This site may contain links to affiliate websites, and we receive an affiliate commission for any purchases made by you on the affiliate website using such links.
Baked, bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs are a staple in our house. Easy, with quick prep time, and delicious, we bake chicken thighs almost every week, whether we are eating a strict Keto Diet or just a clean Primal Diet.
With juicy, tender meat and crispy skin, these are definitely a family favorite.
Everyone who is a keto beginner should have a staple of super easy keto recipes in their ketogenic recipe box.
This super easy, affordable, very low carb / high fat keto recipe will become one of your keto meal mainstays.
Baked Skin-On, Bone-In Chicken Thighs are also great for making extra to have for lunches throughout the week. One-pan early in the week will provide your keto dinner that night and meal prep for another few days.
If your family loves them as much as mine, you’ll make two pans and they’ll still disappear in a matter of just a couple of days! Stacey and I both love these for lunch served simply with vegetables topped with butter. The kids take them in their lunch to school and eat them cold.
This is a foundational recipe that anyone can make. If you are just starting out cooking for yourself at home, make sure to try this recipe. It will simplify your life!
If you’re a seasoned pro, this simple recipe is a great one for your arsenal.
Buy the best quality chicken you can afford. Eating the whole thigh, skin and all, and cooking with the bone in is already an upgrade in food quality from the boneless, skinless variety. You get collagen and fat in the skin and connective tissue, along with marrow and minerals in the bones. All of these goodies add flavor and nutrition that seeps in during cooking, plus they make the meat you are eating juicier and more tender.
If you can afford organic, pasture-raised chicken, you’ll get even more flavor and nutrition. Healthier animals = healthier you. If you have a farmer’s market near you, that’s a great place to find local, naturally raised meats.
More and more conventional grocery stores are carrying at least organic meats, with some even realizing that people want high quality, pasture-raised. You might need to look toward a more specialized grocery, such as Whole Foods, Natural Grocers, or online ordering from a service like Thrive Market, Butcher Box or U.S. Wellness Meats.
Along the same line, we always use pastured butter. You can’t beat the flavor difference. The first time you open a package of pastured butter, the difference in color will amaze you. Cream from cows raised on grass is higher in omega-3 fatty acids and it contains Vitamin K2, not found in conventional butter. And you can tell by the taste, too!
We also use pink salt, which contains other trace minerals besides the sodium.
Baked Keto Chicken Thighs with Green Salad and Keto Fat Booster Caesar Salad Dressing.
And when you’re done eating, don’t throw the bones away! Save the bones for making bone broth. You can throw them in a plastic freezer bag and store them up in the freezer until you have enough to make a batch of broth. For too long, these valuable bones have been lost to us, and their vital nutrition along with them.
You can also save the cooking juices. Those cooking juices are a quick bone broth / fat bomb in and of themselves! Drink it straight, warmed in a mug, either in the morning instead of coffee or in the evening as a relaxing beverage before bed. Or keep it in a jar in your refrigerator and use it throughout the week to cook vegetables, stir into a casserole, as a base for a tasty sauce, or to make soup. Full of protein, including collagen, healthy fat and tons of flavor, it’s a shame to throw out the pan juices!
Easy Keto Chicken Thigh Recipe
Easy Baked Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 8 large bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs organic and pasture-raised, if possible
- 2 tbsp pastured butter We use Organic Valley Cultured Pasture Butter
- 2 tsp pink sea salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Have a 9” x 13” oven-save pan ready. No need to spray or grease with oil.
- Prep your butter by cutting each tablespoon into quarters that you can easily pick up. Make sure the butter is not still in the wrapper or butter dish, as you may get raw chicken on it. You don’t want raw chicken on your remaining butter!
- Always wash your hands before and after handling raw meat.
- Grab the first chicken thigh, and feel around the edge of the skin. There will be a side that is open, and you can gently pull the skin up away from the meat. No need to pull hard. Just enough to slide one prepared piece of butter under the skin so that it sits on top in the middle between the skin and the meat.
- Place the thigh skin-side up in the pan. Repeat for remaining thighs.
- Generously salt the thighs on top and bottom.
- Sprinkle with pepper, as desired.
- Place pan in oven and bake for 45 minutes, or until a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the thigh reads 165 degrees F. I like to double check one of the thighs by flipping it over and inserting a knife next to the bone. If the meat next to the bone is still pink, put it back in the oven for 5 more minutes. Check again on a different thigh.
- Once the thighs are cooked, let them rest for 5 minutes or so.
- Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition – Not laboratory tested.
A family staple and helps me stay keto. Love this recipe.
I’ve been baking chicken thighs this way for many….many years! When you keep it simple it tastes the best, and my 3 kids have never turned it down. Yum! By the way, they also love rabbit baked this way.