This one skillet recipe for oven roasted chicken thighs with herbs and blistered tomatoes is a perfect weeknight dinner recipe. Though it wouldn’t be too casual for a small dinner party, either.
And summer is the perfect time to make it because, even if you’ve just got a little patio herb garden or cherry tomato plant (or both!), your dinner can be your harvest! BTW, I think bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs are one of the best values on the meat market. They are so tasty, inexpensive, and nearly impossible to mess up.
- Explore: Instant Pot Chicken Thighs & Rice
It takes just about 35 minutes to get this dish on the dinner table. Start by searing the chicken thighs, skin-side down, until they are deeply golden brown and crispy. Then sauté a few aromatics, toss in some cooking liquid, and pop it in a hot oven for 20 minutes.
The result are completely tender roasted chicken thighs with still-crispy skin that’s swimming in the tastiest jus. In my first attempt to make this dish, I thickened this sauce, but I don’t think it needs it and skipping that step doesn’t make it less tasty; it just makes this recipe so much quicker to produce.
The blistered tomatoes add a sweet, tart pop to the otherwise earthy dish. Serve this one with anything that will help you soak up that liquid gold: mashed or roasted potatoes, rice, polenta, or a crusty baguette.
Oven Roasted Chicken Thighs with Herbs & Blistered Tomatoes
Ingredients
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- 2 tsp kosher salt divided
- 2 tsp ground black pepper divided
- 1 large shallot peeled, cut in half, and sliced thinly
- 3 cloves garlic smashed
- 2 anchovies packed in oil and chopped finely; see note
- 1 lemon zested
- 2 stems fresh oregano
- 2 stems fresh thyme
- 2 stems rosemary
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 1 pint grape or small cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup chicken broth or stock
- parsley chopped for garnish
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 400F degrees.
- Remove the chicken thighs from their package and dry them well with paper towels. Season both sides of all of the chicken thighs evenly with 1 tsp of kosher salt and 1 tsp of black pepper.Place a 12-inch cast iron skillet or other heavy, oven-proof high sided skillet over a burner. Place the chicken thighs in the skillet, skin-side down in an even layer.Turn the heat onto medium heat. Brown the chicken thighs on the skin-side until they are deeply golden brown. This will take 10-15 minutes. If you have hot spots (i.e., some thighs are browning quicker than others) move the chicken around to evenly brown. Or move your pan around the burner to distribute the heat more evenly. Once browned, remove from the pan and rest on a plate, skin-side up (we want to keep that skin crispy!)
- Add the shallot to the pan and cook for about 3 minutes until it's softened and translucent. Stir in the anchovies and garlic. Cook 1 minute longer. Add the lemon zest and herbs (stems and all.) Deglaze with the white wine. Increase the heat to medium-high and allow the wine to reduce by about half. Stir a bit during this process to combine everything well.Add the grape tomatoes, chicken stock, and remaining tsp of salt and pepper. Give the mixture a stir.
- Nestle the chicken thighs back in the pan amongst the tomatoes skin-side up. Place the pan in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes or until the chicken thighs read at least 175F degrees using an instant read thermometer. Remove from the oven. Serve the chicken thighs with a bit of jus and a scoop of tomatoes. You'll definitely want crusty bread for dipping!
Notes
- About the anchovies: they don’t taste fishy in this dish. They just provide a bit of background umami. If you’d rather, replace the anchovies with 1/2 tsp of anchovy paste. If you’d like to remove them altogether, you can, but you’ll be missing out!
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