Let’s make marinated chicken thighs for dinner today, shall we?

I don’t think I know anyone who wouldn’t love chicken thighs. This part of chicken is likely the most juicy and tasty and it’s very easy and quite quick to prepare. That’s why you can find MANY chicken thighs recipes on the web and I love to cook them very often too.

When preparing chicken thighs, you can choose from several cooking methods. You can try braising them in a pan, baking them in the oven, using boneless thighs to make Gyros… and when you have some extra time, try this marinated chicken thighs recipe that I’m about to show you in this blog post.

I will be baking the thighs in a deep baking dish along with some potatoes, so we have a full dinner ready in one go. Less cleaning, less work… just how home cooking should be.

How long to marinade chicken thighs for?

Simple answer here… the longer the better 🙂 But seriously, give it at least 2 hours, that’s the bare minimum. Thighs are quite large so they really need some time for the flavors to penetrate the meat.

In an ideal case, you would let the meat sit in the marinade overnight in the fridge. This requires some planning, I’m aware of that, but it’s well worth it. I know people who marinade their meat for a full 24 hours or even more and they would swear by it. Personally, I think it’s an overkill for chicken meat, but to each their own 🙂

Marinated Chicken Thighs Ingredients

For the marinade:

3-4 tablespoons of olive oil
3 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of mustard
2 teaspoons of red paprika
1 teaspoon of onion powder
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 teaspoon of dried thyme
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of honey
Black pepper (about 1 teaspoon)
Salt to taste
Fresh herbs of choice (rosemary, thyme, basil…)

The rest:

7-8 chicken thighs (this amount works best for my family of 5)
2 pounds of baby potatoes
5 garlic cloves
½ cup of chicken stock
Small stick of butter
Olive oil

How To Cook Marinated Chicken Thighs?

Watch the video or follow the instructions below:

Since we’re making marinated chicken thighs, we need to start with the marinade. We need 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil, 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of mustard, 1 teaspoon of onion powder, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, 2 teaspoons of red paprika, 1 teaspoon of dried thyme, about a tablespoon of lemon juice and one tablespoon of honey.

I had some fresh rosemary at home, so I’ve used it too. You can use your favorite herbs though… basil, thyme, parsley or cilantro would work great. Add black pepper and salt to taste and use a whisk to mix it all up. Hitting the right amount of salt can be tricky so I always taste my marinades… just tip in your finger and give it a try, the marinade should feel a little bit over salted.

In with the chicken thighs and use your hands to coat them up with the marinade. Yes, you will get messy, but it simply works the best. Since the marinade is red in color, it’s easy to tell when all parts are nicely coated. Cover the bowl with foil and let the thighs marinade in the fridge for at least two hours. To make the best marinated chicken thighs ever, let them rest in the fridge overnight.

I like to brown the chicken thighs on a pan before baking them in the oven. It’s an extra step but it improves the final flavor. Use the biggest pan you have so it’s not too crowded or else the thighs would steam and not brown.

Give each side about 3 or 4 minutes or until the thighs start to catch brown color. Once you’re there, transfer the thighs into a deep baking dish. Oh and don’t freak out if the meat looks a bit charred, it’s because of the honey in our marinade. The dark color means that the honey caramelized and that’s perfectly fine.

There are plenty of flavors left in the pan and we certainly don’t want to leave them there. Add a small stick of butter and let it melt. Drop in 5 roughly chopped cloves of garlic and sauté for a minute or two. And finally, add about half a cup of chicken stock and properly deglaze the pan.

Now pour this mixture over the chicken thighs, it will turn into a delicious sauce as they bake.

I’ve mentioned that this dish comes with a side of potatoes that bake in the same dish, so let’s take care of that now. You will need about 2 pounds of small yellow potatoes. If you have just big ones, simply cut them into smaller pieces. Season the potatoes with some olive oil, salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Add all potatoes to the baking dish. Move them around a bit, they should sit in the spaces between the chicken thighs and shouldn’t be covering the skin. That’s a pretty important part if you want crispy skin on the thighs.

Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and into the oven it goes. Set the temperature to 400F or 200C and bake for 30 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake for 15 to 20 more minutes or until the skin becomes crispy.

And there you have it, perfectly baked marinated chicken thighs with a side of potatoes. Let me know how you liked this recipe in the comments. Enjoy your dinner and see you soon.

Optional tips:

• You can use the same recipe with other parts of chicken. Chicken drumsticks or wings would be a great choice. You could use the same marinade for chicken breasts too, but breasts tend to become dry when baked.
• The marinade I am using in this recipe is very versatile and would work great with basically any meat… chicken, turkey, pork or even beef.
• These marinated chicken thighs would go really well with a side of steamed rice… there is a ton of tasty sauce/juice in the baking dish, use it! Alternatively, you can use mashed potatoes.
• Cooked chicken thighs can be stored in the fridge for up to 48 hours. When reheating, I prefer the microwave.