đ What Makes This Recipe So Good
Itâs full of simple yet delicious flavors that make basic chicken thighs taste totally gourmet! Thereâs a perfect balance between the sweet honey, the savory garlic, the bright lemon, and the woody pepper. Plus you canât forget about the crushed red pepper flakes! Donât worry, though, if heatâs not your thing. This isnât a âhotâ dish by any means, and youâre always welcome to use as little of the pepper flakes as you like. Believe it or not, honey garlic lemon pepper chicken thighs are super easy to make. The whole process is pretty quick, too, even with the two cooking methods! Sure, you probably could eliminate a method if you absolutely had to, but the combination of the crispy pan-seared chicken skins and the juicy, oven-roasted chicken meat is simply unbeatable. I wouldnât tell you to cook them this way if it wasnât 10,000% worth it. Speaking of the process â even though weâre cooking on the stovetop AND in the oven, the entire recipe is made right in one oven-safe skillet. You know I love a good one-dish wonder, and this recipe definitely fits the bill.
đ©âđł Chefâs Tips
Use a skillet thatâs large enough to hold all 6 chicken thighs, but not so large that thereâs a ton of extra space left over. If the panâs too big, you risk the sauce spreading out into a super thin layer that can burn really easily. Trust me, you donât want that. Donât fight with the chicken thighs! Once you place them in the skillet, let them be until the 5-minute mark. After that, you can gently try to lift and flip them, but if the skin sticks at all, donât push it. Just keep checking every 30-60 seconds until the skins release from the bottom of the skillet without a fight. If you donât have an oven-safe skillet, you can make your honey garlic lemon pepper chicken thighs using a regular skillet and a baking dish instead! Youâll just need to transfer everything to the baking dish for the oven portion, and then transfer it back to the skillet to finish the sauce. The food-safe internal temperature for chicken thighs is 170° Fahrenheit. The key to making sure your chicken thighs stay super tender and juicy, though? Stop cooking them when they reach 165° Fahrenheit. After you take them out of the oven, the residual heat continues to cook them while youâre finishing up the sauce. That means, if you take them out at 170°, theyâll actually overcook while theyâre resting. Take them out a little early, though, and theyâll be the perfect temp when itâs time to eat.
đ More Flavor-Packed Chicken Recipes to Try
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