Baked Chicken Thighs (2024)

Wishing tonight’s dinner was easy, inexpensive, and pretty difficult to mess up? Bonus points if it’s healthy? Time to make Baked Chicken Thighs! These oven baked chicken thighs have crispy skin, juicy meat, and plenty of flavor.

Why You’ll Love This Baked Chicken Thighs Recipe

• Crispy Skin. Because that’s one of the best things about baked chicken! (Crispy skin lovers, don’t miss Air Fryer Chicken Thighs and Crispy Baked Chicken Wings.)
• Never Dry or Rubbery. Dark chicken thigh meat is juicier and far less prone to drying out than baked boneless skinless chicken breast, which means cooking these crispy baked chicken thighs is stress-free!
• Packed With Nutrients. While many think white meat is healthier, this is hardly the case. Chicken thighs are packed with nutrition. Compared to white meat, dark meat has more iron, zinc, vitamin B-12, thiamine, and other nutrients too. (Yes, dark meat has more fat than white, but it’s still a very lean, healthy protein.) Bring on the chicken thigh recipes!
• Super Flavorful. Baked bone-in chicken thighs (and Baked Chicken Legs) have more flavor and are juicier than boneless skinless chicken thighs because the bone flavors the meat from the inside and helps retain moisture (it’s why you can skip brining when making Baked Bone-In Chicken Breast, but it’s necessary for juicy boneless Grilled Chicken Breast or Air Fryer Chicken Breast).
• Budget-Friendly. Making oven-baked chicken thighs for dinner is a bargain! Per pound, dark meat is less expensive than white meat, and bone-in chicken is less expensive than boneless.

More About These Easy Baked Chicken Thighs

Today, I’m giving you my best 5-star, juicy chicken thighs in the oven recipe with dried Italian herbs (feel free to swap for fresh herbs if you have them), garlic, and lemon.

Old-fashioned baked crispy chicken thighs in the oven are equally as make-ahead friendly as they are last-minute healthy dinner material. (Though for the fastest method for preparing chicken, try Pan Fried Chicken Breast.)

• I recommend 60 minutes of marinade time, but you can reduce it to 30 minutes if you need a shortcut.
• On the opposite side of the timeline, you can completely prep them the night before and pop them into the oven when it’s time for dinner.

This is one tasty (and healthy) baked chicken thighs in the oven recipe you can serve with pride.

How to Make Chicken Thighs in the Oven

The Ingredients

• Chicken Thighs. Flavorful and succulent, chicken thighs are a fantastic, healthy ingredient (try them in Chicken Cacciatore). I used bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, which are healthy, affordable, and nearly impossible to mess up.

• Italian Marinade. A mixture of olive oil, paprika, garlic, Italian seasoning (which contains oregano, basil, marjoram, and more), salt, pepper, and lemon. It imparts light and bright Italian flavor onto the chicken and helps make it extra juicy. This bright Chicken Marinade is another marinade you can use for chicken in the oven.
• Onion. My special trick for this recipe is to thinly slice an onion and scatter it around the chicken thighs as they bake in the oven. Once roasted, the onions become deliciously caramelized and sweet.
• Fresh Herbs. Fresh parsley, tarragon, or thyme is the perfect finishing touch.

The Directions

1. Marinate. Combine the marinade ingredients and marinate chicken thighs for at least 30 minutes or for up to 12 hours in the refrigerator.

2. Season the Onions. The onions are optional but so delish.

3. Arrange. Nestle the chicken thighs into the onions skin side up.

4. Cook. Bake chicken thighs for 25 to 35 minutes or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 degrees F (stir the onions partway through). Let rest on the pan for 5 minutes.
5. Finish. Stir the onions and broil 1 to 2 minutes to crisp the chicken skin. Garnish with herbs, then serve hot and ENJOY!

Recipe Variations

• BBQ Chicken Thighs in the Oven. Season the thighs with your favorite BBQ spice blend (such as smoked paprika, chili powder, garlic and onion powder). Serve with Barbecue Sauce.
• Old Fashioned Chicken Thighs in the Oven. Keep the taste pure and simple with salt, pepper, and paprika. Serve with Easy Drop Biscuits and your favorite gravy (we love Sausage Gravy).
• Southern Chicken Thighs in the Oven. Season the chicken with a blend of garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, seasoned salt, a little cayenne, and dried rosemary.
• Curry Chicken Thighs in the Oven. Season the thighs with curry powder, cumin, chili powder, black pepper, and salt. (This variation would be scrumptious with Turmeric Rice.)

Storage Tips

• To Store. Place baked chicken thighs in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
• To Reheat. Gently rewarm leftovers in a baking dish in the oven at 350 degrees F or in the microwave.
• To Freeze. Freeze chicken thighs in an airtight, freezer-safe storage container for up to 3 months. Let thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.

What to Serve with Baked Chicken Thighs

• Sautéed Vegetables. Sautéed Carrots, Sautéed Brussels Sprouts, and Sautéed Cabbage can all be prepared on the stove while the chicken thighs bake.
• Mashed Potatoes. Keep it classic with our Best Mashed Potatoes recipe, or try Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes.
• Rice. Try this Lemon Rice for a brighter flavor or cauliflower rice for a low carbohydrates option.
• Salad. A green salad such as fiber-packed Kale and Brussels Sprouts Salad makes this a complete meal.

• Instant-Read Thermometer. This is the absolute best one and well worth the purchase price. It reads temps instantly and is spot-on accurate. This inexpensive model still works well and can save your dinner.
• Measuring Spoons. These double-sided magnetic spoons are incredibly easy to store.
• Citrus Juicer. My go-to tool for juicing lemons and limes.

Recipe Tips and Tricks

• Don’t Cover the Chicken. Some chicken thighs in the oven recipes require covering with aluminum foil. This is not one of them. When baking chicken thighs with the skin on, you’re trying to achieve crispy chicken thighs in the oven. Therefore, leaving them uncovered ensures a crispy skin that turns perfectly golden. YUM!
• Stick With High and Short. AKA the opposite of low and slow. I find it best to bake bone-in chicken thigh recipes like this one at a high temperature—425 degrees F. Since chicken thighs are lean, they don’t benefit from low, slow cooking the way tougher, more marbled cuts like Slow Cooker Pulled Pork do.
• Or Adjust the Temperature As Needed. If needed, you can adjust the oven temperature down to as low as 400 degrees F to accommodate other dishes—say you are cooking the chicken thighs in the oven at the same time as a pan of Roasted Brussels Sprouts or Roasted Butternut Squash. Simply extend the cooking time by a few minutes (or go for 415 degrees F—right in between). Or, you can make a sheet pan Rosemary Chicken Thighs, which include veggies on the same pan.
• Know When Baked Chicken Thighs Are Done. The best (and I’d say only true) way to tell if your chicken is cooked properly is to use an instant-read meat thermometer inserted at the thickest part. Chicken should be cooked to 165 degrees F, but its temperature will rise after it is removed from the heat. Chicken thighs are forgiving, so you can go up to 170 degrees F.
• Don’t Forget the Rest. Resting allows the meat to come to a safe temperature. Resting is necessary so that the juices have time to reincorporate into the baked chicken thighs.