One Pan Baked Lemon Chicken Thighs

These crispy Lemon Chicken Thighs are juicy and bursting with flavor from fresh lemon, herbs, garlic, and potatoes. It’s an easy, one-pan recipe that makes for a quick and delicious dinner.

Why we love this recipe

These lemon chicken thighs have been a hit at our dinner table for years! Not only are they delicious and packed with flavor, they’re easy to make and require just a few simple ingredients. Lemon zest, thyme, garlic, and butter are rubbed into the chicken thighs and under the skin, then placed on top of a bed of baby potatoes.

With this recipe, you’ll enjoy perfectly cooked, crisp and juicy chicken thighs and a delicious dinner for your hungry family. You’ll want to use bone-in, skin-on thighs, as they’ll brown beautifully and release richer flavor from the fat underneath the skin.

Key ingredients

• Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs: This recipe is best suited for bone-in, skin-on thighs because they create a beautifully crisp skin when cooked and the meat is juicier and richer in flavor. It does require a bit more time and patience cooking them than for boneless, skinless thighs, but the payoff is worth it!
• Butter: The base of our flavorful rub.
• Garlic cloves: We incorporate garlic into the butter rub, which leads to a beautiful sear in the chicken.
• Lemons: Fresh lemon zest and lemon slices are used in this recipe. The zest is added into the butter and garlic rub, which is applied to the entire chicken.
• Thyme: Adds a nice classic herby flavor to our rub. We use dried in this recipe, but you can also use fresh thyme.
• Baby potatoes and Roma tomatoes: They’ll roast in the oven along with the chicken thighs, adding an additional burst of flavor and color to the dish!
• Fresh chopped parsley: For garnish (optional)

How to make baked lemon chicken thighs

What makes this recipe so easy to execute is that everything goes into a pan and the oven finishes the rest for you!

For the chicken thighs, rub them with our easy butter rub, which is a mix of softened butter, minced garlic, lemon zest, and thyme. Make sure to rub the mixture all over the chicken, including under the skin, so that the flavor is infused into it.

Then add a layer of the baby potatoes, roma tomatoes, and lemon slices to the bottom of an oven-proof baking dish and nestle the chicken thighs on top. Bake everything in the oven at 425°F, until the skin crisps up. The butter rub will yield a super juicy and flavorful chicken that will make for a delicious meal!

Storing Tips

If you have any leftover chicken thighs, they can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. You can also freeze them for up to a month and just thaw them overnight in the fridge.

To reheat the chicken, place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in the oven at 350°F for 20 minutes.

More one pan recipes to love from us

• One Pot Turmeric Chicken & Rice
• One Pan Paprika Chicken with Chickpeas
• One Pan Bucatini with Mussels
• Sheet Pan Italian Sausage & Vegetables
• One Pan Chicken Pesto & Chickpeas

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