Baked Chicken Thighs – WellPlated.com

Wishing tonight’s dinner was easy, inexpensive, and pretty difficult to mess up? Bonus points if it’s healthy? Time to make Baked Chicken Thighs! These baked chicken thighs have crispy skin, juicy meat, and plenty of flavor.

Why You’ll Love This Baked Chicken Thighs Recipe

• Never Dry or Rubbery. While baked boneless skinless chicken breast might occupy the default setting in your grocery shopping approach, it is well worth picking up a pack of bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs every now and then. Dark chicken thigh meat is juicier and far less prone to drying out than white breast meat, which means cooking these crispy baked chicken thighs is stress-free!
• Packed With Nutrients. While many think white meat is healthier, this is hardly the case. Chicken thighs are packed with nutrition. Compared to white meat, dark meat has more iron, zinc, vitamin B-12, thiamine, and other nutrients too. (Yes, dark meat has more fat than white, but it’s still a very lean, healthy protein.) Bring on the chicken thigh recipes!
• Super Flavorful. Baked bone-in chicken thighs (and Baked Chicken Legs) have more flavor and are juicier than boneless skinless chicken thighs because the bone flavors the meat from the inside and helps retain moisture (it’s why you can skip brining when making Baked Bone-In Chicken Breast, but it’s necessary for juicy boneless Grilled Chicken Breast or Air Fryer Chicken Breast).
• Budget-Friendly. Making oven-baked chicken thighs for dinner is a bargain! Per pound, dark meat is less expensive than white meat, and bone-in chicken is less expensive than boneless.

More About These Easy Baked Chicken Thighs

Today, I’m giving you my best 5-star, juicy chicken thighs in the oven recipe with dried Italian herbs (feel free to swap for fresh herbs if you have them), garlic, and lemon.

Old-fashioned baked crispy chicken thighs in the oven are equally as make-ahead friendly as they are last-minute healthy dinner material. (Though for the fastest method for preparing chicken, try Pan Fried Chicken Breast.)

• I recommend 60 minutes of marinade time, but you can reduce it to 30 minutes if you need a shortcut.
• On the opposite side of the timeline, you can completely prep them the night before and pop them into the oven when it’s time for dinner.

This is one tasty (and healthy) baked chicken thighs in the oven recipe you can serve with pride.

How to Make Chicken Thighs in the Oven

The Ingredients

• Chicken Thighs. Flavorful and succulent, chicken thighs are a fantastic, healthy ingredient (try them in Chicken Cacciatore). I used bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, which are healthy, affordable, and nearly impossible to mess up.

• Italian Marinade. A mixture of olive oil, paprika, garlic, Italian seasoning (which contains oregano, basil, marjoram, and more), salt, pepper, and lemon. It imparts light and bright Italian flavor onto the chicken and helps make it extra juicy. This bright Chicken Marinade is another marinade you can use for chicken in the oven.
• Onion. My special trick for this recipe is to thinly slice an onion and scatter it around the chicken thighs as they bake in the oven. Once roasted, the onions become deliciously caramelized and sweet.
• Fresh Herbs. Fresh parsley, tarragon, or thyme is the perfect finishing touch.

The Directions

1. Marinate. Combine the marinade ingredients and marinate the chicken thighs for at least 30 minutes or refrigerate for up to 12 hours.

2. Season the Onions. Place the onions on a sheet pan and toss to coat with oil, salt, and pepper.

3. Arrange. Nestle the chicken thighs into the onions skin side up.

4. Cook. Bake chicken thighs for 15 minutes, stir the onions, and bake for 10 to 20 additional minutes, or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 degrees F. Let rest on the pan for 5 minutes.
5. Finish. Stir the onions and broil 1 to 2 minutes to crisp the chicken skin. Garnish with herbs, then serve hot and ENJOY!

Recipe Variations

• BBQ Chicken Thighs in the Oven. Season the thighs with your favorite BBQ spice blend (such as smoked paprika, chili powder, garlic and onion powder). Bake per the time and temperature suggested in the recipe (with or without the onions). Serve with Barbecue Sauce.
• Old Fashioned Chicken Thighs in the Oven. Keep the taste pure and simple with salt, pepper, and paprika. Serve with Easy Drop Biscuits and your favorite gravy.
• Southern Chicken Thighs in the Oven. Season the chicken with a blend of garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, seasoned salt, a little cayenne, and dried rosemary.
• Curry Chicken Thighs in the Oven. Season the thighs with curry powder, cumin, chili powder, black pepper, and salt. (This variation would be scrumptious with Turmeric Rice.)

Storage Tips

• To Store. Place baked chicken thighs in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
• To Reheat. Gently rewarm leftovers in a baking dish in the oven at 350 degrees F or in the microwave.
• To Freeze. Freeze chicken thighs in an airtight, freezer-safe storage container for up to 3 months. Let thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.

What to Serve with Baked Chicken Thighs

Recipe Tips and Tricks

• Don’t Cover the Chicken. Some chicken thighs in the oven recipes require covering with aluminum foil. This is not one of them. When baking chicken thighs with the skin on, you’re trying to achieve crispy chicken thighs in the oven. Therefore, leaving them uncovered ensures a crispy skin that turns perfectly golden. YUM!
• Stick With High and Short. AKA the opposite of low and slow. I find it best to bake bone-in chicken thigh recipes like this one at a high temperature—425 degrees F. Since chicken thighs are lean, they don’t benefit from low, slow cooking the way tougher, more marbled cuts like Slow Cooker Pulled Pork do. A shorter cook time with high heat is the move for chicken thighs in the oven.
• Or Adjust the Temperature As Needed. If needed, you can adjust the oven temperature down to as low as 400 degrees F to accommodate other dishes—say you are cooking the chicken thighs in the oven at the same time as a pan of Roasted Brussels Sprouts or Roasted Butternut Squash. Simply extend the cooking time by a few minutes (or go for 415 degrees F—right in between). Or, you can make a sheet pan Rosemary Chicken Thighs, which include veggies on the same pan.
• Know When Baked Chicken Thighs Are Done. The best (and I’d say only true) way to tell if your chicken is cooked properly is to use an instant-read meat thermometer inserted at the thickest part. Chicken should be cooked to 165 degrees F, but its temperature will rise after it is removed from the heat. I remove oven-baked chicken thighs 5 to 10 degrees early (155 to 160 degrees F).
• Don’t Forget the Rest. Resting allows the meat to come to a safe temperature. Resting is necessary so that the juices have time to reincorporate into the baked chicken thighs.