This recipe for crispy chicken thighs with honey-garlic glaze is a total keeper. Not only does it have all the magic of crispy chicken thighs (who doesn’t love that salty, crispy skin?), but also the deliciousness of honey and garlic that both glaze the chicken and make a great pan sauce. I like to serve these with either smashed potatoes or rice, so that you have something to mop up the sauce. Carrots go particularly well with this recipe as a side vegetable since they pair so well with honey.
This recipe serves 2 or 4 depending on the size of the chicken thighs and whether you want to serve 1 or 2 thighs per person. If you double the recipe, do so both for the chicken and the sauce ingredients.
Ingredients
1 head of garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1/4 cup honey
4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
salt & pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
3 scallions, thinly sliced, with green and white slices in separate bowls
3 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
flaky sea salt for garnish
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Cut the top off of the head of garlic, cutting through the top ends of the cloves to expose them fully. Place on a sheet of foil, drizzle with 1 Tbsp of the olive oil, and wrap tightly to completely enclose the head of garlic. Place in the oven and cook for 30 minutes. Unwrap, allow to cool slightly, and squeeze the roasted garlic cloves into a bowl. Mash with a fork, and mix in the honey until well blended. Here’s what it should look like coming out of the oven:
While the garlic is roasting, pat the chicken thighs dry and season generously with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat a skillet large enough to hold the chicken pieces over medium heat. When hot, add the remaining Tbsp of olive oil. Add the chicken pieces, skin side down and cook for 5 minutes to render some of the fat. Turn up to medium-high (but not so hot that the chicken skin burns) and cook until brown and crisp, about 10 minutes. Flip the chicken over, sprinkle with the white sliced scallions (reserve the green for garnish), and turn off the heat.
Spread a thin layer of the garlic-honey mixture on the skin side of each thigh (you should use a bit less than half of the garlic-honey mixture; the rest is for the pan sauce). Put the pan with the chicken in the 425 F oven (uncovered), and cook until chicken hits 165 degrees in the middle, about 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, and move the thighs to a clean surface.
Put the pan back on the stove on medium heat, and add the butter. When melted and foamy, add the remaining garlic-honey mixture and the white wine vinegar. Mix well, and adjust salt and pepper if needed. You don’t need to simmer or thicken the sauce unless you’d like to.
Plate the chicken, spoon sauce over the top, sprinkle with flaky sea salt and the scallion greens, then serve.
Bon appétit!
Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe. Earned major points with the hubby. Absolutley delicious.