chicken thighs

I often prefer cooking chicken thighs over chicken breasts. Thighs are juicy, more flavorful, and don’t dry out. I use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs most often.

The thing I don’t like about using skin-on chicken pieces is all the extra skin that is left on when you bring them home from the store.

Use your kitchen shears to trim off all that extra skin and discard.

This dish comes together in a snap, it only takes about 15 minutes to prep and is in the oven for about 45 minutes while you prepare the rest of the dinner. I like to serve the thighs and their rich herb sauce over couscous.

When you use the side of your chef’s knife to lightly smash the garlic cloves, you are looking for each clove to break up slightly, making each clove come apart into 2 or 3 smaller pieces. You don’t want to obliterate them, use a light touch.

You can purchase the pancetta at Trader Joe’s. It comes in a convenient 4-ounce package and is already diced into the perfect size. Simply open the package and scatter over the chicken when called for.

Mediterranean Chicken Thighs

• 3 ½ – 4 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, trimmed (about 8-10 large)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, minced
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano leaves, minced
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 small lemons, thinly sliced, with the seeds, picked out
• 4 ounces diced pancetta
• 10 garlic cloves, peeled and then gently smashed to break up slightly
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/3 cup pitted kalamata olives
• 1/3 cup green olives, pitted

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees placing a rack in the middle. Place the thighs, skin side up, in a large baking dish, and blot the tops dry with paper towels. Combine the olive oil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, salt, honey, red pepper, and black pepper in a small bowl. Stir to combine.

Use your hands to rub the herb paste all over the thighs, massaging into the tops and bottoms finishing with the skin side up to the baking dish.

Slide a lemon slice or two under each chicken thigh. Scatter the pancetta and garlic cloves on top of, around, and in between the pieces of chicken.

Place the dish in the oven to roast for 20 minutes, until the thighs are beginning to brown.

Remove the dish from the oven and pour the wine around (not on top of) the chicken. Scatter both the black and green olives on top.

Place back in the oven to roast another 25 minutes, until the skin is brown and crisp and the chicken registers 175 degrees when an instant-read thermometer is inserted in the center of one of the thighs, taking care to not touch a bone, which would give you a false reading.

Serves 4-6