The other week while my mom was visiting, she surprised me with one of my favorite meals after work. It’s rare that someone else cooks for me unless I’m at my parent’s house, so it was a real treat. We had bought chicken thighs at the store so she made my grandma’s fried chicken and it was delicious. It was one of the best things I’ve had in a while – I couldn’t stop raving about them and craved that salty, crispy, and juicy chicken for days after.
To me, chicken thighs are the best part of a chicken. They’re hard to over cook, they stay so incredibly juicy, and they have so much flavor. It’s really hard to mess them up. Since I had a freezer full of chicken thighs, I took a couple out one night and decided to crisp them up and make a pan sauce to go over them. I have been making a recipe from Two Dudes, One Pan* for chicken thighs for a while and decided to switch it up a little by giving the sauce more of a gravy consistency and only using thyme, since that’s one of my favorite herbs.
This is a great recipe for a crowd since you can fry the chicken in batches and finish it off in the oven while you make the pan sauce. Grits, potatoes, or fresh vegetables would all be great along side this, but keep it simple because the chicken and the sauce have so much flavor already.
Crispy Chicken Thighs with Caramelized Shallots and Thyme
(Adapted from Two Dudes, One Pan*)
4 bone-in chicken thighs
Salt and pepper
Oil
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
3/4 cup white wine
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 tsps chopped thyme
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken thighs. Pour enough oil into the bottom of a skillet to coat it and heat over medium high. Add the chicken thighs, skin side down and cook for 8 minutes or until brown and crispy. Flip them and cook for another 8 minutes on the other side. Remove from the pan and place on a baking sheet and finish cooking them in the oven for about 10 minutes or until fully cooked through.
Meanwhile, remove all of the oil but about 1 tablespoon. Add the shallots and cook for about 4-5 minutes or until softened and slightly browned. Add the white wine and water and stir until thickened, about 5 minutes. Add the heavy cream and chopped thyme and continue to cook until thickened so it can coat the back of the spoon. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon the sauce over the chicken thighs and serve. *Contains affiliate link. See here for more information.
That looks amazing! Such a simple but fancy meal. 🙂
Thanks, June!! 🙂
Yum! Can’t wait to try this!
Thank you!! Hope you love it!
Really delicious! Pinned!
Thank you, Nicky!!