Recipe: Easy Roasted Italian Herb Chicken Thighs, Nut-Free, Gluten-Free

As part of the Epicurious #cook90 experience back in January, you can read more about it here, I challenged myself to use more herbs and spices, fresh and dried, in my dishes. And make chicken more often. (Eww, raw chicken, not my fave to handle and after 17 years of being a vegetarian, I just hadn’t cooked that much meat at home. I have totally changed that recently though.) My new Italian herb mix was born of that January #cook90 month and I’ve found it indispensable from chicken to herbed potatoes, it’s very versatile. 

And... the mix for these chicken thighs was total game changer, and so easy I can’t even! For this year’s Passover menu, I featured these thighs with this herb mix and it was the hit of my Passover menu – everyone wanted to know the recipe, these thighs are that good.

A few recipe notes.
I use Bell & Evans air chilled chicken thighs. 
I use Lucini evoo, it’s single source. Love them. 
I use Morton’s Kosher salt, coarse grain. 
I make my own herb mix, here’s my recipe: 2 teaspoons each of dried thyme, basil and oregano

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Recipe: Easy Roasted Italian Herb Chicken Thighs, Nut-Free, Gluten-Free

Serves 2- 4

4 chicken thighs (about 1.5 pounds)
Kosher salt
Herb mix
EVOO

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare baking sheet with foil or parchment. Sprinkle some evoo on the sheet pan. Pat the chicken thighs dry with paper towels and sprinkle Italian seasoning over all sides (front and back, top and bottom). Sprinkle Kosher salt on all sides, too. No precise measurements here, just pinches of herbs and salt until the thighs are all covered. 

Place the thighs skin side up on oiled tray and place on the middle rack in the hot oven. Cook between 45-55 minutes or until golden brown and sizzling, juices run clear and internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. NOTE: at 35 minutes, liberally baste the chicken skin with the pan juices (and fat). Within the next ten minutes they will get even more golden, and gorgeous.

Delicious over rice, steamed greens and a green salad like above or ahem, oven french fries recipe by Smitten Kitchen.