Baked Chicken Thighs ๐๐งก with crispy skin are what easy weeknight dinner dreams are made of! Simple ingredients create the perfect seasoning blend that you just sprinkle on and bake to juicy perfection!
Easy Baked Chicken Thighs Recipe
- I’m all about a sheet pan or one pan dinner! And bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs are the choice of champions when you want to create chicken that’s moist, tender, and juicy! That’s because dark meat – and that’s what thighs are – has a bit more fat than chicken breasts so they naturally have more flavor AND stay juicer.
- The seasoning mix is tried and true and it’s similar to what I use for my Perfect 20-Minute Oven-Baked Chicken Breasts. But like any seasoning blend recipe, it’s flexible and customizable based on what you have on hand and enjoy.
- For extra crispy skin, you can optionally broil your bone-in chicken thighs at the end for a couple minutes.
- Prepared this way, these oven baked chicken thighs are a versatile, high protein, meal prep option. Pair them with Spanish rice, roasted potatoes, broccoli, green beans, house salad, roasted veggies, or whatever suits your fancy.
Ingredients in Oven-Baked Chicken Thighs
Simple Seasoning Blend: Paprika (or smoked paprika), garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper make up seasoning blend. Fun Twists with Spices: Use cumin rather than Italian seasoning, and if you want a bit of a kick, a teaspoon of chili powder or a pinch of cayenne powder will do the trick.
Brown sugar: I love adding a bit of brown sugar to the spice blend for chicken because it lightly caramelizes while baking and adds just a tiny hint of sweetness.
Chicken: Bone-in skin-on chicken thighs that are about 6 ounces each are what I use. Want to use other types of chicken? You can use skinless thighs or boneless chicken thighs (will cook faster than indicated) or boneless skinless chicken breasts (will also likely cook quicker, but it depends on how thick or thin the breasts are). Always cook poultry until it has an internal temperature of 165F measured by a meat thermometer.
Garnishes, optional: Fresh herbs such as parsley, cilantro, basil, lemon wedges, lemon zest, etc. are all great.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How To Make Chicken Thighs in the Oven
- Mix together the seasonings and brown sugar in a small bowl.
- Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel, lightly drizzle extra virgin olive oil onto the skin, and then evenly sprinkle the seasoning over the tops and sides of the chicken thighs.
- Place chicken on a baking sheet or baking dish and bake for about 35-40 minutes or until the bone-in thighs are done.
- Optionally, to crisp up the chicken skin even more, place the sheet pan under the broiler for 1-2 minutes, and then garnish as desired and serve your tender meat!
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for step-by-step photos and process shots of the cooking process.
How Long To Bake Chicken Thighs?
- Always cook chicken – whether it’s breasts, thighs, or a whole chicken – until it registers an internal temperature of 165F.
- There is no way of knowing what 165F ‘looks like’. You can’t tell by looking at it and so you need to take the temperature with a digital thermometer, plain and simple.
- Overcooked chicken is dry, stingy, and tough. And undercooked chicken is downright dangerous. Don’t guess!
Baked Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar, packed (recommended for flavor and the light caramelization that it creates, although you can omit or reduce if you're concerned)
- 2 teaspoons paprika, (or use a combo of 1 tsp paprika + 1 tsp smoked paprika)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, (for a flavor variation, substitute with ground cumin)
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ยฝ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- pinch cayenne pepper, optional and to taste if you prefer a tiny bit of heat (or about 1/2 to 1 tsp chili powder)
- 6 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs, (about 6 ounces each; other types of chicken may be substituted, read blog post for more info)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Fresh herbs such as parsley, basil, cilantro, finely minced; optional for garnishing
- Lemon wedges, optional for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F and either spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with cooking spray OR spray a baking sheet (and if you'd like like, especially if you're using a baking sheet, for easier cleanup I recommend lining it with foil and slightly curling up the edges to prevent the juices from running off ); set pan aside.
- To a medium bowl, add the brown sugar, all the spices, salt, pepper, optional cayenne or chili powder, and mix to combine.
- Pat the chicken pieces dry with paper towel. Do not skip this because a dry surface is what helps the skin crisp up while baking.
- Place chicken in a bowl and evenly drizzle with the olive oil, rubbing it in a bit on the top of each piece of chicken.
- Evenly sprinkle the seasoning blend over the chicken. I mostly concentrate on top and the sides and pat it in a bit with my fingers.
- Bake uncovered for about 35-40 minutes, or until a thermometer registers 165F. I recommend rotating your baking pan once midway through baking to ensure even cooking and start checking at 30 minutes, especially if your pieces of chicken are a bit smaller than 6 ounces each.
- Baking Tips – It'll probably bake a bit quicker on a baking sheet than in a baking dish by maybe 5 minutes. Boneless chicken thighs and boneless chicken breasts will likely bake a bit quicker too, 25-35 minutes, but it depends on the exact size of the pieces of chicken. Don't go by the time on the clock, go by the internal temperature being 165F.
- Optionally, if you'd like to crisp up the skin even more, set your broiler to HIGH and broil on the top oven rack for about 1 minute (maybe 2 minutes), or as needed.Broiling Tips – Be extremely watchful, don't turn your back on it or get distracted because it can go from crispy to burnt-to-a-crisp in less than a minute!
- Allow chicken to rest for about 5 minutes, optionally garnish as desired, and optionally serve with lemon wedges.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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