About this Recipe

By: Rachel

Looking for a weeknight chicken recipe that doesn’t cover your kitchen in grease? These easy weeknight chicken thighs deliver bold flavor with minimal effort. Juicy, tender, and perfectly seasoned, they’re weeknight-friendly yet impressive enough for guests.

The Search for Easy Weeknight Chicken Recipes

For quite a while, I was obsessed with Julia Moskin’s Flattened Chicken Thighs with Roasted Lemon Slices. However, I do take issue with Moskin’s promise that this is an “easy, superfragrant weeknight version of classic chicken under a brick.”

Super-fragrant, yes—after a hard sear in a cast-iron skillet, the herby, garlicky chicken is roasted with fresh lemon. It’s not only filling your home with a delicious smell but also delivering on its promise of “shatteringly crisp, salty skin.”

Unfortunately, it also delivered on a kitchen absolutely covered in grease (stovetop, walls, and countertops). No matter how deep the pan I used, and despite my best efforts with splatter screens.

Easy? Not exactly hard, but more of a weekend-project-for-company. Provided you have lots of patience and enough Dawn to clean up after a medium-sized oil spill. Still, I wanted an easy, super-fragrant, weeknight chicken recipe… and so the experimentation began. What I was really after was a weeknight chicken recipe that felt restaurant-worthy but could still be pulled off on a regular Tuesday night.

Easy Weeknight Chicken Thighs: A Recipe Without the Mess

My favorite way to prepare whole chickens is inspired by Samin Nosrat, who brines poultry in buttermilk and salt before roasting. The acids in the buttermilk help tenderize the chicken and make the skin brown and crisp faster. The same theory applies here (if you don’t have buttermilk, thinning out some plain yogurt works, too).

After an evening bath in its buttermilk brine, the chicken gets roasted in a hot oven. This method creates skin that is every bit as brown and crispy as the stovetop version with no greasy mess. The result is an easy weeknight chicken recipe that delivers on flavor and texture. (That is, of course, without the hassle of stovetop splatter.) The dish is then simply finished off with a simple, savory sauce.

How to Serve My Crispy Weeknight Chicken Thighs

Pairing this chicken is easy. You can simply serve it over rice or pasta for a quick and delicious weeknight dinner. The tangy, savory sauce tends to cling beautifully to grains and noodles.

You can also pair these crispy chicken thighs with roasted vegetables or a simple green salad, like my Warm Chèvre Salad. Serving it with crusty bread is a good idea too, perfect for soaking up every last drop of those flavorful juices.

It’s obvious why this is one of my favorite weeknight chicken recipes. It’s easy enough to throw together midweek, yet satisfying and elegant enough to share with friends on the weekend.

Beverage Pairing

By: Olivia

Acid likes acid in the food and beverage pairing world. Between the buttermilk, Dijon, and tomatoes, this dish is best paired with a beverage with high acidity. For red wine lovers, you can drink a Chianti. If you prefer white wine, Kyle from Violet Wine’s personal favorite pairing is an Albariño from Spain. In the shop, he’s loving the Granbazan Albariño Etiqueta Verde.

Crispy Weeknight Chicken

This recipe promises juicy, flavorful chicken thighs with the brownest, crispiest, salty skin. Since it is made in the oven, you can skip the greasy stovetop splatter.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 1

Time to Brine Chicken 8

Meal Type Main Dish

Good For American, Comfort

Yield Servings

Equipment

Chef's Knife
Cutting board
Wide, Deep Skillet
Kitchen scale or measuring cups and spoons
Measuring cups and spoons or kitchen scale

Ingredients

6-8 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs trimmed of excess fat
1 ½ cups (355mL) buttermilk
1 tablespoon kosher salt
Freshly-ground black pepper
2 tablespoons (30g) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 medium shallots sliced
3 cloves minced garlic
2 sprigs fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried thyme
3 tablespoons (25g) all-purpose flour
2 cups (475mL) dry white wine or chicken stock
1 cup (235mL) chicken stock
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 pint (340g) cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
2 cups (500g) cooked white rice or fettuccine

Step by Step Instructions

Step 1

Place the chicken in a freezer bag.
Mix the buttermilk and salt together until salt dissolves, and add to the freezer bag, pressing out the air.
Place the freezer bag on a sheet tray on the lowest level of your refrigerator (should it leak, you don’t want raw poultry juices to drip down contaminate items on lower shelves). Let the chicken brine for at least 8 hours, or overnight.

Step 2

When you are ready to cook, preheat your oven to 425ºF (220ºC). If you have a convection oven, use the convection bake setting and reduce heat to 400ºF (200ºC)
Remove the chicken from its bag and pat dry with a paper towel.
Line a sheet pan with foil, and place the chicken skin-side up on a wire rack. Season with freshly ground black pepper.
Bake for 30 minutes (skin will be brown and crispy).

Step 3

While the chicken is baking, start the sauce.
In a wide, deep saucepan, heat the butter and olive oil over medium heat until hot. Add the shallots, tomatoes, garlic, and thyme, and saute for 5-7 minutes or until shallots are translucent. Stir in the flour, and let it brown.

Step 4

Deglaze the pan with the white wine or stock, and increase the heat to high for 2 minutes while stirring. Add the stock, whisk in mustard, reduce heat to medium-low, and season lightly with salt and pepper.
Simmer gently for 10-15 minutes, or until the tomatoes begin to soften (some may burst). Stir occasionally to ensure sauce does not stick or burn.

Step 5

When the chicken is done, place the thighs skin-side up in the skillet. The sauce should not quite cover the chicken.
Simmer gently for 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat, and sprinkle with fresh parsley. Serve with white rice or pasta.