Easy Lemon Chicken Thighs with Herbs

PREP 15mins | COOK 30mins | TOTAL 45mins

These lemon chicken thighs are juicy, flavorful, and easy to make. The chicken bursts with flavor thanks to fresh lemon, oregano, thyme, garlic, and mustard. We love to use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, which we’ve found to be more tender and flavorful than chicken breast. With that said, you can use chicken breast or chicken drumsticks.

Makes 4 servings

YOU WILL NEED

1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs, skin-on, bone-in, trimmed of excess fat

1 tablespoon whole grain mustard

1 tablespoon lemon zest (1 teaspoon for rub and 2 teaspoons for sauce)

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons olive oil (1 tablespoon for rub, 1 tablespoon for cooking)

1/4 cup (60 ml) lemon juice (about 1 lemon)

1 1/4 cups (300 ml) low-sodium chicken stock, see our chicken stock recipe

2 garlic cloves, smashed

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS

PREPARE CHICKEN

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Make the rub for chicken. Combine mustard, one teaspoon of the lemon zest, oregano, thyme, salt and one tablespoon of the olive oil in a small bowl. Use fingers or a brush to coat chicken on both sides with the mustard rub.

In another bowl or measuring jug, combine remaining lemon zest (2 teaspoons), lemon juice and the chicken stock. Set aside.

COOK CHICKEN

Heat remaining tablespoon of oil in a large oven-safe skillet or frying pan over medium heat. Add the smashed garlic then cook about 1 minute or until you can smell toasted garlic and the garlic has browned around the edges. Remove and discard the garlic, but leave the oil.

Add the chicken, skin-side down, into the hot garlic-infused oil and cook 2 to 3 minutes or until the skin has turned golden brown.

Flip the chicken then add the lemon juice mixture from before. Stir then slide the pan into the oven and bake 25 to 35 minutes or until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken reads 175 degrees F.

TO FINISH

Remove pan from oven then transfer the chicken to a plate and cover with aluminum foil. There should still be liquid in the pan. Place the pan over medium heat and bring the liquid to a gentle simmer.

In a small bowl, use your fingers to mix butter and flour, making a dry, crumbly paste. Whisk the flour and butter into the sauce. The sauce will thicken slightly and look glossy. Nestle the chicken back into the pan then serve.

ADAM AND JOANNE'S TIPS

- Nutrition Facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values. We omitted salt from the calculations since you will need to add to your tastes. We assumed four servings.

NUTRITION PER SERVING: Serving Size 1/4 of the recipe / Calories 319 / Protein 22 g / Carbohydrate 5 g / Dietary Fiber 1 g / Total Sugars 1 g / Total Fat 24 g / Saturated Fat 7 g / Cholesterol 127 mg
AUTHOR: Adam and Joanne Gallagher

Watch Us Make The Recipe