Active Time:

20 mins

Total Time:

1 hrs 15 mins

Servings:

4

These easy crispy baked chicken thighs make for a great date-night dinner or family meal that's low in stress but high in satisfaction.

Eat them just as they are, served alongside mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts, or even some lemony pasta as a compliment. Or break them down, and use the meat tossed within a pasta dish.

With crispy baked chicken thighs, the possibilities (and leftover potential!) are endless.

Easy Crispy Baked Chicken Thighs Ingredients

Start with bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. You’ll need just five additional ingredients, all readily available in any local grocery store: kosher salt, lemon zest, unsalted butter, garlic powder, and black pepper.

How To Make Crispy Baked Chicken in the Oven

The full recipe is detailed below, but here's a quick outline:

Place the chicken thighs on a wire rack within a rimmed baking sheet. This helps the oven's hot air circulate around the thighs for maximum crispiness.
Bake until slightly golden and the chicken skin is starting to crisp, about 25 minutes.
Then remove the pan from the oven, and brush the chicken with the lemon butter; adding a bit of butter towards the end of cooking helps build the flavor and brown the chicken skin faster without drying out the meat.
Then, return to the oven, and bake again until golden brown and crisp, about five minutes more.

What Is the Secret to Crispy Chicken?

There are multiple ways to achieve crispy baked chicken. To start, dry the chicken first to eliminate excess moisture, which can hinder crisping.

For another tip, use a wire rack, such as this recipe specifies. The wire rack allows air to circulate around the chicken for maximum browning and crispiness.

Coat the chicken with oil or fat (as we do with the lemon butter in this recipe), which also promotes browning and crispiness. Seasoning before baking not only imparts flavor but facilitates crispiness as well.

Use chicken with the bone in and skin on, which protects the meat and keeps it moist—not allowing it to dry out—while skin gets crispy.

And use high heat to help the skin crisp quickly and thoroughly.

Test Kitchen Tips for Crispy Baked Chicken Thighs

Chicken thighs on their own have tons of flavor from the extra fat and dark meat, so not too much finessing is necessary for great flavor and texture. Making your own lemon salt amps up the flavor in this recipe without making the chicken too lemony or acidic.

Allowing the chicken skin to dry out in the fridge is a fool-proof technique to get crispy skin with barely any effort, according to our Test Kitchen.

For an even lower-stress, prep-ahead method, our Test Kitchen recommends making this chicken the night before and just popping it in the oven to cook before you serve (although you will need to allow the butter to soften for 20 minutes before you get cooking).

Do use care not to rip the skin when brushing on the butter, as it is slightly delicate.

Family-Favorite Chicken Recipes

Editorial contributions by Alesandra Dubin.

Ingredients

4 (8-oz.) bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, patted dry
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 Tbsp., plus 1 tsp. grated lemon zest (from 2 lemons), divided
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Directions

Salt the chicken:

Set a wire rack inside a large rimmed baking sheet; place chicken thighs on rack. Sprinkle both sides of chicken evenly with 1 teaspoon of the salt. Tightly stretch chicken skin to cover entire surface of thighs. Refrigerate, uncovered, 30 minutes.

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Make lemon salt:

Stir together remaining 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon of the lemon zest in a small bowl. Spread evenly on a paper towel-lined plate. Let stand, uncovered, at room temperature 30 minutes.

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Make flavored butter:

Preheat oven to 450°F with oven rack about 5 inches from heat source. Stir together butter, garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of dried lemon salt, and remaining 1 tablespoon lemon zest. Let stand at room temperature until ready to use.

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Bake chicken thighs:

Remove chicken from refrigerator, and pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle chicken with pepper.

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Bake in preheated oven until slightly golden and skin is starting to crisp, about 25 minutes.

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Remove baking sheet from oven, and using a pastry brush, generously brush thighs with half of the lemon butter.

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Return to oven, and bake at 450°F until golden brown and crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove from oven, and brush chicken with remaining lemon butter. Transfer to a serving platter, and garnish with remaining 1 teaspoon dried lemon salt.

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