Recipe Background
This is one of those dishes that sounds like an amazing idea right on its face! And it is! Lemon Garlic Chicken Thighs. You can see it now: the succulent, savory, flavorful chicken, infused with the brightness of lemon and the fragrance of garlic, roasted to a juicy golden brown, topped with a honey-herb sauce. This is how you make a weekday meal into a high-class, five-star experience with only a few key ingredients. Lemon Garlic Chicken Thighs impress everyone, but they impress your tastebuds most of all!
This is one of those dishes that sounds like an amazing idea right on its face! And it is! Lemon Garlic Chicken Thighs. You can see it now: the succulent, savory, flavorful chicken, infused with the brightness of lemon and the fragrance of garlic, roasted to a juicy golden brown, topped with a honey-herb sauce. This is how you make a weekday meal into a high-class, five-star experience with only a few key ingredients. Lemon Garlic Chicken Thighs impress everyone, but they impress your tastebuds most of all!
Ingredients
- 8 (7-ounce) chicken thighs bone-in and skin-on
- 16 cloves garlic peeled and divided
- 1 medium lemon plus more for serving
- 1 (0.5-ounce) package fresh thyme sprigs divided
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt divided, plus more to taste
- 3/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 teaspoons honey plus more to taste
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- Pat the chicken dry with paper towels.
- Cut the lemon in half lengthwise, and into thirds crosswise. Discard the lemon seeds.
- Finely grate 4 of the garlic cloves.
- Arrange the lemon slices, the grated garlic, the remaining garlic cloves, and 1/2 of the thyme springs in a single layer on a 9x13-inch baking dish, tossing briefly to disperse the grated garlic.
- Place the chicken thighs over the lemon mixture, skin-side up, in a single layer.
- Drizzle the chicken thighs with the olive oil and sprinkle evenly with 1 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper.
- Bake until the chicken skin is a deep golden brown and the chicken reaches 165 degrees F internally, about 1 hour.
- Transfer the chicken to a plate, reserving the lemon-garlic mixture on the baking sheet.
- Discard the lemon pieces from the baking dish.
- Pour the remaining drippings, the remaining garlic cloves, and the thyme sprigs from the baking sheet into a blender.
- Taking steps to ensure steam can escape and that no splatter will occur, process the mixture until smooth, about 30-40 seconds.
- Add the honey and the remaining salt to the mixture and stir to combine. Taste for seasoning and add more of the salt or the honey to taste.
- Remove the thyme leaves from the remaining sprigs and sprinkle them evenly over the chicken.
- Serve the thighs with the sauce and with the extra lemon wedges.
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