The next time you juice a lemon, don’t toss the rinds! Instead, wrap them up and save them in the fridge, then make this easy chicken recipe. It works with zested lemon rinds, too. The rinds get cooked down with the chicken and maple syrup, resulting in sweet and tangy pan drippings designed for drizzling over everything.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 30 min |
| Active: | 15 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 8 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (about 2 1/2 pounds)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or other neutral oil
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- Halved, juiced rinds of 2 lemons
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
- Pat the chicken thighs quite dry with paper towels. Sprinkle them on both sides with 2 teaspoons salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper.
- Heat a large ovenproof skillet (preferably cast iron) over medium-high heat. Add the oil and heat until shimmering. Add the chicken thighs to the skillet skin-side down and nestle the lemon halves around them so the cut sides touch the skillet. Cook until the chicken skin is very golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes. (The lemon halves should char, but if they start completely blackening, lift them up and place them on top of the chicken as it cooks.)
- Lift up each lemon half, brush the cut side with maple syrup and return to the skillet cut-side down. Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast until the chicken is almost cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Flip the thighs so they are skin-side up, then continue roasting until no longer pink near the bone, another 5 minutes. Serve the chicken with the saucy pan drippings spooned over.
Reviews
I used boneless, skinless thighs and they turned out great. Eliminated the syrup and added the lemon juice and butter as previous cooks suggested. Very tasty and my hubby loved it!
I don’t really have juiced lemon halves on hand so I use unjuiced lemons and squeeze the juice over the thighs. One lemon is typically good enough so that the chicken doesn’t taste sour. I also brush the thighs with maple syrup to really increase the taste profile. This has become my new go to for a quick dinner
This was the best… and easiest chicken thigh recipe I’ve made in quite a while. I added 2 thyme sprigs and Tbsp of butter at the end, before sticking chicken in the oven. I’m trying to eat less sweets so I didn’t add the maple syrup. Soooo delicious!
Everyone loved this. But….I was a bit confused about what to do with the lemons. The pic shows the flesh of the lemon still in the half. The recipe says to use juiced rinds , which to me means you juice the lemon of all flesh leaving only the rind. I couldn’t get the video to play to clarify. Just the same ad over and over again so I just had to guess what to do. I started with the empty rinds but then panicked after looking more closely at the photo, so replaced them half way through cooking with lemon halves that I just hand squeezed lightly leaving the flesh. Can anyone who has seen the video clarify please?
This dish is delicious. I added mushrooms just because I needed to use them. Not too lemony and the sweet is just barely noticeable.
Delicious! Easy but elegant. Company worthy.
This has become my family’s new favorite chicken! Juicy, yet crispy, and very flavorful.
Made this for company tonight and everyone loved it. Said it was the best chicken dish ever. Will definitely be in my regular rotation
This is really good meal! I use boneless chicken thighs. It soak up the lemon,maple syrup.
Tasty and simple! Could become a staple!