Lemon Garlic Roasted Chicken Thighs: a simple marinade, an easy dinner you’ll put on repeat

A simple marinade of lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and herbes de Provence makes roasted chicken you’ll happily make again. Recipe below.

“WE’LL DO SOMETHING WITH IT.” We say this pretty much every time we’re grocery shopping, throwing some “it” into the cart without any clear meal or recipe in mind. As often as not, that “it” is a package of chicken thighs. This recipe was born of just such a shopping moment, and it’s so delicious and easy we’ve already made it three times.

The “doing something with it” part is often its own challenge. The latest batch of chicken thighs was in the fridge, silently taunting me. There were recipes we’d cooked before, but didn’t have the ingredients for, and others we had the ingredients for, but weren’t in the mood to eat. We work from home and I was on my lunch break, and we had what we had at home. That included olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and dried herbs.

I hesitate to call something this simple a recipe—except the results are delicious and we keep making it. Basically, the marinade is olive oil and lemon juice at a 2:1 ratio, minced garlic, dried herbs, and salt and pepper. For the herbs, I used herbes de Provence, a favorite of mine. You could also use tarragon or oregano or whatever your favorite is for chicken. I used bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs because we almost always do—they’re flavorful and cook up juicy and tender. You can use the chicken parts you prefer, although chicken breasts can sometimes become dry and chewy. Ideally, marinate the chicken for two to four hours. Ours went closer to six hours and that was also good.

For us, one more test of a chicken recipe is if the chicken tastes good cold out of the fridge the next day. This was wonderful cold.

Print Pin

Lemon Garlic Roasted Chicken Thighs

A simple marinade of lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and herbes de Provence makes roasted chicken you'll happily put on repeat.

Course Main Course

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (see Kitchen Notes)
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon herbes de Provence (or herbs you prefer)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 large bone-in, skin on chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat (see Kitchen Notes)

Instructions

• Make the marinade. Mix the oil, lemon juice, garlic and and herbes de Provence in a measuring cup. Season generously with salt and pepper.
• Put the chicken thighs in a zippered plastic bag. Add the marinade, seal the bag and work the marinade around the chicken to evenly coat it. (You can also use a glass baking dish or plastic container just large enough to hold the chicken in a single layer. Don’t use a metal pan because the lemon juice will react with it.) Marinate the chicken in the fridge for at least 2 hours and up to 6 hours, turning it at least once to redistribute the marinade.
• Take the chicken from the fridge and let it warm on the counter while you preheat the oven, either to 375ºF in convection mode or 400ºF conventional.
• Place a baking rack on a rimmed baking sheet (lining the sheet with a silicone baking mat will make clean-up easier) and arrange the chicken skin side up on the rack.
• Bake the chicken for about 30 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through. Chicken should be brown with crisp skin and an instant read thermometer should register at least 165ºF when inserted into the thickest part of the thigh. Bake a little longer, if necessary.
• Transfer to a platter and serve.

Kitchen Notes

Fresh lemon juice or fresh bottled? We use both, so whichever you have on hand is fine.

Chicken parts. We like bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, but use what you prefer, including a whole cut-up chicken. Adjust the amount of marinade as needed.