Meal Plan Hero :: Chicken Thighs Five Ways
For whatever reason, perfecting chicken thighs took me a long time to get the hang of even though they couldn’t be more simple to prepare! But this year I’m proud to report that I’ve mastered them. Not only are chicken thighs on the cheaper side, even organic ones, the flavor is superior! I like to make these for a family weeknight dinner and also for a larger crowd. The only thing to keep in mind is that for the oven recipes, they do take about three hours to cook, if you won’t be home, throw them in the crockpot!
Here are my five favorite meals to make with chicken thighs:
Lemon Garlic Butter Chicken Thighs
I had made this recipe a few times when one night a friend and I were texting, and she was making the same meal on the same night! Our meals were identical with one incredible exception: she added pats of butter to her chicken thighs! A revelation! Why would anyone not do this? I’ve made this countless times for our family and several times for friends. It’s always a hit. Recently I added carrots in with the green beans and that was great too.
- 8-10 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs
- 1 package of trimmed green beans
- 2 Lemons, thinly sliced
- Juice of one lemon
- 8-10 pats of butter
- 1 Head of Garlic, skin removed from cloves
- A drizzle of olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
Place green beans into a glass casserole dish, drizzle with olive oil. Place chicken thighs on top, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put a lemon slice on top of each chicken thigh and a pat of butter on top of the lemon. Squeeze lemon juice on top. Drizzle with a bit more olive oil. Sprinkle the garlic cloves all around. Bake at 300 degrees for 3 hours.
The chicken will be fall apart tender and the green beans will be a little crisp. I enjoy eating the browned lemon slices. The garlic cloves get roasted and buttery soft, perfect with a bite of chicken! We enjoy eating this with rice or roasted potatoes or a simple green salad. Recently I made this for friends with a new baby and added in sourdough biscuits. Yum! Another option is to turn this into a Greek inspired meal and serve with rice, hummus, cucumber, and feta cheese! Yum!
Barbecue Chicken Thighs
This is hardly a recipe, but it’s so good and a crowd pleaser. Grab however many chicken thighs you need to feed your family and smother them your favorite barbeque sauce. Mine is the Organic Kansas City Style BBQ sauce from Trader Joe’s. Bake at 300 degrees for 3 hours. We like to eat this with baked white or sweet potatoes and a simple salad.
One Pan Mexican Chicken and Rice
Adapted from The Defined Dish
- 2 Tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 cup finely diced onion
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into bite sized pieces
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 cup white rice —or ½ cup white rice and 1 cup riced cauliflower
- 1 can black beans, drained
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 can green chiles
In a large pot with tall sides, heat the oil and add in your onion and garlic. Saute until tender then increase the heat and add the chicken and spices. Cook until chicken is cooked through. Add the rice to the pan and toast it for about 3-4 minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir to combine. Pour in the broth and the chiles. Add in the drained black beans and the riced cauliflower if you’re using it. Stir everything and bring it to a boil then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 25 minutes. Serve with cheese, sour cream, cilantro, avocado, and tortilla chips!
*The riced cauliflower will make the white rice texture seem a little softer but it’s delicious and you really can’t taste or tell that you’re eating cauliflower! It’s a great way to make this dish lower carb and to sneak a vegetable in.
Change Your Life Chicken
Have you made this yet?! If not, why not?! This is one of our family’s absolute favorite recipes. This time you are using bone in, skin on chicken thighs and you are cranking your oven to 500 degrees, so as the weather gets cooler (please!!), this is a great recipe to try, although we do make it year around. The best thing about this recipe is that the chicken skin gets super crispy and is so, so good. You can change up what veggies you use, our favorites are small potatoes, carrots, red onion, green beans, and a couple jalapeños for the adults! This is truly a one pan meal, you don’t need anything else to go with it!
Find the recipe and detailed instructions here.
Chicken Tikka Masala
First note, I’m pretty sure this recipe is misnamed. I believe the correct Indian name would be Butter Chicken which is a different dish than Tikka Masala. That aside, this recipe is delicious and enjoyed by our entire family. It makes for excellent leftovers and is best served with some naan. We like the garlic naan from Trader Joe’s!
All of these meals make for excellent leftovers, so I recommend doubling the recipe. They all heat up well and the flavors intensify. If you want to switch things up, you can chop the leftover chicken and mix with toasted nuts, red onion, celery and Greek yogurt or mayo for a delicious chicken salad.
