i am a food blog

Because I’m all about those thighs, ’bout those thighs, ’bout those thighs.

I absolutely love chicken thighs. Well, to be honest, I love chicken in general, but if I had to choose a favorite part, it’d be thighs, hands down. Thighs are perfect for those nights when you just want to get a quick meal on the table without the fuss of worrying about whether or not your chicken breast is going to get overcooked and dry.

The other day, while wandering the aisles at the grocery store, I asked Mike, “why do people love chicken breasts so much – it’s SO expensive?!” For some weird reason I thought that people liked it as a sort of status symbol sort of thing: like check it out, I’m eating chicken breast because I can afford it. But no, Mike cleared it up for me: chicken breast is expensive because people like it.

True story: when I was a kid my mom tried to convince me that chicken breast was the best part of a chicken to eat. To think, for years I believed her! Now, she doesn’t even let my nephew touch chicken breast because it’s “too dry.” It’s true, chicken breast can be dry, but when it’s cooked well, I like it. But, you know what? I like breasts, but I LOVE thighs. I guess I’m just a legs girl.

What’s not to love about chicken thighs: they’re inexpensive, hard to overcook, and delicious. This oven-baked take on sesame chicken is an awesome way to highlight thighs. All you have to do is whisk together the marinade ingredients, pour it on, and bake it. Give it a brush halfway between the cooking time and you’ll get crispy skinned, juicy, super flavorful chicken. Done and done!

Take out at home: Easy Oven-Baked Sesame Chicken Thighs
serves 4-6
prep time: 10 minutes
cook time: 30-40 minutes
total time: 40 minutes

• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 inch fresh ginger, minced
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar (or white vinegar)
• freshly ground pepper
• 6-8 bone-in, skin on small chicken thighs
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• toasted sesame seeds
• sliced green onions

Notes: It’s important to use the right size pan for this recipe – the chicken thighs should be snug and touching each other, so that the thighs are sitting in a small pool of marinade. If you have the time, marinate the thighs overnight, flipping and ensuring that the marinade touches all parts of the chicken. Also essential is the kind of soy sauce you use. You want to be using dark Chinese soy sauce – light or regular soy sauce just won’t have as much color. This is the brand soy sauce I use: it’s very dark and quite different from generic soy sauce. One last thing: to start, there isn’t a lot of marinade, but as the chicken bakes, the fat from the thighs will render out, making the “sauce” much more liquid, and easier to brush on.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Place the chicken, skin side up in a snug oven safe baking dish (feel free to line your dish with foil for easy clean up).

In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, whisk together the garlic, ginger, honey, soy sauce and rice vinegar. Pour the marinade on the chicken and make sure that each piece is coated. Season with freshly ground pepper.

Bake until the thighs are browned and cooked through, 30-40 minutes, based on size. Half way through, rotate the baking dish and brush the skin with the sauce in the pan. When crispy and cooked through, remove from the oven. If you’re looking to get an extra bit of browning, turn on the broiler, move the tray of chicken to the top rack and broil for a couple of minutes, being sure to keep an eye on it as the marinade can burn. When ready to eat, drizzle on the sesame oil and a generous sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds. Garnish with green onions if desired and enjoy hot!

Pictured in this post: enamel baking dish // glass measuring cup // plate (similar)
PS – Give this Slate article on why American’s prefer white meat over dark a read – it’s really interesting.

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