The Trick for the Crispiest Oven-Baked Chicken Thighs

As a food writer, I sometimes make unexpected discoveries in the kitchen. That happened to me recently when I was testing nonstick cookware. The tests included creating crispy skin-on chicken thighs without anything else in the pan: no oil, no flour, no breading. But as a pescatarian, I hadn’t cooked chicken in decades.

So I dug deep to research the best way to create the crispiest oven-baked chicken thighs and then ran my tests. The trick is to start the thighs in a cold pan on the stovetop and then finish them in the oven.

Crispier Skin With Less Mess

The cold-pan start works for many skin-on poultry cuts, but when the skin’s fat starts to render and liquify around the meat, things get messy. The burner’s bottom-up heat causes more splattering than the enveloping heat of an oven. (That's one reason chefs recommend cooking bacon in the oven.)

A chicken thigh’s natural shape also gives it varying thicknesses, so it’s difficult to cook evenly on the stovetop without first pounding the meat—which isn’t possible if you’re cooking bone-in thighs. If you only use the stovetop burner until the skin side has seared to golden crispness and then slide the pan into the oven, the chicken reaches a safe internal temperature without overcooking and drying out.

For bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, I got the crispiest results when I first trimmed away excess loose skin and patted the thighs dry. I arranged them in a cold skillet, covered the pan loosely with a lid, and then turned on the burner to medium heat. I left the lid on until the thighs started to release their natural fat. Once I removed the lid, I dialed the heat down a notch and let the thighs sear undisturbed for 10 minutes. When I flipped them over, they revealed crisp, browned skin.

The thighs weren’t yet cooked through, but the fat already wanted to splatter. So I slid the pan into a preheated 425°F oven to bake. When they reached a safe internal temperature of 165°F, the meat was juicy and tender with crispy skin that reminded me of a golden croissant.

My family gobbled up the oven-finished thighs, praising their texture and even the flavor of my unseasoned test batch. To complement the moist meat, scatter a few thin slices of lemon and sprigs or rosemary or thyme over the thighs just before you bake them.