Perfect oven baked chicken thighs are ready in only 35 minutes. With deliciously crispy skin and juicy inside, baked chicken thighs are economical, tasty, and require almost no skill.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Just one pan and a bit of seasoning will get you the best baked chicken you will ever taste—an excellent recipe for two or a crowd.
This is an easy recipe with simple step-by-step photo instructions to get great tender and juicy thighs every time. So easy, it will be one of your regular rotation of recipes.
This is a modification of my Oven Baked Chicken Legs – The Art of Drummies recipe. People kept asking for a thigh-specific recipe. The baking time differs slightly, but trimming and dealing with the fat is the most significant difference.
🐓Why some people prefer chicken thighs?
- The chicken's dark meat is moist and flavorful. Why? Mostly the fat keeps it that way.
- They are economical and always available.
- Are delicious.
- Make great leftovers.
How much fat is there in chicken thighs?
Since we are dealing with a natural product, there is some variability but think of a thigh having about two to three times the fat of chicken breasts.
Here are the numbers from the National Chicken Council. Roasted, a skin-on thigh has 15.5 grams of fat, while a skin-on split chicken breast is 7.8.
My Rating
A very strong five.
👨🍳Preparing Chicken Thighs to Bake
This recipe assumes bone-in and skin-on chicken thighs. Boneless skinless chicken thighs are discussed below.
Rinsing chicken is no longer recommended due to the health risks of splattering the work area. See Chicken… To Rinse or Not To Rinse? for more information.
A good pat dry with a paper towel will help get crispy skin. After you pat dry the chicken thighs, trim off any trimmable fat and excess skin.
🧂How to Season Baked Chicken Thighs
Just a good sprinkle of kosher salt and black pepper will be enough. I usually use All Purpose Seasoning - 7:2:1 and 7:2:2. If you want a little heat, I also add a pinch of cayenne pepper.
Feel free to season to your taste. Common flavors like paprika, oregano, thyme, Italian spice mix, poultry seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, or other spice rubs. Some people will use things like BBQ sauce, mustard, or honey, but, of course, the skin will not be crisp.
🌡️What is the Best Final Internal Temperature for Chicken Thighs?
The best final internal temperature for chicken thighs is 180°-185*. You are melting some collagen and connective tissue, and cooking up to 195° will still be okay, according to American Test Kitchen (subscription required). I have been using and recommending 185° for 12 years, long before ATK got on board.
Many will argue for 165°, the USDA's minimum safe internal temperature suggested. But there is a difference between safe and done. Pork is safe at 145°, but you sure won't want your pulled pork to be cooked to 145°F. It would be terrible.
Also, some recipes call for cooking "until fluids run clear" or "no pink at the bone." How are you supposed to do that? Also, I suspect it may even be below the safe minimum temperature since the pinkness disappears at about 155°F.
⏰How Long to Bake Chicken Thighs
At 425°, chicken thighs will bake to 180° in 30 to 35 minutes. This can depend on the weight and thickness of the thighs and your oven.
The best oven temperature to bake chicken thighs at is 425° convection but use 425° conventional if you don't have convection. Using 450° without convection is okay but will tend to smoke more.
You can use the different oven temperatures listed below.
Times are provided for planning only and assume a final internal temperature of 180°-185°. Use an instant-read thermometer or meat thermometer of some type.
| Conventional Oven Temperature | Convection Oven Temperature | Approximate Cooking Time |
|---|---|---|
| 375° | 350° | 45-50 minutes |
| 400° | 375° | 40-45 minutes |
| 425° (Good) | 400° | 35-40 minutes |
| 425° (preferred) | 30 minutes |
🔥Smoking Ovens and What to Do About It.
Smoking ovens have been an issue for some due to high temp cooking. I haven't had a problem, BUT it is related to multiple factors.
- First, if there is trimmable fat, trim it.
- Use a pan with some side on it to keep any splatter contained.
- If your oven has convection roast and convection bake, use the bake mode.
- You could turn down the oven by 25°-50°. This will increase the cooking time some and may prone to drying out some. Remember to cook to an endpoint, not by time.
- Of course, the oven should be clean, so the smoke isn’t coming from a previous splatter.
- Some water in the pan under the rack will prevent the smoking issue. Fat drips and then hits the water and will be 212° immediately and will not smoke.
❓FAQs About Baked Chicken Thighs
I usually use a sheet pan covered with foil to help clean up. But a more traditional baking dish will be fine as long as the thighs fit without touching.
I highly recommend using a rack. There will be rendered fat drainage, and the rack will get the thighs out of that for better texture.
You can cook this without a rack, but you will be happier with a rack.
If using skinless boneless chicken thighs, give them a brush of vegetable or olive oil.
They will tend to be smaller and thinner, and there is no bone to absorb heat. Cooking time will be faster, generally by 5-10 minutes. So you will need to adjust your estimated cooking time. But remember, you are cooking to a final internal temperature of 180°-185° and not by time.
Yes, easily. Skip the seasoning and brush with your favorite BBQ sauce for the last 5 minutes of cooking to make great oven baked BBQ thighs.
Probably but since there is a vast range of what is called a "toaster oven," an absolute answer is impossible.,
Most toaster ovens will be able to cook chicken thighs. The oven must have a controlled higher temperature and account for drainage. And like bigger ovens, you are cooking to a final internal temperature and never by time.
Store airtight in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. You can also freeze cooked chicken breasts for 3-4 days but thaw before reheating.
The skin will be much better freshly cooked.
📖Related Chicken Recipes
Oven Baked Chicken Legs – The Art of Drummies
Grilled Chicken Drumsticks – The Art of Drummies
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Preheat oven to 425°F convection. Pat dry the chicken.
Trim any loose skin with no meat off. Also, remove any fat that is easily removed.
Prep a baking sheet. Line with aluminum foil, add a rack and give a heavy spray of PAM.
Place thighs skin down and sprinkle lightly with the spices of your choice. I went with 7:2:1 or 7:2:2. If you don't have that, just a little salt and pepper to taste. A pinch of cayenne would be good also. Flip and tuck in any thin parts underneath and sprinkle skin side.
With skin side up, bake until internal temp of 180° to 185°F—about 30 minutes of cooking time. Then rest for 5 minutes or more before serving.
📖Recipe
Oven Baked Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- chicken thighs - do as many as you want
- 7:2:1 or 7:2:2 Seasoning - or kosher salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F convection. Pat dry the chicken.
- Trim any loose skin with no meat off. Also, remove any fat that is easily removed.
- Prep a baking sheet. Line with aluminum foil, add a rack, and give a heavy spray of PAM. Use a baking sheet or pan big enough to hold all the thighs without touching.
- Place thighs skin down and sprinkle lightly with the spices of your choice. I went with 7:2:1 or 7:2:2. If you don't have that, just a little salt and pepper to taste. A pinch of cayenne would be good also. Flip and tuck in any thin parts underneath and sprinkle skin side.
- With skin side up, bake until internal temp of 180° to 185°F—about 30 minutes of cooking time. Then rest for 5 minutes or more before serving.
My Private Notes
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- DO NOT SKIP THE PAT DRY or you will not have crispy skin.
- Trim off any trimmable fat or extra skin.
- Get the thighs up on a rack to let the rendered fat drain. It also gets them out of the drained fat. You can do this without a rack but it is nicer with a rack.
- Cook at high temp and use a thermometer to be sure you get to 180°-185°. Do not guess. Thighs are safe to eat at 165°F but tender at 185°F.
- Options for other oven temperatures are in the blog post above.
- Spice as you want. I often add a touch of Cayenne.
- Scale to any amount you need.
- Skip the seasoning and brush with your favorite BBQ sauce for the last 5 minutes to make great oven-baked BBQ thighs.
- If there is trimmable fat, trim it.
- Use a pan with some side on it to keep any splatter contained.
- If your oven has a convection roast and convection bake, use the bake mode. Or skip the convection completely.
- You could turn down the oven by 25°-50°. This will increase the cooking time some and may prone to drying out some. Remember to cook to an endpoint, not by time.
- Of course, the oven should be clean, so the smoke isn’t coming from a previous splatter.
- Some water in the pan under the rack will prevent the smoking issue. It will cool the fat when it drips.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Editors Note: Originally Published January 24, 2014. This recipe is part of my family of chicken recipes. There have been updating photos and added information since the original version.
Robert Powers
Hey Dan
Tried this 4 years ago. It’s my go to comfort food. Just so much easier and neater than frying.
Thanks again.
Your awesome.
Rob
CLP
Since I came across this recipe & pinned it well over a year ago, it's my "go to" for plump, juicy, CRISPY thighs-( especially when I sprinkle with a pepper blend I came across in N'Orleans called "Slap Ya Mamma"...much appreciated!
drew sauder
I am a very lazy cook on a budget. So I make them way different. I season them before I freeze them, I was told that doing it that way, the seasoning is pulled into the meat as it freezes. Then I defrost in hot water, don't worry about the seasoning, it has done it's job. I then put it in a baking dish, with Spaghetti sauce. cook most of the way through, then throw a slice of Parmesan cheese on top, spoon some spaghetti sauce over the top. and it is like chicken Parmesan well kind of. The other non related trick, is to cook it in cream of mushroom soup, brown chicken first to remove the oil, that could curdle the cream. But I know a little off topic, Just thought I would share difference varieties, so you don't get board. Oh I find with Pork chops, season them with just salt and pepper before freezing. They are much more tender that way. The salts breaks down the fibre of the meat to make them juicy. This way lower priced chops taste like the more expensive cuts. Happy savings and eating everyone
Kidd
Thanks about the tenderness on pork chops.. I didn’t know that
Svend
Best ever chicken thigh recipe!
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Svend,
Welcome to the site.
I do love simple recipes like this.
Thanks for the note and rating.
Dan
Tap Into Yourself
Agreed! Tastiest and *easiest* crispy chicken leg-quarter recipe ever! Thank you for making my meal prep so much easier, Dr Dan.
Candice Grubbs
well, i made ten thighs...lol
So is taking a bit longer. Glad i have my handy dandy thermometer. I did some cayenne. We will see if the kids can hang... they liked it, but i shouldve seasoned a bit more. I cooked like 45 min and did bbq sauce for 5 more min. They came out at just past 180 degrees.
Jeanette
Easy and looks and tastes great! Crispy skin and juicy meat
Catmac
I made this chicken tonight with well priced chicken thighs. (SCORE!!!!$7.68 for 12 chicken thighs) I trimmed the fat. I hate that big long chunk of fat on the thigh. It never occurred to me to just cut it off 🙄 I patted them dry after trimming, salt, peppered and cayenne peppered them before theiwing them in my preheated 400° oven on convection for 30 minutes. DELICIOUS!!! THANK YOU!!! This will be a staple at our table now!! 👏👏
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Catmac,
Welcome to the blog.
Glad you enjoyed the recipe. I do like simple things. People complicate things like this too much.
Thanks for the note and rating.
Dan
Heather C.
I discovered this gem of a recipe about 2 years ago or so and it has genuinely had a significant increase in the quality of my chicken dinners (which, by the way, it’s just my husband & I—no children—and we’re on a budget lol. So we have chicken thighs *very* often)! Since the first time I applied this recipe (in particular the high oven temp, but much quicker cook time compared to how I used to bake chicken), my husband always refers to my BBQ oven-baked chicken thighs as his “beloved favorite” ❤️ I’ve got to say that I’ve never had more tender & juicy chicken before discovering your recipe! And now I’m a huge fan and follower of your 101 cooking for two page! So, on behalf of my husband and I, thank you so much for spreading your amazing cooking tips that will last me a lifetime!! xoxo
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Heather,
Glad you enjoy the thigh recipe. It is part of the family of chicken recipes which are the core of the blog. I do love simple recipes like this.
Thanks so much for the rating and the comment. It makes my day.
Dan
mark b
DrDan, you are THE man. Very much enjoy all of your recipes. Thank you.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Mark,
Welcome to the blog.
Glad you enjoyed this and the other recipes.
Thanks for the note and rating.
Dan
Shirley
I made this last night with Kirkland organic bone-in thighs. I used the spice recipe for the crispy baked breasts and it was very tasty! I followed recipe instructions exactly and they turned out great. It did take the extra time to cook the bone-in (45+ minutes on larger pieces) to get to the 185 temp at the bone (I agree an under-cooked chicken thigh is plain yucky). I used a deep cake pain lined with foil for easy clean up, added water, rack, and baked the chicken. Turned out great. Love the tip on adding the water to reduce smoking.
DrDan
Hi Shirley,
Welcome to the blog and sorry for the delayed reply.
It is amazing how easy this is. Glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Sherry
I made this chicken tonight and followed your directions, high temp, on a rack , pat the chicken dry and add my own seasonings. I used lemon pepper , season salt, paprika, pepper and garlic salt - I shook a little of each spice on the skin of the chicken. This was delicious! I am not used to cooking chicken at the high temp in my convection oven and was wondering if it would overcook. It was cooked perfectly after 30 -33 minutes , I did check the internal temp and it was around the temp you recommended. The chicken was moist and tasty.
DrDan
Hi Sherry,
Welcome to the blog.
I used Lemon Pepper on almost everything for many years. I think I got burnout and I don't think I even have any in the house. Maybe it is time again.
The high-temperature thing does work very nicely. And I know it is a bit odd but combined with a rack, it delivers solid repeatable results.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Aleah
Would this recipe work with out the rack?
DrDan
Hi Aleah,
Welcome to the blog.
It would work but there is a fair amount of fatty drainage that they will be setting in. So I think the rack is a good thing here.
Dan
B> Fleming
This was just what I was looking for; a simple, SIMPLE recipe without sauces, and a whole lot of preparation found on every other online site. And the advice is on and to the point.
Thank you!
DrDan
Welcome to the blog.
I do love simple things. Then if somebody wants to fancy it with special sauces etc, it should still work well.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Cathie Duff
Baking chicken thighs at a high temp has changed my life -- I am generally cooking for one, but by freezing each thigh separately i can have a yummy meal by myself or feed six the same effort. And they are perfect everytime.
DrDan
Hi Cathie,
Welcome to the blog.
Glad it works well for you. It is surprising how much the change in cooking temperature helps.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Jamie Gronley
Going go give this a shot! Then, heading over to your homemade spice page. Recovering from stroke so looking to keep things simple along with ingredients I have here at home! This recipe sounds wonderful!
And, HUUUGE ANIMAL LOVER HERE! Love the pup pics!
DrDan
Hi Jamie,
Welcome to the blog. Hopefully, my simplistic (lazy?) approach to cooking fits your needs. Watch the salt if you are on a sodium restriction diet and use my seasoning. Just use the seasoning of your choice.
Molly and Lilly say Hi.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Adam
I too added a pinch of smoked paprika, it added a nice flavor layer and some color. Like some of the other readers, this was my first whack at the convection feature, it turned out perfectly (8 pieces) at 35 minutes. Skin was nice and crispy, and the meat was juicy and tender. I ended up brining them for 24 hours, (my wife had to postpone dinner plans due to work so I figured why not?) do you have any comment on that? Do you think it makes much of a difference or are these always pretty tender and juicy right out of the butcher paper? I don’t always have that much time on my hands with two little ones, a yellow lab, and a cat.
DrDan
Hi Adam,
Welcome to the blog.
The convection does help crisp it up more. So definitely worth using if you have it.
On to the brining. There are some that will say brining for more the 6 hours on chicken is too long.
Most experts disagree and I believe they are right. You are good at 1 day and 2 days may be the max. But we do turkey for 24 hours all the time and 2 days frequently.
Did it help the tenderness? For sure it did. But over 12 hours is probably doesn't change things much.
You will get most of the effect in first 2 hours and really get fairly good effect in 30-40 minutes with chicken that is not too thick.
But chicken thighs are really good without brining. So try both ways.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Kim
If I'm using confection back what temperature and about how long
DrDan
Hi Kim,
Welcome to the blog.
If by confection you mean convection then that is what the recipe is written for. So at 425 convection, it will be about 30 minutes. If you mean conventional (no fan), I would still do 425 since 450 tends to smoke a lot. It will take about 5 minutes longer.
Remember you are cooking to a final internal temperature, 185 degrees here, and not by time alone. There are variables of your oven, thickness of the chicken and exact starting temperature of the chicken.
Hope that helps. You will find more discussion in the body of the post.
Dan
Kim
Thank you. Sorry for all the spelling errors. Crazy what a couple of glasses of wine will do 😂 going to try the thighs tonight !!!
Patricia Stickler
What is 7:2:1 or 7:2:2? Just curious. I have never heard of that.
Thank you
DrDan
Hi Patricia,
Welcome to the blog.
Those are homemade seasonings. They are linked in the post. It is 7 parts kosher salt, 2 parts pepper and 1 or 2 parts of granular garlic. Here is a link https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/everyday-spice-mix-721-mix/
Dan
MaryKate
Photos of the dogs ruined the recipe
DrDan
Ok, complaint #3 out of 7000 comments. All recipes have dog pictures so it will take months to fix...
I think I will just leave this here for now...
DrDan
Carolyn David
I've made these thighs many times using your recipe and tips, (especially about trimming excess fat and putting water in the pan) and they always come out delicious! I sometimes sprinkle sesame seeds on them if I'm feeling creative! Overall, I'm not much of a cook, so having this sure-fire winner is a big help to me.
Thanks, and a wag of the tail to your gorgeous dogs.