Lemon Garlic Chicken Thighs
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Olive oil, lemon juice/zest, garlic, Dijon, oregano, thyme. THE BEST marinade ever. Made on the grill or stovetop. SO SO GOOD.
I have never ever been so excited to eat grilled chicken.
Like really, really, really, really excited where it’s all I can think about, day or night.
Where all I want is a plate full of these perfectly juicy, garlicky, lemon chicken thighs with a side of roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli.
Well, who am I kidding? I would prefer this with some crispy french fries sans sweet potato and broccoli but hey, it’s wedding season.
No, but really, these thighs are out of this world. And with a simple marinade, you’ll also be thinking about this constantly.
Plus, with the warmer weather, you can throw these bad boys on the grill with some lemon halves for extra charred lemon juice for serving. It’s so so good.
Lemon Garlic Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- ½ cup chicken stock
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 ½ tablespoons canola oil
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine chicken stock, lemon juice, olive oil, lemon zest, garlic, Dijon, oregano, thyme, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper.
- In a gallon size Ziploc bag or large bowl, combine chicken and chicken stock mixture; marinate for at least 2 hours to overnight, turning the bag occasionally. Drain the chicken from the marinade.
- Heat canola oil in a cast iron grill pan over medium-high heat.* Working in batches, add chicken to the grill pan in a single layer and cook until golden brown and cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 4-5 minutes per side.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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it looks delicious, i appreciate your work and also tried at home soon.
Many Thanks
Wow! Excellent marinade! I grilled the chicken and saved the marinade…boiled the marinade and added more stock and a little of wondra to thicken it delicious.
I made this with a whole spatchcocked chicken roasted in the oven. Doubled the amount of thyme and crushed the garlic. It came out amazing!! There wasn’t a morsel left!! Making it again as I write this.
Followed the recipe exactly, and took the extra step of deglazing my pan with some white wine (vigonier), then (following another reviewers tip) boiling the leftover marinade in the same pan once the thighs were resting. This really is a delicious, well-written recipe with ingredients that are typically on-hand. Thank you!!
So good!!
I coked these on the grille and they were super!!!
Love that, Jim! 🙂
Need to double or triple this for a crowd. Can it be made in a large pyrex rectangle in the oven? If so, what temp and how long?
This was really good. I used the marinade on bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs that were cooked straight on the grill. This will become a weeknight staple in our house.
We love hearing that! Thanks, Em!
Delicious
This was amazing. I made it for the first time last week and grilled it outside over charcoal, absolutely fantastic. My family loved it. One question, you specify chicken stock, which I used. Does using chicken “broth” make a difference?
Chicken stock tends to be made more from bony parts, whereas chicken broth is made more out of meat. Chicken stock tends to have a richer flavor, but I use them interchangeably at times, depending on what I have on hand. Hope that helps, Jose! 🙂
I love how I can change a few things and your recipes are STILL amazing. I’m in the middle of moving so I just had to do what was easier while packing. I oven baked (just simpler while packing) and used breasts instead. Once I’m done moving I will try thighs on our cast iron grill. Also, your crock pot recipes have been very convenient right now. Thank you!
We love that, Angela! We hope the move goes very smoothly! 🙂
Hello, I am marinating this chicken and so excited to grill tomorrow! More importantly, I wanted to let you know your mobile site does not function well with the pop up ads. I was trying to prep with the site up on my phone and had to scroll up and down multiple times because it kept moving. Just an FYI!
I made this the other night and it was delicious!!
That’s what we like to hear! Thanks, Shannon! 🙂
Made this for dinner yesterday and it was a big hit…. The family liked it so much that they wanted to know when I would be making it again!
That’s what we like to hear! Thanks for sharing, Robin. 🙂
Made these yesterday for my three children and served with some garlic olive oil couscous. They polished off the batch without a drop left. I modified the recipe only in terms of how I cooked it. They are so busy with after school activities that I did not want to have to cook them when we came home so I cooked them in my slow cooker with the marinade (after they marinaded over night) and then just before serving took out some of the hot marinade, added a little corn starch for thickening and let them cook for another 15 minutes. Searched with lemon wedges because my kids can’t get enough lemon. This recipe is a keeper!!! Thank you!
You are so welcome, Jenn! We’re so happy to hear that the children enjoyed it so much!
How long to cook in slow cooker?
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. But if you get a chance to try it, please let me know how it turns out! 🙂
Hmm, it sounds delicious. It’s going to be Sunday dinner, let’s hope it’s up to the hype…
I made this chicken last night for dinner. I have to say it was one of the best recipes I have ever tried. I did not change anything and so many people do.
However though this needs to be cooked on medium high, the next time I would take that same cast iron grill pan and put it outside on my barbecue. My house was totally filled with smoke.
Yes, it can get quite smoky using a grill pan. An outdoor grill would be perfect for these! 🙂
One word. Fabulous. Thank you posting. Even better this morning cold
Love that you ate this cold the next morning, Barbara!
Ahh you had me at dijon!! I love your recipes!
I Am so glad I saw this recipe and made these for our lunch yesterday. I had an enormous package of chicken thighs that I nabbed at Sams Club this weekend and they needed to be dealt with ASAP. This recipe was so delicious and The Whole house smelled amazing. Made them in my grill pan and I dipped mine in chimichurri sauce just to gild the lily So to speak. They needed nothing more though, the flavor was fantastic! I realized after I had them in the fridge marinating that I forgot the chicken broth… they were fine without it!
We’re so glad you enjoyed this, Christina!
What a delicious meal! These flavours are just amazing.
Pretty good, although the marinade didn’t contribute as much to the taste as I had thought it might.
Try using a little more lemon zest,thyme but not too much, thyme is a strong herb, I used some Italian seasoning.. it was delicious. Just a little suggestion. I’m a professional chef.
Hi, Chunga! I love your recipes so much, I have a board on Pinterest just for Damn Delicious recipes.
This recipe looks delicious, but I don’t like chicken thighs…do you think it would work with chicken breasts?
Thanks
Absolutely!