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Crispy Skin Chicken Thighs

April 10, 2019 by Tara Leung Leave a Comment

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Crispy Skin Chicken Thighs have super crispy crunchy golden brown skin over juicy tender meat. Crispy Skin Chicken Thighs are browned in a skillet then baked in the oven. Serve with a quick white wine pan sauce made in the same skillet used to brown the chicken.

Crispy Skin Chicken Thighs| WednesdayNightCafe.com

Regular readers know by now that we love our roast chicken here. I’ve shared a recipe for Engagement Chicken and Slow Roast Chicken. We also love chicken thighs for a quicker weeknight option, especially since my husband prefers dark meat. The beauty of using individual pieces like chicken thighs is you have the option to brown the skin in a skillet before roasting.

Now, what are you going to do with that leftover rendered chicken fat in the skillet? These chicken thighs don’t need a sauce. They’re good enough on their own. But I like making a quick white wine pan sauce to drizzle over them, particularly if I’m making rice or another grain with this meal. The pan sauce over rice is the best.

How Do You Make Chicken Skin Crispy?

If you bake chicken thighs without browning them first, the skin stays kind of limp and soggy. Browning the thighs skin-side down in a skillet allows the fat to render, so the remaining skin has the chance to get crispy and crackly and golden brown. You can then finish cooking the chicken in the oven, and the skin stays crispy.

It’s important to remember that chicken skin shrinks as it cooks. Don’t be tempted to trim off too much excess skin-a mistake I’ve made in the past.

Ingredients for Crispy Skin Chicken Thighs

Here are the very limited ingredients for this recipe. I generally portion two chicken thighs per person although it depends on the size. The thyme, minced garlic, chicken broth, and white wine are for the pan sauce.

Crispy Skin Chicken Thighs| WednesdayNightCafe.com

How to Make Crispy Skin Chicken Thighs

Start out by seasoning your chicken generously with salt and pepper.

Crispy Skin Chicken Thighs| WednesdayNightCafe.com

Brown the chicken thighs skin-side down in a skillet. Then transfer to a baking dish. Here they are before going into the oven.

Crispy Skin Chicken Thighs| WednesdayNightCafe.com

How Long to Roast Chicken Thighs

When you brown the chicken thighs, they already start to cook. Once they’re transferred to the 425-degree oven, they need about 20 minutes to bake. Chicken is cooked when it reaches internal temperature of 165 degrees.

Here is the baked chicken. See how that skin stays crispy?

Crispy Skin Chicken Thighs| WednesdayNightCafe.com

What to Serve with Crispy Skin Chicken Thighs

In the pictures in this post, I served the crispy skin chicken thighs with roast baby artichokes and spring vegetables. I’ll be sharing the recipe for this side dish on Friday. (Update: Click here to get the recipe.) If you don’t have the oven space for roasting vegetables, try steamed broccoli or asparagus or some sautéed spinach.

For starch, we like rice, quinoa, farro, or whole wheat orzo pasta. If you’re going low carb, maybe cauliflower rice to soak up that white wine pan sauce?

Crispy Skin Chicken Thighs| WednesdayNightCafe.com

If you make this recipe, please give the recipe a rating and/or leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!

Crispy Skin Chicken Thighs| WednesdayNightCafe.com
5 from 2 votes
Print

Crispy Skin Chicken Thighs with White Wine Pan Sauce

Crispy Skin Chicken Thighs have super crispy crunchy golden brown skin over juicy tender meat. Crispy Skin Chicken Thighs are browned in a skillet then baked in the oven. Serve with a quick white wine pan sauce made in the same skillet used to brown the chicken.

Course Dinner, Main Dish
Cuisine American
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 4
Calories 530 kcal
Author Tara Leung

Ingredients

  • 8 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/3 cup white wine
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking oil spray.

  2. Sear chicken: Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 4 chicken pieces, skin side down, and cook without moving until skin is browned and crispy, 6-8 minutes. Use a splatter guard if you have one. Remove chicken from skillet and place on the prepared baking sheet, skin side up. Sear the second half of the chicken and place on baking sheet. (Do not wash the skillet you used to sear the chicken, save that for when you make the sauce.)

  3. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Chicken is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

  4. Make sauce: When you have about 10 minutes left on the baking time, make sauce. Heat the same skillet you used to brown the chicken thighs over medium heat. Remove all but 1 tablespoon fat from the pan. Add garlic to the pan and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add wine and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until wine is mostly evaporated, then add broth. Simmer until the sauce is reduced by half, about 7 minutes. Stir in thyme leaves and add salt and pepper as needed.

Bon Appétit!

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Filed Under: Dinner, Poultry, Recipes Tagged With: chicken thighs, white wine

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About Wednesday Night Cafe

  Hi, I’m Tara. This blog is where I share my recipes for special dinners. When I discover a new dish while traveling or come across something creative while dining out, I just have to recreate the recipe at home. I also love cooking my own versions of classic dishes. If you're new here, ...

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