When it comes to cooking chicken thighs, there are thousands of recipes available online, and attempting to find one can seem overwhelming. Even when chicken thighs are not a particularly complex cut to prepare, looking for some tips and tricks in order to make them juicy and tasty always comes in handy. That’s why we decided to share with you three delicious and simple ways of cooking chicken thighs, including crispy skin chicken thighs, boneless chicken thighs, and baking chicken thighs.
Cooking Crispy Skin Chicken Thighs
One of the best ways of cooking chicken thighs is using a cast iron pan, the stove-top, and the oven. This technique will give us the crispiest and juiciest meat we have ever tried. In order to get this right, we need to let the thighs sit at room temperature for 20 minutes, patting the skin with a paper towel to get rid of moisture. Then, we can move to seasoning the chicken with salt, smoked paprika, and cayenne pepper.
Before cooking the chicken thighs, we should preheat a large cast iron pan for a couple of minutes, adding 2 tablespoons of oil. Once the pan is hot, cook the chicken for a bit less than 10 minutes. Then, put the pan in the oven and let the thighs cook skin side down for another 10 minutes. Before you cut the thighs, let them rest for a couple of minutes so the skin absorbs all the juices.
Cooking Boneless Chicken Thighs
If we are looking for an easy and quick way to cook chicken thighs, we might want to go for boneless and skinless thighs. In order to get the meat ready, we should apply the spice rub to both sides of the thighs, adding a generous amount of salt. Don’t forget to add spices like smoked paprika, cumin, coriander, cayenne, and thyme to get a rich flavor.
Then, preheat a cast iron pan for a couple of minutes adding 1 tablespoon of oil, then add the thighs and let them cook for a bit less than 5 minutes. Flip them and let them cook for another 5 minutes, and you’re done. Once they are nice and crusty, get them out of the pan, let them rest for 5 minutes, and they’ll be good to go.
Baking Chicken Thighs
Baking chicken thighs might sound more challenging to some, but it is actually easier than you may think. First of all, we need to let the chicken sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes, just as if we were cooking them on a cast iron pan. Once it is ready to be prepared, we should pat the moisture off and season the chicken thighs with our favorite spice rub.
The tricky part comes when putting the chicken in the oven. In order to get crispy and juicy meat, we should cook the chicken thighs in an oven set at 400 ° F for 50 minutes. This way, the skin will be crispy and the meat will be juicy. The perfect balance to achieve the most delicious results. You can poke the thighs with a knife to see if the juices run clear. This is how we will know if the chicken is ready.