Oven-Roasted Chicken Thighs - Crispy Skin

This simple weeknight recipe will give you flavorful, juicy chicken thighs perfect for any time of the year. Most chicken thigh techniques yield an under cooked and flabby skinned piece of chicken. But dark meat chicken like thighs do better when cooked to higher temperatures so the collagen can break down and make the meat juicy and tender. 

Julian's Crispy Oven-Roasted Chicken Thighs

Today I'm using smaller free-range chicken thighs but the recipe works just as well or even better with larger grocery store bought thighs. Their larger size makes them harder to cook using other techniques, but this recipe will cook them to perfection and all in your oven in about 30 minutes, giving you time to put together a simple side or two. 

I don't give any number of thighs in the recipe because you can simply make as many as you need for your family provided they all fit on a single baking sheet. It's most important you follow the instructions for pre-heating the baking sheet on the lowest rack in your oven. This allows the sheet to get very hot and as soon as you pace the thighs on it skin down you will hear the sizzle and the skin will immediately start to crisp and release its fat. 

Today I'm using my favorite seasoning which is Meathead's Amazing Tuscan Herb Poultry Seasoning & Dry Brine. I get nothing from the company, not even a free sample, so you can take my word for it when I tell you this will be flavorful, well seasoned chicken. You can of course use your own favorite rub or dry brine in it's place. 

Finally, I served this with a room temperature corn and green been salad. It's a spin off of my Pan Roasted Sweet Corn recipe to which I simply added some blanched green beans. 

Ingredients
Bone-in, skin on chicken thighs 
Seasoning of Choice (I prefer Meatheads Tuscan Herb Poultry Seasoning)

Vegetable oil spray

Instructions

One to four hours in advance of cooking, trim all visible fat from chicken thighs. Using metal skewer, poke 6-8 wholes in the skin side of each chicken thigh. Season the under side and then the skin side of the thighs with your seasoning of choice, or at least salt and pepper. Place seasoned thighs, skin side up, on a plate or rimmed dish. Refrigerate uncovered for 1-4 hours before cooking. This will help to insure a crispy skin. 

Adjust oven racks to middle and lowest positions. Place a rimmed heavy-duty baking sheet on lower rack, and heat oven to 450F degrees (or 425F is using convection bake setting).

Remove thighs from refrigerator and spray skin lightly with vegetable oil spray. Remove hot rack from oven carefully and place thighs skin side down on preheated baking sheet. Return baking sheet to bottom rack. 

Roast chicken until skin side is beginning to brown and meat registers 160F-170F degrees, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through to promote even baking if needed.  Remove chicken from oven and heat broiler or set the oven to 'browning' mode. 

While broiler heats, flip chicken skin side up. Broil chicken on middle rack until skin is brown, crisp and meat registers 175-185F degrees, about 5 minutes. Transfer chicken to platter and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.