Pan Roasted Lemon Chicken
These chicken thighs are amazingly crisp and flavorful, and you won’t believe how easy this is to make!
As Jason and I are trying to stay away from red meat, we’ve been eating a lot of chicken, from this BBQ chicken salad to this easy lemon chicken. But as I still had a Costco-sized bag of lemons to use up, I decided to put them to good use in this pan roasted chicken. Now when I say “pan roasted“, I mean a 2-step process. But there’s no need to be alarmed – it’s unbelievably easy and foolproof!
A lemon rub is made first with a handful of pantry ingredients and of course, lots of lemon goodness. One that’s brushed onto the chicken, you’ll give it a nice sear in a hot pan to get that amazingly crisp skin. Then you’ll pop that right in the oven until it’s cooked through. Done and done.
I told you it was easy! And with that crusty skin and the juicy meat just oozing with lemon-herb goodness, this dish is sure to be a hit with the entire family.
Pan Roasted Lemon Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups chicken stock
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
For the lemon rub
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- To make the lemon rub, combine olive oil, mustard, lemon zest, oregano, thyme and salt in a small bowl. Using your fingers or a brush, work the lemon rub onto both sides of the chicken.
- In a large bowl, whisk together chicken stock, lemon juice and lemon zest; set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large oven-proof skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken, skin-side down, and sear both sides until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side. Add chicken stock mixture.
- Place into oven and roast until completely cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 25-30 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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I made this for dinner tonight and it turned out amazing! So easy and foolproof, it’s hard to make a mistake. I will definitely be making this again! I noticed the original recipe with the flour and butter after I made this, but the sauce still turned out great. So moist and flavourful, I can’t say enough about this great dish! 🙂
I’m so glad you were able to give it a try! As for the butter-flour mixture, I gave that a try myself and I honestly did not see that it made much of a difference. It was actually just another extra step, which is something we don’t need on those busy weeknights when we’re scrambling to get dinner on the table!
Making this right now with Maryland pieces….the kitchen smells amazingly good & it was so easy too….trying this out in a cast iron grill pan as well…
Looks delicious, will be trying this tomorrow. I will not use flour for thickening either, I wii just stir some butter into juices in bottom of pan and that should thicken it a bit.
Is there anyway of making the recipe smaller for printing. I don’t want to print all the pictures too. Thanks.
Mary, you can use the “PRINT” function in the recipe box to print the recipe only.
Question, Do I add all 8 thighs to the pan or cook them in batches?
Teon, that really depends on the size of your skillet.
Also, I wanted to inquire about the chicken stock mixture. I see that you could only fit 6 in your pan. How much of the stock mixture did you add? Your pan looks to have very little liquid going into the oven.
Heather, I added the entire stock mixture to the pan.
This may sound dumb, but I put the lid on when I transferred the chicken to the oven. Don’t do what I did, or bid your crispy skin goodbye! It was still good, but I miss that beautiful crispness. 🙁 Chung-Ah, you may want to add that into your recipe for clueless people like me!
What a bummer! Yes, adding the lid will definitely get rid of the amazing crispy skin. And for my recipes – if a lid is required, I will add that to the instructions. I hope you get a chance to give this a second try!
Nope. Definitely not a braise.
looks good
Making these for dinner tonight…can’t wait!
I am in love with the simplicity of this dish. I bet it tastes amazing, it looks perfect 🙂
Aghhh I’m drooling already! And I am loving this!
I can’t wait to try this – love the simplicity of the recipe, Chung-Ah! This would be a great dish to serve to guests!
Oh, love chicken thighs Chung-Ah the skin gets all crunchy and delicious! The marinade sounds awesome, especially with all that lemon! Pinned!
How many lemons did you use to get a 1/4 cup lemon juice?
I use one lemon, not enough zest ( I has some already frozen from another use to add to this one). And just under 1/4 cup.
Use two lemons and freeze the extra.
Oh my gosh, I LOVE that crispy outer crust on those thighs! Haha, that sounded weird. It’s so fantastic that it’s all prepared in one pan – I’m a huge fan of that!
New cook here! Is that prepared mustard or dry?
You can find whole grain mustard at your local grocery store. It is neither prepared nor dry.
Whole grain mustard is a prepared mustard
Most folks would refer to prepared mustard as yellow mustard. I have never seen a wholegrain mustard being referred to as prepared mustard.
I just looked at the original recipe and saw that you omitted the flour in yours. Would the sauce still thicken up without the flour?
Giselle, feel free to add in the flour as the original recipe recommends. I tried it out myself and didn’t really see much of a difference. It was more of hassle to transfer the chicken thighs elsewhere!
Lemon chicken is one of my favorites! Your version looks so juicy and yet crisp on the outside! 🙂
Yummm! These look so juicy and flavorful.
LOOOOVE lemon chicken; it’s so bright and fresh and yet savory and all delicious. And the quicker it can get into my belly, the better. 🙂