Oven Fried Chicken Thighs with Perfectly Crispy Skin!
Chicken - Dinner - Food

Easy Oven Fried Chicken Thighs With Perfectly Crispy Skin

Last updated on October 15, 2023 by Liza Hawkins

These bone-in easy oven fried chicken thighs will become a fast favorite in your house. The perfectly crispy skin melts in your mouth and is worth fighting over!

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Easy Oven Fried Chicken Thighs with Perfectly Crispy Skin!

When my kids were little, springtime got a little bit nuts schedule-wise.

Actually, it was a lot nuts.

Back then, my husband was a high school lacrosse coach and the season kicked off March 1. From March to June he was pretty much out of pocket — some days home around 7:30 p.m., and other nights he wouldn’t get home until 10:00 p.m. or later. Sometimes he’d be gone a few days at a stretch depending on tournament and club travel schedules.

Couple that with my eldest’s afterschool activity schedule, and it made cooking a family dinner challenging. And by “challenging” I mean nearly impossible.

Instead I tried to cook meals that the kids and I could eat together, but would also save well for a late night re-heat for my husband.

Oven-fried chicken thighs sprinkled with parsley.

This chaos is how my oven fried chicken thighs recipe was born. And, even though things have settled down now that our kids are older, these oven fried chicken thighs are still a staple in my recipe rotation over a decade later. 

Between simple prep, inexpensive and limited ingredients, and easy reheat-ability, it’s no wonder I’ve considered these crispy baked chicken thighs a go-to all these years!

Here are some favorite recipes I like to pair with oven fried chicken thighs:

Easy Oven Fried Chicken Thighs with Perfectly Crispy Skin!
Yield: 4

Easy Oven-Fried Chicken Thighs with Perfectly Crispy Skin

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Additional Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour

These easy oven-fried chicken thighs with perfectly crispy skin are really easy to make and so good!

Ingredients

  • 4 chicken thighs, bone-in and skin on
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon garlic salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon dried parsley

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
  2. Place the chicken thighs on a baking sheet and drizzle them generously with olive oil.
  3. Sprinkle each chicken thigh with garlic salt, pepper and parsley.
  4. Bake for 50 minutes, until the skin is golden and crispy.
  5. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 341Total Fat: 25gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 18gCholesterol: 166mgSodium: 624mgCarbohydrates: 1gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 31g

Hi, I'm Liza — a self-proclaimed word-nerd who loves getting lost in whimsical stories and epic movies. I have laid-back, practical attitude towards life and am always on the hunt for good eats, easy recipes, binge-worthy shows, relaxing road trip destinations, the perfect fizzy gin cocktail, and time to finish my novel!

76 Comments on “Easy Oven Fried Chicken Thighs With Perfectly Crispy Skin

  1. First time I made thighs. Used this recipe and they were delish!! The while family loved them, thank you!!

  2. Reheats yes, stays crispy no. Very good ( and crispy ) right out of the oven. Pairs well with garlic mashed potatoes.

  3. Heck, we leave on the skin most of the time… looks delicious! Thanks for sharing.
    Gonna pin and use it next week, I found a pack of legs on quick sale last week and my hubby has been begging for fried chicken!

  4. Great easy recipe. Thanks! I also get the funky schedule messing with family meal time. We juggle here and plan for it accordingly every week.

    1. Kia – as the kids get older, I only see it getting crazier! Goal is to eat most dinners as a family, with the reality that it’s not always possible (and that’s okay too).

  5. Oh, gosh, you get it! It can be close to impossible to juggle my husband’s work & military schedules with Superkiddo’s homework & extracurricular activities. I typically eat with the kiddo, get him bathed, and put to bed. Then I steal bites from the hubby’s salad plate when he gets home. 🙂 I cherish weekends when we can all finally eat together.

    I think that my family will love this recipe; I am adding it to our list for next week.

    1. Let me know what you think! My daughter doesn’t like the skin, so she takes it off – which leaves more crispiness for the rest of us! 🙂

      1. Making this tonight, my husband is the same as yours with the schedules! This will be just perfect. Thank you xo(:

  6. Needed a recipe for chicken thighs but wanted a baked with a crispy yet not “fried” crust. I saw your recipe and read the reviews. Looks awesome and will give it a try for tonight’s dinner. Will definitely let you know my thoughts. Looking forward to it. Thinking of serving it with red beans and rice and a salad. Thanks for the recipe!

  7. Thank you for this recipe. Finally I got chicken with crispy skin! This recipe is so easy and so good. I used fresh garlic and rubbed some under the skin to keep the skin dry. I had no parsley so I used some dry basil and it came out very well. Everyone loved the chicken.

  8. I’m going to make this recipe for oven-friend chicken legs and thighs tonight, Liza. It only has 5 ingredients…that’s MY kind of recipe! I love looking at your recipes. You’re a creative cook!

  9. I can’t wait to try this recipe! The only thing is that I have a big family. Can I easily just triple the recipe? What kind of pan? And would it be the same time and temp in oven?

    1. Hi! Yes, this recipe is sooooo easy to double or triple. The only watch-out is about crowding the thighs. If they’re too smooshed together, then the skin won’t get nice and crispy all over — you want at least a 1/2″ between them. So, I’d use two sheet pans (with edges), and put one on each oven rack to bake. You might get a little smoke since the skin pops a bit as it’s cooking, and your sheets will be close to the top of the oven (and the bottom to the top sheet). Hopefully this makes sense!

      1. great to know and great tips yay! The only thing is that I am a beginner cook and you totally lost me on your last line. Eek! I’m not quite sure what you mean so sorry! Also, So it will bake evenly even if I put both pans on the racks? Should I switch them mid way so the bottom one can go on top for some time and vice versa? I apologize for all the questions I’m just excited to try this as first time to bake chicken like this. Thank you!

        1. No apologies! 🙂 You shouldn’t need to switch racks mid-baking, unless you notice the top (or bottom) pan of chicken is browning faster. In terms of the “smoke” comment, I was referring to a really hot oven. and how the chicken may spatter a bit while it’s cooking (mmm…crispy skin), and when you use both racks, or if you have one rack close to the top, then it can make things smokier. Doesn’t hurt anything, though.

    1. I’ve tried adding BBQ sauce once the skin is crispy, and it doesn’t stay crispy. I think you either need to use a thin BBQ sauce and just sort of mop it on at the very, very end OR you need to use a BBQ dry rub to season it before it bakes.

        1. It’s funny you say that — I just tried that broil method at the end last week, and while it got the BBQ sauce all nice and caramelized, the skin was still soggy afterwards. 🙁

          1. ah…bummer. We’re doing a dinner for the local homeless shelter this Saturday and BBQ is the chicken of choice. Just hate to serve soggy skin 🙁

          2. I feel ya – it doesn’t bother me so much when the skin is thinner, but I’m not sure how much you can control that! I suppose you could take the skins off first?

          3. Thank you kindly for your ideas. I was thinking about what you said about a dry rub. Kind of reminds me of my Mom using Shake ‘n’Bake BBQ. If memory serves, it was a dry rub that got kind of “saucy” and caramelized when done. I guess I could try a homemade dry rub to achieve a similar effect…?

          4. So, I’d do a dry rub using chili powder, paprika, mustard powder, salt, pepper, brown sugar (and/or any other yummy BBQ flavors), and then drizzle them with olive oil before baking as directed. I bet you’ll get a crispy and caramelized texture, even if it’s not saucy!

          5. Olive oil on a patted dry skin first then seasoning? Or vice versa? This sounds like a great alternative!

          6. Oooh – good call. Probably olive oil first (so that the skins are nicely and evenly coated) then the dry rub. You might want to drizzle a little more olive oil on top afterwards, depending on how thick your dry rub ends up being on each thigh.

          7. Well the story ends… I didn’t achieve a really crispy skin. What crisp I got was lost when BBQ sauce was applied. It wasn’t totally flabby skin but it wasn’t where I would have liked it to be. Someone suggested next time, that I try it at a high heat just to crisp the skin then turn it down to cook through and add a tiny bit of BBQ sauce at the end. I suppose I can try that.

            I do appreciate all the help! It’s a work in progress 🙂

          8. Ah, yes. The BBQ sauce/crispy skin dilemma. I, too, haven’t found a way to marry them both (as you know). I thought you were going to try the BBQ dry rub approach?

          9. I didn’t actually have a dry rub because I didn’t have all the ingredients on hand to make one. I did have the wet BBQ sauce. I remember making them last year and the sauce caramelized so nicely but the base was not crispy. So anyway, delicious flavor, cooked through, moist and juicy! So thank you! I will continue to experiment!

    1. Two reasons that can happen: (1) If you’re using a rack and the drippings start to smoke in the bottom of the pan — you can remedy that by putting some water in the bottom of the pan before you put the pan into bake. If you’re not using a rack, this probably isn’t the problem. (2) If the oven rack you’re using is too close to the top of the oven the splatter from the skin can hit the top and cause some smoke since the oven’s so hot. Just be sure to use the position in the middle/lower portion of the oven.

      Hope that helps!

  10. I like cooking chicken thighs with bone in and skin on in the oven. I drizzled a bit of olive oil over them and then flipped them over and smeared them around in the oil. After that, I sprinkled on a very small amount of chicken rub (that I got from a Paleo website) on both sides of the chicken. Then, I popped them into the oven on a roasting rack at 425 degrees. After 35 minutes, I turned them over and cooked for another 15 minutes. The skin was perfectly crispy and flavoured. The meat was moist inside. These thighs are great with a salad for next day or in a wrap.

    1. Hi Kevin! The oven is at 425°F for 50 minutes. You can start checking at 40-45 minutes if your thighs are on the small side, but I find in most cases they need the full 45-50 minutes.

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