Easy Oven-Baked Chicken Thighs Recipe

It's hard to beat a meal that tastes great, is filling and nutritious, and that cooks all at once in the oven. When that meal is also quick and easy to prep — yet comes out looking good enough to share on social — that's just a thing of beauty. And this nourishing, comforting dressed-up take on meat and potatoes? It's all of those things. "This sheet pan dinner is so easy anyone can make it! It's very basic," says chef, food writer, and recipe developer Laura Sampson, who runs the website Little House Big Alaska. It's a great meal for feeding the family when prep time is at a premium or perfect for serving to dinner guests when you want to be able to time everything just right.

In other good news, this meal consists of ingredients you may well have on hand and can easily find at any supermarket if not. Also, along with the suitability of this recipe for decidedly novice chefs, there is no need for any special kitchen gear here. All you'll need is a cutting board, a good knife, a baking sheet, and basic measuring equipment. The main thing to watch out for here — AKA the only thing you could mess up — according to Sampson, is ensuring the pieces of chicken and potatoes are all roughly even-sized. "I think the biggest problem someone may have with this recipe is that the chicken could be overcooked," Sampson explains, "[so] it's important to choose small potatoes or cut them up if they're big."

Gather your ingredients together, including 1 pound of fingerling potatoes, 6 boneless chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 pounds), 3 tablespoons of oil (olive or avocado, ideally, but any is fine), 2 teaspoons of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper, 2 teaspoons of dried thyme or 8 to 10 sprigs with the fresh leaves removed, and 2 teaspoons of dried rosemary (or one 8 inch sprig of fresh leaves removed from the stem).

You'll be using the oil, herbs, and spices in divided portions, so if you want to save yourself time: split the oil in half now and also divide the salt, pepper, thyme, and rosemary all in half. Now it's time to get to work, which really won't take much time at all.

In fact, before you get to the hands-on prep, set your oven to 400 F to start pre-heating, because you've only got about 10 minutes total preparation time ahead!

Wash the fingerling potatoes, scrubbing with a stiff brush or clean towel until they are clean (do not peel them!), and then dry the potatoes. Now comes the critical step of cutting any big potatoes in half, or even into quarters, so that all the potatoes are about the same size and will cook evenly. 

Set the prepped potatoes into a large bowl, and then pour 1 1/2 tablespoons of the oil over the top. Toss and stir to coat. Sprinkle over 1 teaspoon each of the salt, thyme, and rosemary and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. Then toss to coat the potatoes once again, then transfer the prepped potatoes to a sheet pan and spread them evenly.

Prepare the chicken thighs by first trimming off any excess fat (as well as veins and sinew and all that sort of stuff you'd rather not serve — or eat) and then cut any larger pieces down to size as needed; it's important the thighs are all roughly equal in size so that they cook evenly. This way, no pieces will be overcooked and dried out or, worse still, undercooked and unsafe.

Put the prepared chicken in the same bowl you used for the potatoes, and then pour in the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil, plus sprinkle over the remaining 1 teaspoon each of salt, thyme, and rosemary as well as the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. Toss and stir to coat.

Tuck chicken thighs in among the potatoes on the sheet pan, being sure that everything is even. All the pieces of food should have good contact with the bottom of the pan and nothing should be stacked atop another ingredient or it won't cook evenly.

Don't overlook the optics in this step, because when you remove the sheet pan from the oven, you will have a gorgeous looking spread of food. Take the time to lay out the chicken and potatoes evenly and to lay down sprigs of rosemary atop; this last detail may be largely about looks, but they'll make the dish look great. And the extra rosemary will add some flavor and lots of aroma, too.

Once you have the potatoes and chicken all nestled evenly and topped with extra rosemary and thyme sprigs (if you had them), pop the pan into the oven on a middle rack. It will take a little more than 20 minutes to cook if your oven runs hot, and up to 30 for ovens with less power. It's a good idea to use a meat thermometer to check a couple of the pieces of chicken once you get to the 20-minute mark.

The target for the chicken is 165 F, but keep in mind, meat keeps cooking for a few minutes once removed from the heat, so if the chicken is 165 F or higher, you're all set. You can serve right off the platter, plate the dishes, transfer to another platter, or even transfer to a large serving bowl where the flavors will only mix more.