We love chicken, and I often cook bone in thighs. I wanted something other than just baked chicken tonight. Sometimes I coat with corn flakes, and add honey. Tonight I just wanted something gooey and really tasty.
If you wanted to use white meat, it would work with boneless breast meat, but it will not need to cook as long. We like chicken really done, falling off the bone tender, so I probably cook the thighs longer than necessary, but it was juicy and sticky with crispy browned skin. And additional sauce was great drizzled over the rice I served it with.
It’s made with simple ingredients – things you probably already have on hand. The first searing takes a few minutes, but after that in teh oven there’s nothing do to until you need to make the sauce at the end. YOu do need an oven safe skillet. I use cast iron for much of my cooking and baking, and it’s perfect for this chicken. Once it’s hot it retains heat and helps cook the thighs form the bottom as well as the direct heat on the top.
Simple Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs
Thighs so tender that the meat falls from the bones, and a sticky tasty sauce - that goes great on rice or pasta to accompany it. And it's ready in less than an hour.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp oil
- salt and pepper as desired
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce or fish sauce
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 F. If you have a convection cycle the chicken will cook and brown faster.
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Dry chicken thighs and season with salt and pepper to taste
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Heat a 10-12 inch cast iron skillet (or other oven safe skillet) over medium heat until hot, then add the oil. When the oil shimmers, place the chicken thighs in skin side down. Do not move for 5 minutes or until the chicken starts to brown and the skin releases from the pan.
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Turn the chicken over, Place in the oven and let bake for about 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked, juices run clear and it starts to pull away form the bone.
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Remove the skillet from the oven, and remove the chicken from the pan, set aside for now. Stir the garlic into the pan juices and simmer a couple minutes. Add all remaining ingredients to the pan juices. Stir well to incorporate.
Heat over medium heat until bubbling. Simmer for about 5 minutes until the sauce starts to thicken.
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Return the chicken thighs to the pan, skin side up. Spoon some of the sauce over each piece of chicken. Put the skillet back in the oven for about 5 minutes. The sauce will continue to thicken and the chicken skin will brown more.
Recipe Notes
To use boneless white meat, follow the same procedure, but cook 20-25 minutes until juices run clear. For really thick breast pieces, slice in half.
Drumsticks will work in place of the thighs.
If there are left overs, save all the remaining sauce in the skillet – pour over the chicken pieces and refrigerate. Place on a bed of rice and reheat for lunch tomorrow!
sauce from honey garlic chicken thighs
Leftovers rule at our house!
leftover package ready for reheating