These Honey Garlic Lemon Pepper Chicken Thighs are an easy and flavorful weeknight dinner.
Recipe highlights
Chicken thighs make a great inexpensive dinner. They are cheaper than chicken breast and way more flavorful.
It is also more difficult to overcook chicken thighs than chicken breast so the end result is a more flavorful dish with less hassle.
This Honey Garlic Lemon Pepper Chicken Thigh yields a crispy chicken skin and juicy and tender meat.
You can pretty much customize this recipe to your liking. You can easily swap or omit ingredients according to your liking.
This recipe uses the best aromatics you can infuse in chicken; garlic and lemon.These 2 ingredients yield and incredibly delicious chicken thigh and the addition of honey and pepper compliments the dish perfectly.
Lemon pepper marinade ingredients
For this recipe we need skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs. But feel free to use chicken breast if you'd like or to remove the skin and bone from the thighs.
In this recipe we use a lot of aromatics to infuse the chicken thighs with flavor.
- Garlic: Aromatic and honestly, chicken's best friend. It diminishes the strong poultry flavor/smell.
- Lemon: In this recipe we use lemon juice, lemon pepper seasoning and lemon zest for an extra lemony zing.
- Honey: Honey allows for a balanced flavor and helps caramelized the chicken for lovely texture and flavor.
- Lemon pepper seasoning: This seasoning enhances the lemony flavor in this recipe but you can substitute it for additional lemon zest and ground pepper (fresh if possible).
- Paprika: Adds color and smokey flavor to the chicken thighs.
- Onion powder: to round up the seasoning and add another aromatic layer to the recipe.
- Garlic powder: I always use it in combination with fresh garlic for an extra punch of flavor.
Cooking Method
Season the chicken thighs well and let them marinate for at least 20 minutes.
I like to cook mine in a cast iron skillet, this way I can save the chicken drippings and use them to make my glaze.
You can sear the chicken skin before placing them in the oven to finish cooking for a crispy skin texture.
Once the chicken is cooked, use the same pan to make the honey garlic glaze.
How long to cook chicken thighs
The best answer to this question is to get a meat thermometer and check the internal temperature of your chicken to know that is fully cooked.
How long to cook a chicken thigh is going to depend on a lot of factors, the most important ones are how big your chicken thighs are and what cooking method you are using.
Times and cooking temperatures vary significantly, so a food thermometer is your best bet to get a precise cooking time.
Using a meat thermometer ensures that your chicken is cooked to perfection. The ideal meat temperature for chicken is 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
If you like this Honey Garlic Lemon Pepper Chicken Thighs, you will love this garlic shrimp recipe.
Serving suggestions
This recipe is perfect with pretty much any starchy vegetable or salad.
I love serving these juicy chicken thighs with some rice, mashed potatoes or this delicious cheesy cauliflower.
Reheating, freezing and storing
Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Reserve some of the glaze in a separate container so you can use it to reheat the chicken over the stove top.
If you want to crisp up the skin after the chicken has been refrigerated, use the air fryer to reheat the chicken covered at 350 Fahrenheit for 10 minutes and uncovered for 2-3 minutes.
This chicken freezes well. Defrost in the fridge and reheat over the stove top.
Recipe notes
You can cook these in a skillet over the stove top or in the oven. I like using the stove top to get the skin crispy and finishing the dish in the oven for a tender, fall-off-the-bone chicken.
If you don't have an oven-safe skillet, you can transfer the thighs to a baking tray to finish cooking.
I like reserving the juices in which the chicken was cooked to make the honey glaze.
If your chicken doesn't yield too many drippings or you forgot to save them, use a little bit of chicken stock (2 tablespoons) in the sauce.
Honey Garlic Lemon Pepper Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 4 Chicken Thighs
- 4 Garlic cloves minced, Divided.
- ½ teaspoon Smoked paprika Trader Joe's is my favorite brand
- 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Lemon pepper seasoning or extra lemon zest and freshly ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon Onion powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 4 Tablespoons Honey Divided
- 2 Lemons Juice and Zest (one lemon for garnish)
- 2 Tablespoons Soy sauce
- 2 Tablespoons Vegetable oil
- Parsley For garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit.
- In a bowl mix the oil, 2 cloves of minced garlic, 2 tablespoons of honey, ½ of a lemon juice, lemon zest, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and lemon pepper seasoning.4 Garlic cloves, 4 Tablespoons Honey, 2 Lemons, ½ teaspoon Smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon Garlic powder, 1 teaspoon Lemon pepper seasoning, 1 teaspoon Onion powder, 1 teaspoon Salt
- Mix the seasonings well until you form a paste.
- Rub the chicken thighs with the paste, making sure to get under the skin of the chicken.4 Chicken Thighs
- Marinate for at least 20 minutes and up to 2 hours.
- Heat a cast iron skillet or an oven-safe cooking skillet on medium high heat and place the chicken thighs skin side down. Brown for 1 to 2 minutes until a golden crust is formed.
- Place the chicken in the oven and cook the chicken thighs until internal temperature reaches 165 Fahrenheit for about 30 minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside.
- In the skillet you cooked the chicken, add the rest of the minced garlic (2 cloves), honey (2 tablespoons) and soy sauce. Cook on medium heat until the sauce starts to thicken for about 4-5 minutes.
- Place the cooked chicken back in the sauce, add the juice of half a lemon and remove from heat.
- Coat the chicken with the glaze using a spoon, add lemon wedges and garnish with parsley.
- Serve with mashed potatoes, rice or a salad.
Alexa
Was not thrilled with this recipe, to be honest. I find lemon juice gets bitter when cooked for that long and you'll never get a good sear with so much liquid. I'd brine the chicken ahead of time to keep it juicy, dry it off, dry rub with seasoning, and sear. Then flip, add chicken broth, and then finally add the lemon juice and honey at the end. You get a much fresher taste.
CFinnegan
I must’ve missed something- I didn’t get a paste - the marinade was very watery. I used one lemon. Also I didn’t know if I was supposed to cook with the lid on or off
Isabel
Sorry it didn't turn out how you expected. Letting the pan sauce reduce is key to making it less watery. I will post a video on this recipe soon and I hope you give it another try.