was specified, so I left the oil in the pan and also left the chicken still skin side down. I just moved the whole thing into the oven and shut the door for about another 11 minutes.
Then I took the pan out, flipped both pieces so that they were facing skin side up, and put it back in the oven for another 6 minutes.
The rest of the chicken was great, but the skin turned out completely black, and by the time I was done the apartment was filled with smoke and my eyes are still burning lol.
What did I do wrong?
Josh – Sorry you had a bad experience! It's hard to tell what went wrong without having been there. Anytime you pan-fry with a cast iron skillet there's bound to be a little smoke. When it comes to following a recipe, I've found that paying attention to the verbal cues is crucial. Your pan/stove-top/oven might run hotter, your thighs might have been smaller, the skin might have been thinner, etc., so follow your instincts and written cues such as “golden brown” and “internal temperature of 165 degrees”.
I use grapeseed oil 'cause that's what I keep in the house for things too hot for olive oil and it works great. This has become one of our favorite dishes!
This recipe looks great! Can you use canola oil instead of vegetable oil?
Yes! I actually think I might have used canola one of the times I made it.
So…the “amazing” recipe is salt, pepper, fry in oil then transfer to oven? Wow.
It's not necessarily the recipe that's amazing, it's the technique. Sometimes the simplest things are the best 🙂
wow, this recipe (or cooking method, I suppose) is downright amazing. Love love love!! And I don't think a sauce is necessary at all – the juicy, lightly seasoned chicken was perfect as is.
I hope I'm not stealing the limelight here but a great sauce to go with these (or really, any chicken) would definitely be the dijon sauce featured on this site: https://handletheheat.com/2011/06/chicken-with…
I make something similar to this at home, but instead of rosemary I use tarragon– insanely good with any mustard-based sauce. If you like, take it up a notch and splash in a healthy dose of dry white white or even sherry. This combo of mustard, tarragon, wine and broth is absolutely my go-to sauce for all kinds of proteins …mmm…