Roasted Chicken Thighs with Garlic

Published January 2, 2018. Updated October 25, 2018

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Roasted Chicken Thighs is one of those classic, flavorful dishes you just won’t be able to forget about! You get tender juicy thighs, crispy skin and that garlicy herb pan sauce is so deliciously tasty! It is one of the best chicken dishes I’ve had, so I’m guessing you’ll want this one on repeat.

Roast chicken with garlic, lemons and herbs in a large stainless steel skillet after roasting.

Roasted Chicken Thighs with Garlic

I love every last detail about this homestyle chicken. The perfectly crispy chicken skin, the simple and rich pan sauce, the fresh herb flavor, and of course the abundance of roasted garlic cloves!

This chicken is so easy to make yet the end result is 5 star restaurant quality.

Close up shot of crispy garlic roast chicken

Ingredients for This Recipe

  • olive oil
  • butter
  • garlic
  • salt and pepper
  • bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
  • fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, and fresh parsley
  • cornstarch
  • chicken broth
  • lemon

How to Roast Chicken Thighs in the Oven

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat olive oil and butter in a large oven-proof skillet or saute pan over medium heat.
  • Add garlic and cook, turning occasionally until lightly browned, about 3 – 5 minutes. Transfer garlic to a plate, leave oil in pan.
  • Dab skin side of chicken thighs well with paper towels to dry. Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper.
  • Increase burner heat to medium-high and add chicken to skillet, skin side down (cover pan with a splatter screen if you have one). Cook until browned, about 5 – 6 minutes, then remove from heat.
  • Season chicken thighs with 1 tsp each thyme an rosemary, then flip so skin side is upright and season with 1 tsp each thyme and rosemary.
  • Scatter garlic cloves around chicken. Roast in preheated oven until skin is crispy and center registers 165, about 20 minutes.
  • In a small bowl whisk together chicken broth and cornstarch. Transfer chicken and garlic to a plate, then bring drippings in skillet to a simmer over medium heat.
  • Add broth mixture to drippings, and cook whisking constantly, 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice.
  • Add some of the pan sauce to individual plates then top with a chicken and garlic cloves. Sprinkle with parsley.

Roast chicken with garlic in skillet

A Recipe Worth the Few Extra Steps!

The only tedious thing about this recipe is how you do have to add and remove, and add and remove things from the pan.

Worth it though!

Each step turns this seriously delicious chicken into gold. (Quite literally, that golden brown crisp skin is so good! And I don’t normally care for chicken skin).

Six pieces of golden brown crispy chicken thighs shown here in a skillet after roasting with garlic and herbs.

How I Store Fresh Herbs for Longer Shelf Life

If you can find the poultry herb blend or roasting herb blend that’s how I like to buy the rosemary and thyme (which sometimes has parsley too) vs. buying two or three packs.

I also always store them in my Herb Savor and I get about two weeks out of them versus a couple of days.

Roast chicken with garlic shown in on a single serve plate with pan sauce, along with a side salad, and fresh bread.

Don’t Omit Ingredients but There are Substitutes

  • Don’t omit the tangy lemon. It just perfectly brightens up the pan sauce and perfectly compliments the chicken.
  • Also don’t leave out the butter thinking it’s only 1 Tbsp. Don’t you know a little butter can go a long way :).
  • And don’t use all butter or it will burn. Olive oil has a higher smoke point so it’s a must.
  • One thing that will substitute fine here would be dried herbs for the fresh. Use 1/2 tsp dry in place of the 2 tsp fresh listed, and 1 tsp dry for the 1 Tbsp fresh listed.

Slicing into roast chicken thigh with garlic and showing interior.

I can’t wait to make this again. Just looking at that sliced piece is wishing I were eating it again, even though I just ate it two hours ago.

It is just toooo good!!

Oh and random side note, you can add the pan sauce over the chicken but I like the skin to stay as crispy as possible so I just serve it over the sauce, personal preference here. Enjoy!

What Should I Serve with This Chicken?

16 Quick & Easy 30 Minute Recipes! (plus weekly recipe updates)

Garlic Roasted Chicken
5 from 14 votes

Roasted Chicken Thighs with Garlic

One of my favorite chicken recipes! You get perfectly tender chicken with gorgeously golden brown, crispy skin that's infused with fresh herb flavor. And it's served over a blanket of lemony pan sauce and paired with an abundance of roasted garlic cloves. This is how you do chicken dinners!
Servings: 4
Prep15 minutes
Cook30 minutes
Ready in: 45 minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat olive oil and butter in a large oven-proof skillet or saute pan over medium heat. 
  • Add garlic and cook, turning occasionally until lightly browned, about 3 - 5 minutes. Transfer garlic to a plate, leave oil in pan. 
  • Dab skin side of chicken thighs well with paper towels to dry. Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper. 
  • Increase burner heat to medium-high and add chicken to skillet, skin side down (cover pan with a splatter screen if you have one). Cook until browned, about 5 - 6 minutes, then remove from heat. 
  • Season chicken thighs with 1 tsp each thyme an rosemary, then flip so skin side is upright and season with 1 tsp each thyme and rosemary.
  • Scatter garlic cloves around chicken. Roast in preheated oven until skin is crispy and center registers 165, about 20 minutes. 
  • In a small bowl whisk together chicken broth and cornstarch. Transfer chicken and garlic to a plate, then bring drippings in skillet to a simmer over medium heat. 
  • Add broth mixture to drippings, and cook whisking constantly, 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice.
  • Add some of the pan sauce to individual plates then top with a chicken and garlic cloves. Sprinkle with parsley.
  • Recipe source: Cooking Classy
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33 Comments

  • Sandra

    OMG!! Absolutely delicious! I have been craving something like this for a while. Do not miss any step…it is essential for the perfect taste! Thank you for sharing!

  • Lizabeth Rains

    This is a delicious recipe! I used breasts because it was all I had and just a couple of teaspoons of rosemary and totally forgot the lemon! It would have been better with the lemon but sure was good without it!! Thanks for the recipe! It was a hit in my family! I served it with yams stuffed with peas and sautéed purple cabbage with red onion and mushrooms!

  • Debbie Kane

    Excellent. Every one of your recipes that I have tried, are exceptional! Thank you so much for sharing.

  • Tammy Zipko

    I absolutely love this recipe. Absolutely delicious. Can I use this recipe w chicken wings too?

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      Yes it should work for wings too, they just may not need to bake as long.

  • DG 1985

    Made this tonight. Everyone loved it! Cooked at 400 for 20 min and it can out perfect.

  • Caroline

    Did this last night and it was an absolute winner! The longest part was to pick and chop the herbs. Very simple. Added a little white wine and next time will double the broth to have a lmore sauce. We served with mashed potatoes. I also had some breasts in there (bone in) as I am not crazy about dark meat. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe. We’ll do it again!

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      The broth will give more flavor then water so I recommend sticking with that. White wine should work too.

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      They should but they’ll probably be done in about half the oven time (test temp to 165 as always).

    • Kristina

      My youngest is allergic to dairy and soy so instead of butter I used 1 tablespoon of butter flavored olive oil. (I get it at our local specialty olive oil store) I was also in a hurry so I added sprigs of rosemary and thyme to the cast iron pan when the chicken went in the oven instead of mincing. All other directions were followed as written.
      The gravy was delish. Definitely don’t omit the lemon juice.