Pot-Roast Chicken Thighs

Pot-Roast Chicken Thighs

one pot, hands off, 220°C, serves 4

Ingredients

chicken thighs   8
onion            2
garlic           6 cloves
lemon            1
thyme            few sprigs
stock or wine    150ml
oil              1 tbsp
salt and pepper  to taste

Bone-in, skin-on thighs. More forgiving and tastier than breast, and no carving.
Serve straight from the pot with the juices, and bread or potatoes to mop up.

Recipe

1. Heat the oven to 220°C. Pat the skin really dry, then rub with the oil and plenty of salt. Dry skin is the whole secret to crisp.

2. Scatter the sliced onion, garlic and halved lemon in the Dutch oven and pour in the stock or wine, just a shallow layer. Sit the thighs on top, skin up and proud of the liquid.

3. Roast uncovered 40/45 minutes, until the skin is crisp and golden and the meat cooked through. No searing, the oven does it.

4. Rest a few minutes, serve from the pot with the juices.

Crispier still: salt the skin and leave it uncovered in the fridge a few hours, or overnight. The single biggest thing.
Extra crisp: rub a pinch of baking powder into the dry skin with the salt, it crisps like fried.
One-pot meal: tuck baby potatoes and carrots around the thighs.
Gravy: lift the chicken out, reduce the juices on the hob for a minute.

❄ Freezer
Freeze: the meat in its juices. The crisp skin won’t survive, but it shreds well.
Reheat: gently in the juices, or shred for wraps and bowls.
Keeps: 2/3 months frozen, 3 days in the fridge.