Cold Pan Chicken Thighs

Starting the chicken skin side down in a cold skillet lets the fat render slowly and results in the crispiest skin imaginable, you just have to try this to see. This technique can be used for chicken breasts and other meats also.

Chicken thighs are cheap, more flavorful than their popular cousin the breast, and have the perfect ratio of juicy meat to crunchy, golden skin. Seriously overcooking them would take many hours and possibly a blow torch.

Make sure to buy skin on, bone in thighs. Cooking proteins with the bone in is a tried and true trick to real flavor.

Ingredients

4 bone in, skin on chicken thighs
1 T kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Directions:

Set out the chicken thighs to come to room temperature. (about 30 mins) Pat them dry with paper towels.

Place a rack in top third of oven; preheat to 325º.

Pull back the skin and season the meat underneath with salt. Leave skin attached so that you can carefully stretch the skin back to cover the meat. With the point of a sharp knife make a couple of small slits into the skin. Spray the skin lightly with cooking spray.

We start this over absolutely no heat at all. The reason is that if you allow the chicken skin to slowly render as the pan comes up to temperature, then you’ll end up with the finest crisp skin instead of a floppy, flabby mess.

Lay each thigh, skin side down in a large, dry cold skillet. Place pan over medium high heat and let chicken cook, undisturbed for 8–11 minutes.

While that browns, line a baking pan with foil and spray lightly.

Try to resist your urge to peek and let time do its thing. As long as you keep the heat moderate then you won’t risk burning anything. And when you do start to pull up a corner, know that it wont budge until it’s good and ready. If the skin is threatening to tear, give it a few more minutes and then try again.

Fair warning: this can splatter a slight bit. You do NOT cover the chicken as it cooks. That would create steam and turn that nice crisp skin into a floppy, soggy mess. But honestly, your stove top could use a wipe down anyway, right?

Transfer thighs, beautiful skin side up, to a foil lined baking pan.

Roast until chicken thighs are cooked through (an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part near the bone should register 170°), juices run clear, about 25 minutes.

Carefully remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes. If this goes longer than expected and the nice skin starts to wrinkle, just pop it back in the oven for a few minutes to stretch it back.

While the chicken roasts, it gives a good time to do a side dish! Here we did a chicken flavored rice on the stove top.

Serve with a nice green vegetable. I like to do that in the microwave WHILE the chicken rests, a great way to time things out.

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