Recipe: Roasted Chicken Thighs with Fennel & Lemon (2024)

FAQs

How to make chicken thighs taste better? ›

Spices like smoked paprika, cumin, coriander, cayenne, and thyme will make the most flavorful spice rub for your chicken, so make sure to always have your pantry stocked with some spices. Preheat a cast iron or non-stick pan over medium-high heat for 2 minutes with 1 tablespoon of oil.

When it comes to flavour matches, with fennel you're spoilt for choice. Thanks to its subtle aniseed taste, it's so good with seafood – whether that's stuffed into whole fish, shaved into an accompanying side salad, or tossed through a pasta dish. But it's also delicious with chicken or pork, particularly sausages.

Don't Cover the Chicken.

When baking chicken thighs with the skin on, you're trying to achieve crispy chicken thighs in the oven. Therefore, leaving them uncovered ensures a crispy skin that turns perfectly golden.

I recommend baking the chicken thighs at 400 degrees for less time to ensure the chicken thighs stay nice and juicy, vs baking for longer at 350 degrees and running the risk of drying them out.

One cook will say they baked a chicken; another will use the same temperature and technique but say they roasted a chicken. A good guideline is that baking savory foods typically involves a lower temperature—375 degrees and below. Roasting them refers to dishes cooked at 400 degrees and above.

Pat the chicken thighs dry with paper towels and allow to come to room temperature (about 20 minutes). Spray with the EVOO cooking spray and season with salt and pepper. Bake until the skin is golden brown and crispy, 25 to 30 minutes, and a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part reads 165 °F.

Unlike chicken breasts, chicken thighs and drumsticks actually become more tender the longer they cook. That's because of their makeup. Dark meat has an abundant amount of connective tissue, which dissolves into gelatin as the meat cooks, rendering it juicy and tender.

In order to get crispy wings without frying, you need to dry out the skin. That's where a coating of baking powder and salt comes in. The baking powder and salt help break down the proteins in the skin, draw moisture to the surface, and also aid in browning.

Starting the chicken in a cold pan allows the fat in the skin to render out slowly, which prevents it from burning. You don't need any cooking oil, and by using the chicken's own fat to cook, you will have maximum flavor without any greasiness or bits of rubbery chicken fat that haven't been fully rendered.

Who should not use fennel? ›

Some studies have found that fennel has an estrogenic effect, which means that it mimics the effects of estrogen. Pregnant and breast-feeding women should not drink fennel tea. People with cancers that are sensitive to estrogen should also avoid the use of fennel.

Improved digestion.

In many parts of the world, it's common to eat a little bit of fennel after a meal to aid with digestion and relieve gassiness. Fennel has been shown to help with digestion by reducing inflammation in the bowels and decreasing bacteria that cause gassiness.

Can fennel seeds cause constipation? Fennel seeds are unlikely to cause constipation. In fact, they are often used to relieve digestive issues, including constipation, as they can help promote bowel movement and ease digestion.

Just sprinkling a little salt on top of your chicken right before cooking it will only season the surface. But seasoning the chicken with salt well ahead of time or brining it in a salt-water solution will draw salt deep into the meat, resulting in a very tasty piece of chicken.

Add a touch of spice to your chicken breast by combining paprika, cinnamon, turmeric, cumin, ginger, garlic and olive oil to create a paste. Then cover your chicken breast with the paste and pat down to secure.