Oven Baked Chicken Thighs
Oven Baked Chicken Thighs Recipe – It’s usually pretty hard for me to get super excited over a chicken dish. But, this Oven baked Chicken Thighs recipe is moist, succulent and delicious beyond words.
Your Family Will Love This Oven Baked Chicken Thighs Recipe
This recipe for Oven Baked Chicken Thighs is a huge hit with our family. The chicken is super easy to prepare and can be baked while preparing a side dinner salad or some of our grain free biscuits.
Plus, my grandfather says it’s the best chicken thigh recipe he has ever had! And that tells me, it must be especially delicious.
How to Make the Best Oven Baked Chicken Thighs
Allowing the chicken thighs to marinate for at least 8 hours in the sauce is definitely one of the secrets to the recipe. Of course, if you don’t have the time – I understand. But, if you want the chicken thighs to be perfectly moist, prepare this casserole dish in the morning and bake it right before dinner.
Secondly, the San Marzano tomatoes is every bit as important.
Choosing the Perfectly Tomatoes: San Marzano Tomatoes
What’s the deal with San Marzano tomatoes? They are the most famous plum tomato to come out of Italy and considered by many cooks to be the best tomatoes to use in a sauce.
San Marzano tomatoes have a mild sweet flavor and low acidity and they are coveted for their firm pulp, deep red color, easy to remove skin and low seed count. All of these qualities play a very important role in the oven baked chicken thighs recipe below. I would definitely suggest that you not substitute any old canned tomato!
But believe it or not, all canned San Marzano tomatoes are not created equal. Although Cook’s Illustrated would disagree, I personally prefer Cento brand’s organic San Marzano tomatoes. It is not easy to find the organic variety at the supermarket, but if you use them as much as I do then you can order a pack of 6 from here.
The Finishing Touch for Oven Baked Chicken Thighs
Don’t leave off the finishing touches! Adding either fresh oregano or fresh basil and a few pinches of crushed red pepper are not just afterthoughts.
These seasonings contribute just the right flavor to your oven baked chicken thighs casserole dish.
What to Pair with Oven Baked Chicken Thighs
It’s easy to make a dish like this one in a 1 dish casserole. Here are some of my favorite things to pair with this dish:
- An easy Dinner Side Salad This is a great recipe to make your own using 7 simple steps.
- Grain Free Biscuits Add a little bit of honey on top for a bit of sweetness
- A simple Pureed Vegetable Soup Loaded with flavor, this soup would be a perfect side dish to this chicken dish
- Apple Pie Parfaits Or maybe skip the side dish all together and add this delightful parfait.
Kitchen Favorites
Oven Baked Chicken Thighs
Oven Baked Chicken Thighs are moist, succulent & delicious beyond words. This Oven Baked Chicken with San Marzano tomatoes is the BEST!
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons
- 1 large Spanish onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 8 cloves garlic, crushed
- Unrefined sea salt, to taste
- 1 can – 28-ounces whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes
- 1/4 cup full-bodied red wine
- 1 1/2 pounds pasture-raised skinless chicken thighs
- 1/4 cup fresh oregano or basil, chopped
- Crushed red pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high; add the onions, carrots and garlic, season with salt and saute until vegetables are soft, about 7 or 8 minutes. Add in the tomatoes and wine and season with a bit more salt. Bring liquid to a boil and then lower heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and set the sauce aside to cool.
- Once the sauce is at room temperature, add the chicken thighs. Cover and marinate the chicken in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Transfer the sauce and chicken to a large baking dish and season with a bit more salt. Cover with foil and bake for 50 minutes. Remove chicken from oven, sprinkle the oregano or basil on top and add a few pinches of crushed red pepper. Serve warm.
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More Healthy Chicken Recipes:
I will be honest, chicken is not exciting. So, you can guarantee yourself that when we do use chicken breasts or chicken thighs in recipes, they are going to be delicious. Otherwise, we’d rather make a delicious fish or shrimp recipe instead.
- We love Kabobs and this Chicken Teriyaki Kabob Recipe using our homemade Teriyaki Sauce is to die for.
- BEST Oven Fried Chicken Recipe: If you love Chickfila chicken, then you must try this recipe. We use one of their secrets to make this delicious dish.
- White Chicken Chili Recipe
Want More Healthy Dinner Recipes?
If you liked the Oven Baked Chicken recipe, be sure to check out a full month’s menu of delicious healthy dinner recipes (including weekly shopping lists!) in our Clean Cuisine Dinners digital cookbook.
Made this recipe last night with enough for some leftovers this evening. Very easy to make and had wonderful flavor. Only had boneless chicken breasts on hand. They were very juicy and tender. Will be making this again soon. Thank you for sharing
Oh Kathie, This is so wonderful to hear. Thank you so much for the lovely comment about our Oven Baked Chicken. Enjoy your leftovers!
This was fabulous! Easy to make and great flavor! I have not made a recipe from your site or cookbook that my husband & I have not loved. Thank you so much for all you do!
Awww, thank you SO much for that Sue!! I can’t tell you how much it means to me to know you like the recipes so much. I really appreciate you taking the time to let me know =)
WOW!! Sooooo good. Really easy to make and tons of flavor. I doubled the recipe so that we would have lots of leftovers. Will definitely be making this again.
Yaaay!! So so happy to hear you like it Kara =) And I can’t thank you enough for sharing on Facebook + Instagram too. You are the best!! xoxox
Do you add the tomatoes whole to the vegetables? Or will you squeeze them a bit by hand?
Great question Rob! I actually do squeeze them just a bit by hand first. I should add that to the recipe and be more specific…
I have the sauce going now in order to marinade it overnight and it smells amazing!
Oh good!! So happy to know you are making it. And yes, it does smell amazing! Such simple ingredients too 😉
i made this for dinner and it was absolutely delicious
I am thrilled to know you liked it Ann!! Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know 😉
Made it last night. Tons of flavor and the whole tomatoes made it seem more filling. I made enough for two meals so we’ll have some more tomorrow. Healthy and great on some black (forbidden) rice.
Oh GOOD! So so happy you liked it Jim, thank you for letting me know =)
Wow that looks yummy and simple to make. Will give it a try.
Thanks for the recipe.
Def want to make this….question, can you use white meat?
Hi Judi, Yes! You could definitely use boneless, skinless chicken breasts if you’d like =)