This post is sponsored by Sharp. A big thank you to sponsors that make this little blog possible! All opinions are my own.
This is the easiest, simplest meal I’ve ever thrown together for a weeknight (besides reheating leftovers or just having a cheese plate as dinner…). I know I’ve written before about my lack of love for the humble chicken but I do enjoy dark meat. Good luck sharing a bucket of fried chicken with me and getting a drumstick! I thought of what would be a simple yet delicious and satisfying quick dinner in my new Sharp microwave and convection oven and I thought of these crispy baked chicken thighs.
Bone-in, skin-on thighs patted dry and seasoned well will roast into crispy and juicy bites of chicken with no added oil or butter. The bed of onions and lemon slices it cooks on perfumes the chicken and I love how the juices from the chicken cook the onions down into savory mess. The convection feature on this oven cooks it all in 30 minutes and what’s better than dirtying only one pan to make dinner? I ate this with a fresh baby spinach salad tossed in a little bit of wine vinegar and olive oil. It’s a simple, quick and satisfying meal for any night.
- 4 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs, trimmed of excess skin and patted dry
- 1 large onion halved and thinly sliced
- 1 lemon thinly sliced seeds removed
- 1 teaspoon of kosher salt divided
- 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
- 4 very small pinches of cayenne
- freshly ground black pepper
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Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
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Place sliced onions at the bottom of a 9 x 9 inch square baking dish or pan. Lay lemon slices evenly over the onion. Sprinkle with half the salt.
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Place the chicken thighs on top, making sure to leave a bit of room around each thigh. Sprinkle with other half of the salt, dried thyme, cayenne and a few grinds of black pepper.
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Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until crispy and golden and the temperature reaches at least 165 degrees when putting a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh (not touching the bone).
I’m dying to try cooking chicken thighs because they look so yummy. But I mostly stick to breasts because the yellow bits and quills stuck to the bone in chicken bother me. I can’t figure out how to remove them. How did you find such nice looking chicken?
Hi Kari! These came beautifully cut up like this so I’m lucky, but I try and just trim any of the excess fat and weird bits off if there are any. If you feel squeamish about this you can probably get the butcher at the meat counter in the grocery store to do this for you if you ask nicely.
I prefer the thighs because they’re hard to overcook and in my opinion, are tastier.
Thanks!
I think bone-in, skin-on makes a chicken breast totally acceptable. Otherwise I’ll save it as a treat for my pup pups.
Yes, and it’s still only second to the bone-in, skin-on thigh!
Sonja, this looks delicious! Thanks for sharing your amazing talent for cooking with us all! Sincerely, Steve McKinney
Aw, thanks for checking out my blog!! It’s so nice to hear from you 🙂