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.
Worked perfectly. I made a sauce from bacon mushrooms white wine and double cream. Served with broccoli and potatoes. Yum yum. I imagine my wife will be rewarding my efforts in her own way…
I don’t have a cast iron pan (I’m afraid to use one on my glasstop stove), can I still make this without it? My thighs are almost defosted and now I’m not sure what to do with them, please help!
I made it tonight….and I didn’t totally adhere to every timeline and temp. I had to make some adjustments…But it was so freaking good, I can’t believe it!! I used to think shake’n’bake was good, this was great! And yes…better than KFC!!
I think I did about 10 minutes on the stovetop and around 10 minutes in the oven. I flipped it when the skin was browned and crisp. Damn, the simplest recipes are the best!! Thanks again, Tessa 🙂
Awesome Ben! Thanks for your comment 🙂
I must say….there are only a couple of oils with a smoke point as high as 475…I can’t imagine that the majority of people here didn’t get excessive smoking unless they used ghee….or some other strange oil.
See this chart: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_point
That’s a good point Ben but in reality the oil will never get quite as hot as the oven temp because the oven can’t transmit heat that efficiently to the oil (it’s only in the oven for about 15 minutes).
couple of points….a recipe need not be full of ingredients and complications to taste good. I think meat is usually best cooked in a simple way….just like this!
And be aware of your pans and your stove and how they interact. I think test kitchen has a video about how to know where medium high/high etc are on your stove by timing how long it takes to boil water. If you have trouble with the recipe…check your temps.
Made the chicken this evening, and I included two drumsticks and two wings. I also tossed in a few cloves of garlic, still in their skin. Everything was delicious! Thanks so much for the recipe. Your site is a great place to find new techniques.
I’ve tried this recipe several times and each time we’ve burned the chicken. I’ve been using Ghee as the ‘oil’ since it’s the only oil that has a high enough smoke point to withstand the 475 degree oven temp. How can you cook chicken on its skin for 10 minutes on a medium-high stove, then 10 minutes in a hot oven and not have it burn? . . . am I missing something? What should I adjust: less time on the stove, lower oven temp, different oil? For those that used oil, isn’t there a culinary and health concern about cooking oil well past its smoke point?
Thanks for feedback!
Hi Alex! I’m so sorry to hear you’ve had some difficulties. First let me say that all times given in the recipe are approximates, everyone’s stove and oven heat differently so it’s critical to pay close attention to the visual cues given (“until fat renders and skin is golden brown” and “until the skin is crisp”) in addition to the 165 °F internal temperature indication of doneness. Perhaps your chicken thighs are smaller than the ones I’ve used, or the others who have had more success with this recipe? I would try to lower the temperature on your stovetop since cast iron does get so darn hot and lessen the cooking time in the oven. Your oven may run hot too, so you might lower the temperature to 450°F. Do you have an ovenproof thermometer? I would poke the chicken meat (making sure the probe isn’t touching a bone) just before transferring the chicken to the oven and remove the chicken once it reaches 165°F. It may take less time for you to get to that point, and the thermometer will ensure perfection. Hope this helps!
Just wanted to say that I’ve made this recipe about 10 times and know it by heart now!
Thank you for posting this method of frying chicken. We first tried it camping, over the campfire, with our trusty cast iron pan. Love at first bite! We eat this at least once a month, the skin is sooooo good, and the kids absolutely love it. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I had some chicken thighs to cook last night and had something like this technique in mind so I googled “seared chicken thighs finished in oven” and found this. I gotta say they were the best chicken thighs I’ve EVER cooked. My family agrees. Crispy skin, moist meat, not greasy (I did drain some of the chicken fat before putting it in the oven), and just plain delicious. Served it with some organic brown rice and green beans.
I will be using this method often. Thank you!
Tried this and came out perfect, making it again right now.
Absolutely amazing technique for chicken thighs, thinking of ways to actively improve this are somewhat difficult (and I am actually a pretty creative cook:) I definitely like the idea of adding garlic and sage to the mix with the rosemary, I think what might turn out really well is to take a bit of the rendered fat, mix in some pureed or finely mince garlic, use mortar and pestle to crush rosemary and sage, and mix into a baste. I would drizzle that over the skin upon first putting it in the over, and probably once more within the last two minutes.
We did a couple of wee change-ups too…for example we did the initial upside down pan fry portion in EVOO, think next time I might use sunflower oil instead actually. I did a sea salt and pepper rub on the chicken before it hit the pan, and then once in we did add some rosemary and a light dash of smoked paprika. At the end of the pan fry portion we actually did drain off most of the rendered fat and oil (which is why I was thinking baste, because…well, yum for one and two – waste not). We bake in over from there pretty much as described, except at the end I kicked the temp up to 500 solid and flipped it to broil…2 minutes on broil, and then rest on the counter for 5 minutes. Probably THE best pan fried chicken I have ever had.
Thanks so much for sharing the technique:)
To Rose above – your smug is overpowering my ability to appreciate your feedback
To Tim – dude, there are plenty of other ways that do not include THAT way to tenderize chicken…besides, sharing your stomach fauna is not really good form.