Serious Eats Chicken Thigh Recipes

CREAMY GARLIC AND MUSHROOM CHICKEN THIGHS

Steps:

• Heat vegetable oil over medium-heat in a large skillet. Season chicken thighs on both sides with thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper. Place thighs, skin-side down, into the hot skillet and cook until browned, about 8 minutes. Flip thighs over and brown other side, an additional 8 minutes. Remove thighs from skillet onto a large plate, and set aside. Reduce heat to medium-low.
• Add mushrooms to skillet and cook until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in onion and garlic; cook, stirring frequently, for an additional 2 to 3 minutes. Pour in white wine and scrape browned bits off the bottom of the skillet. Simmer until wine is reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Stir in chicken broth and allow mixture to come back to a simmer.
• Return chicken thighs to the skillet, and cook, covered, until chicken is no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear, about 15 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted near the bone should read 165 degrees F (74 degrees C). Stir in heavy cream and cook until just heated through, about 1 more minute. Adjust salt and pepper and sprinkle with fresh parsley just before serving.

CRISPY GARLIC CHICKEN THIGHS

Steps:

• Sprinkle both sides of chicken with garlic powder, salt and pepper.
• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place chicken in skillet smooth side down.
• Press down lightly with with spatula. Cook for 5 minutes until deep golden and crispy.
• Turn and press lightly with spatula. Cook for 2 minutes. Add garlic and butter, cook for 1 minute until garlic is light golden and it smells amazing.
• Add wine, then turn up heat. Stir around the chicken to dissolve golden bits stuck on the skillet into the wine. Simmer rapidly for 1 1/2 minutes or until alcohol smell evaporates.
• Remove from heat. Serve chicken with sauce.

BAKED BALSAMIC CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
• Line a baking dish with foil and baking / parchment paper.
• Mix together Sauce in a bowl.
• Place chicken in baking dish, skin side down for thighs and wings. Make sure the pan is big enough so the chicken is squished up next to each other (sauce may not reduce enough), but not so large that there is more than 4"/10 cm between every piece of chicken (sauce may reduce too much).
• Pour over Sauce. Bake 30 minutes. Turn chicken over, spoon over sauce.
• Bake 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. The Sauce should have thickened.
• Stand for 5 minutes, then spoon Sauce over chicken and serve.

CHICKEN SHAWARMA (MIDDLE EASTERN)

Steps:

• Marinade chicken - Combine the marinade ingredients in a large ziplock bag. Add the chicken, seal, the massage from the outside with your hands to make sure each piece is coated. Marinate 24 hours (minimum 3 hours).
• Yogurt Sauce - Combine the Yogurt Sauce ingredients in a bowl and mix. Cover and put in the fridge until required (it will last for 3 days in the fridge).
• Preheat stove or BBQ - Heat a large non-stick skillet with 1 tablespoon over medium high heat, or lightly brush a BBQ hotplate/grills with oil and heat to medium high. (See notes for baking)
• Cook chicken - Place chicken in the skillet or on the grill and cook the first side for 4 to 5 minutes until nicely charred. Turn and cook the other side for 3 to 4 minutes (the 2nd side takes less time).
• Rest - Remove chicken from the grill and cover loosely with foil. Set aside to rest for 5 minutes.

CHICKEN STROGANOFF

Steps:

• Sprinkle chicken with garlic powder, salt and pepper on both sides.
• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place chicken in skillet smooth side down.
• Press down lightly with with spatula. Cook for 4 minutes until golden.
• Turn and press lightly with spatula. Cook for 2 minutes.
• Remove chicken onto a plate.
• Turn heat down to medium high. Add butter, melt. Then add onions, cook for 1 minute, then add mushrooms.
• Cook mushrooms until golden. Scrape bottom of fry pan to get all the golden bits off (this is flavour!).
• Add flour, cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
• Add half the broth while stirring. Once incorporated, add remaining broth.
• Stir, then add sour cream and mustard. Stir until incorporated (don't worry if it looks split, sour cream will "melt" as it heats).
• Bring to simmer ,then reduce heat to medium low. Once it thickens to the consistency of pouring cream (3 minutes), adjust salt and pepper to taste.
• Add chicken back in (including plate juices). Simmer for 1 minute, then remove from stove.
• Serve over pasta or egg noodles, sprinkled with parsley or chives if desired.

CHICKEN STEW

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
• Heat oil in a large pot over high heat. Brown chicken on both sides until light golden, sprinkling with salt and pepper. Remove from pot. (Do in 2 batches if pot not big enough).
• If there's too much oil in the pot, discard some. Add onion and garlic. Cook for 2 minutes until onion is translucent.
• Add carrots and celery, cook for 1 minute.
• Add wine. Stir, scraping the bottom of the pan to dissolve the brown bits into the liquid. Cook for 1 minute until liquid is mostly gone.
• Sprinkle flour across surface, stir.
• Add broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, thyme and bay leaves. Stir to dissolve tomato paste.
• Place chicken on top, keeping the skin above the liquid level as much as you can.
• Bring to simmer then cover. Bake for 45 minutes.
• Remove from oven, remove lid. Add potatoes, pushing them into the liquid and rearranging chicken so they sit on top (for lovely crispy skin).
• Return to oven without the lid for a further 40 minutes until the chicken skin is deep golden and super crispy, the potatoes are soft and the sauce is thickened.
• Taste sauce and adjust salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve with warm crusty bread on the side to dunk in the sauce - or go all the way with Garlic Bread! Optional: garnish with extra fresh thyme leaves or parsley.

CRISPY SKIN CHICKEN THIGHS RECIPE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients. Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 425 F (220 C/Gas 7).
• Pat the thighs dry with paper towels. Sprinkle generously on both sides with salt and pepper.
• Heat the oil in a large, heavy-duty, oven-safe skillet (cast iron is perfect) over medium-high heat.
• When the oil shimmers, arrange the chicken thighs in the skillet, skin-side down. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the skin is well browned, moving the thighs occasionally to make sure they are browning evenly. Do not turn them over.
• Place the skillet in the oven and continue cooking, skin-side down, until mostly cooked through, another 10 to 15 minutes. Turn over the thighs and continue cooking for 5 minutes longer.
• To test for doneness, insert a food thermometer into the thickest part of a thigh. The minimum safe temperature for chicken and other poultry is 165 F (74 C). Serve and enjoy.

SOUS VIDE CHICKEN THIGHS

Steps:

• Set sous vide machine to 74C/165F.
• Season chicken thighs with salt to taste. Place chicken in sous vide bag with thyme, and remove the air through a vacuum sealer or the displacement method. Drop the bag in the bath for an hour and a half.
• Remove bag from bath. Take chicken out of the bag, pat dry and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Heat up large skillet on high and add oil. Sear chicken thighs for 60 seconds on each side, or until browned. Remove from pan, and place on a plate to rest for 5 minutes. Once rested, serve and enjoy!

ORANGE SAUCE SWEET AND SAVORY CHICKEN THIGHS

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Preheat the oven to 375 F. In a medium saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Sauté the onion until softened.
• Add the orange juice, fresh thyme, fresh rosemary, salt, pepper, soy sauce, and brown sugar. Simmer , stirring frequently, for 5 minutes.
• Divide the sauce in two. Reserve.
• Arrange the chicken thighs in a greased baking dish lined with aluminum foil or parchment paper, skin-side up if you're using thighs with skin.
• Brush the chicken lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
• Bake for 20 minutes.
• Liberally brush half of the sauce over the chicken thighs and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, or until cooked through.
• Bring the remaining sauce to a boil and reduce to a syrupy glaze to serve with the chicken.
• Serve hot and enjoy.