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Baked Bone-In Chicken Thighs

Making baked bone-in chicken thighs is super quick and easy! It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3! The chicken will be juicy and have great flavor with some crispy skin!

You can use this as your main course or pull the meat off the bone and use it in a salad or over rice.

This recipe is cooked in your oven. The benefit of using chicken thighs is that added fat and flavor you get from the dark meat. They by far are one of my favorite cuts of chicken.

Baked bone-in chicken thighs video

baked bone-in chicken thighs

Ingredients

  • 1 lb bone-in chicken thighs
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp granulated garlic
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp salt

Equipment

  • cutting board
  • chef knife
  • oven pan

oven baked chicken thighs in 5 Steps

Follow these 5 steps to get crispy juicy chicken thighs. You can also get all the steps in the video. This is by far one of my favorite go-to recipes during the week.

Create a rub

mixed rub in a shaker bottle

In this recipe, I have mixed together 1 tsp of granulated garlic, 1 tsp of onion powder, 1 tsp of paprika, and 1/2 tsp of cracked black pepper.

Mix them together in a small bowl. I like to use an old spice bottle for a container to be able to spread the rub over the chicken. I would give this a try because it makes it so much easier.

Trim excess fat

cutting excess the fat off a chicken thigh

The first step is always to trim the chicken and get all of the unwanted skin and fat off of each piece.

Make sure to leave the skin on top because that is what is going to crisp up and give great flavor to your chicken thighs.

This is also a good time to look for any broken bones or shards of bones that you want to remove.

Prepare the chicken

chicken prepared in a bowl

Add the chicken to a bowl to be able to spread the oil and spices on. Now if your chicken is really wet, you can dry it with a paper towel to help the oil and seasoning to stick better.

Pour 1 tbsp. of olive oil onto our thighs and spread it all over, coating all the chicken.

Shake the seasoning liberally all over the chicken. You won’t get all sides of the thighs. This seasoning is going to help dry out the skin to be able to give it a chance to crisp up.

Sprinkle with coarse salt and fresh cracked black pepper all over the chicken as well. I like to use kosher salt for this.

Place the chicken onto a pan spaced out a little so it can cook evenly. If you have an oven pan as you see in the video this will help with pulling the moisture away as it cooks so you get a crispy chicken.

Try my smashed potatoes recipe with this chicken. You can’t go wrong with chicken and fried potatoes!

Bake the chicken thighs

Last step! Now, we are going to place the thighs into the oven at 375 degrees for about 35-40 minutes.

Temps can vary so much between different ovens so you really want to concentrate on the internal temp.

Cook until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. This chicken was baked in breville smart oven air fryer pro.

Rest and enjoy

chicken thighs resting

Now that your chicken thighs are cooked to 165 degrees go ahead and take them out of the oven and let them rest for at least 5 minutes. This allows the juices to soak back up into the meat.

what to serve with baked chicken thighs

Boneless baked chicken thighs vs. Bone-In baked chicken thighs

For me, I feel you can not beat the flavor from chicken that is on the bone. Now boneless also carries all kinds of flavors.

Bone-in chicken does add a lot more flavor when it is cooked low and slow like braised chicken thighs.

Also, try breaking down your own chicken! I have a full breakdown on how at how to cut up a whole chicken.

Use the pan that came with your oven. These are great because the meat does not sit in the liquid that drips off.

You can also use a sheet pan with a wired rack. This will elevate the chicken to the bottom of the pan and allow the chicken to get crispy all the way around.

This recipe is also great with boneless chicken thighs. They might cook a little bit quicker. You will not get that crispy skin texture but you will get the delicious flavor from the rub.

Chicken, in general, is a great source of protein. Thighs are darker meat than breasts and are high in healthy monounsaturated fats. There is a higher fat content in the thighs but it’s good fat.

The days of fat being dangerous are over. We need fat in our diet.

If you are baking your chicken thighs with the bone in at 400 degrees you want to cook them for 30-35 minutes.

Boneless chicken thighs will cook a little faster so more like 20-30 minutes. When cooking chicken you want the internal temperature to be 165 degrees.

A benefit of cooking at a hot temperature like this is an opportunity to get crispier skin.

baked chicken thighs on a plate

Baked Chicken Thighs – Best Recipe!

Bob
Tasty quick and easy recipe for baked Bone-in chicken thighs that your whole family is going to love!
4.65 from 28 votes
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Resting time 5 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Servings 4
Calories 248 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb bone-in chicken thighs
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp granulated garlic
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp salt

Instructions
 

  • Add the chicken to a bowl and coat the chicken with olive oil. Make sure to coat every piece liberally.
  • Mix together the granulated garlic, onion powder, paprika and black pepper in a small bowl or shaker.
    Sprinkle the seasoning all over each piece evenly. Use all of the seasoning so each thigh is coated. Sprinkle a couple of pinches of kosher salt on each thigh.
  • Place the chicken thighs on a pan and bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes or so. Check the temperature and make sure its cooked to at least 165 degrees.
  • Pull from the oven and let the thighs rest for 5 minutes or so. Then enjoy with your favorite side.

Notes

Tips:
Use boneless chicken thighs if you do not have bone-in thighs or if you do not like chicken with the skin on. You will still get great flavor with the rub.
Make sure the chicken is elevated in the pan for best cooking results. Use a wired rack.

Nutrition

Calories: 248kcalCarbohydrates: 2gProtein: 16gFat: 20gSaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 94mgSodium: 657mgPotassium: 218mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 321IUCalcium: 8mgIron: 1mg
Keyword Baked Bone-in Chicken Thighs, how to bake bone in chicken thighs
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