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Easy Baked Chicken Thighs
by:
Kevin Pratte
October 25, 2023
This easy baked chicken thighs recipe is a version of my instant pot ginger chicken thighs recipe. This recipe is slightly different. The skin is baked on and crunchy while I also added some smoked paprika and removed the ginger.
I actually got a comment from a friend when she saw the recipe here. She mentioned that she “didn’t have an Instant Pot”. I said, “you can use any pressure cooker or most multi-cookers will pressure cook as well”. She said she doesn’t have any of those and doesn’t see the need.
Clearly I have some work to change her mind. Pressure cookers can not only save time, but they can cook the food to a tenderness that many times takes all day. How do you explain that without a person actually experiencing it. Anyway, we’re still left without a chicken thigh recipe for the conventional oven.
As luck may have it (or lack thereof), the seal on my instant pot recently blew. If you have an instant pot then you know the seals have to be replaced occasionally. If you use the instant pot a lot, then it’s more changing. So I had to go back to using my conventional oven for making my everyday chicken until I get a new one. As a reminder, my everyday chicken is about 5 lbs of chicken thighs, and it lasts me about a week when splitting it up among salads, soups, and regular meals. Once cooked, the chicken freezes great too.
Easy Baked Chicken Thighs
| Prep Time | Cook Time | Total Time |
|---|---|---|
| 10 mins | 25 mins | 35 mins |
Servings: 8
Ingredients:
- 5 lbs Chicken Thighs (Bone In)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon minced Garlic
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- Fresh Herbs: Rosemary, thyme, parsley
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- Optional: Fresh Herbs like thyme, rosemary or parsley.
Directions:
- In a bowl with the olive oil, sprinkle the minced garlic, garlic powder, coriander, salt, black pepper, smoked paprika, and any fresh herbs you'd like on the chicken so it's reasonably coated.
- Place the chicken in a oiled baking pan.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes on 400 degrees.
- Let cool for 10 minutes.
- Chicken is ready to be served or stored. Enjoy!
Recipe Rating: 5 / 5
The first thing you’ll notice that’s different from the other recipe is the fact that the chicken skin was left on here. There’s an issue with the skin getting crispy in the instant pot so I will remove the skin before cooking the chicken in the instant pot. No need to remove the skin for a conventional oven though because the crispiness comes with the territory!
I also didn’t include ginger in this recipe. You certainly could if you wanted to, but I wanted a different take on the recipe than the exact replica of the instant pot one. You could actually get really spicy here but it’s “everyday chicken”. I may not know what I’ll be adding the chicken into so I tend to go mild on the spices. But adding cayenne pepper is a nice addition when adding heat. Just add it along with the other spices.
The skin being crispy is one good change here but a flavor profile change with paprika is a nice light change to the flavor without overpowering the chicken. I don’t find paprika hot at all. I will normally use smoked paprika myself. I think it carries a nice smoky tone and that pairs well with the chicken without taking over the taste. It also adds a nice color.
I’m not a food stylist. I just take pictures of the food I make and eat so I always think the pics could be better but this is actually a good representation of the crispiness of the skin. It’s nice and crunchy. I ended up having this chicken with rice and spinach as an entrée. This tastes so good and is really easy when premade for the week like I do.
Enjoy!