Lemon Garlic Chicken Thighs
Simple to prepare with its own delicious sauce that works well served with rice or mashed potatoes.
Do an Internet search for this recipe by name and you’ll get scores, if not hundreds of recipes, and many of them are different save for their titular ingredients. It’s easy to understand why. The flavors of lemon and garlic work well with many kinds of proteins and vegetables, but most especially with chicken. My Number One Fan has been making this dish for over 20 years, having first found it in a copy of Cooking Light, a magazine that went out of publication in 2018. The recipe was provided to the publication by Robin Miller, a dietician and food writer with a modicum of fame as an author of several cookbooks and a TV show on the Food Network, if it’s still running, “Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller.” Honestly, I’ve never heard of her, but My Number One Fan still has a photocopy of the original recipe published in the early 2000s.
What I think makes Robin’s recipe different is the use of molasses as an ingredient that works well to offset the tartness of the lemon juice and the unami of the garlic; it is more complex in flavor and depth than honey, although that’s a good alternative that My Number One Fan mostly used until molasses became a standard stocked staple in our pantry.
With a Masters in Food & Nutrition from NYU, Robin was a proponent of using skinless, bone-in chicken thighs but I argue that the very crispy skin this recipe produces is its best attribute, so I leave them on. The second best attribute is the sauce in which the chicken is marinated and used also as a baste. The dish is therefore most delicious when served alongside rice or mashed potatoes with lots of the tangy sauce spooned over.
Lemon Garlic Chicken Thighs
Simple to prepare with its own delicious sauce that works well served with rice or mashed potatoes.
Ingredients
- 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 4 tbsp garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp molasses
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
- 7-8 grinds freshly cracked black pepper
- non-stick cooking spray (like, Pam)
Instructions
- Combine the lemon juice, molasses, Worcestershire sauce and garlic in a small bowl and blend well with a wire whisk.
- Put the chicken thighs in a zip lock bag, pour the marinade over them, tightly seal the bag and place in the fridge for an hour. Turn once at the 30 minutes mark.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F with a rack in the top 1/3 of the oven.
- Treat a shallow baking dish with the non-stick spray and place the chicken skin side up in a single layer with the marinade spooned over. Season the chicken with salt & pepper.
- Bake for 20 minutes, then baste the tops of the chicken with the sauce accumulating in the baking dish. Bake for an additional 20 minutes or until the chicken is done.
- Serve the thighs with rice or mashed potatoes with the sauce spooned over.
Notes
- To test the chicken thighs for doneness, pierce one thigh at its thickest, meatiest point. If the juice runs clear, the chicken is done. If you see the slightest bit of pink, continue to cook an additional five minutes and test again.
