An easy baked keto chicken thighs recipe that uses a trick from Cooks Illustrated to get the bone in chicken thigh skin nice and crispy! You will be making this low carb chicken thigh recipe over and over again!
These Keto Crispy Chicken Thighs are so easy to make and with no dirty skillet or grease splattered all over your kitchen! They are a frequent weeknight meal in my house because everyone loves baked chicken thighs and it is definitely kid friendly. They are the perfect low carb chicken dinner…and so much easier than pan frying!
COOKING FROZEN CHICKEN THIGHS
These crispy chicken thighs are definitely budget friendly. I bought a 4 lb bag of frozen chicken thighs at the grocery store for $4.98. That was cheaper than the fresh chicken thighs
I also like to buy frozen chicken thighs so I don’t have to cook them right away if I change my mind on what I want to make for dinner.
Before following this recipe, you will want to thaw your chicken thighs using a safe method such as leaving them in an air tight container over night.
MY METHOD FOR CRISPY CHICKEN THIGHS
The method I used to accomplish these crispy chicken thighs (and I mean super crispy!) is to shake them with baking powder and my seasonings in a bag before they are baked. This method makes the skin so crispy! I’ve cooked chicken thighs in cast iron, I’ve grilled them, and I’ve baked them in the oven with just salt and pepper, and they have never come out this crispy!
Preheat the oven to 250F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and spray a wire rack with cooking spray. lay out the chicken thighs on the wire rack skin side up and place inside the baking sheet. Dry the chicken thoroughly with paper towels.
Bake the chicken in the center of the oven for 30 minutes. Increase the heat of the oven to 425F and move the oven rack up one spot then bake for an additional 25-30 minutes or until brown and crispy. Chicken is cooked through when an internal temperature of 165F is reached.
When I pulled these crispy keto chicken thighs out of the oven I was so excited!
I also use this method to make my Garlic Parmesan Chicken Wings.
“NO MESS” KETO CHICKEN THIGHS
To make these low carb chicken thighs “no mess” you need to line your sheet pan with foil, then just throw the mess away! I figure the water and soap and scrubbing used to clean the nasty pan more than makes up for the cost of the foil. The only things left to clean up is the wire rack, but we spray it with cooking spray so it should clean right up!
I have used this same method to make super crispy skin chicken legs and they were amazing as well!
I love to cook with chicken thighs! Here are some other keto chicken thighs recipes that you should check out: Roasted Butternut Squash with Chicken Thighs, Low Carb Chicken Noodle Soup and Chicken Cauliflower Fried Rice Casserole
⭐ Did you make this baked keto chicken thighs recipe? I want to see! Tag me on Instagram @lowcarbwithjennifer
Crispy Keto Chicken Thighs Recipe
INGREDIENTS
- 8 Large Bone in, Skin on Chicken thighs
- 2 tbsp baking powder (not baking soda!)
- 1/2 tbsp Kosher Salt
- 1 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 tsp Oregano
- 1/2 tsp Onion Powder
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 250F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and spray a wire rack with cooking spray. lay out the chicken thighs on the wire rack skin side up and place inside the baking sheet. Dry the chicken thoroughly with paper towels.
- Place the chicken in a bag or a bowl with a lid and toss the chicken in the baking powder and spices and then put the chicken back on the rack.
- Bake the chicken in the center of the oven for 30 minutes. Increase the heat of the oven to 425F and move the oven rack up one spot then bake for an additional 25-30 minutes or until brown and crispy. Chicken is cooked through when an internal temperature of 165F is reached.
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
JENNIFER'S TIPS
- The baking powder is essential to making these chicken thighs extra crispy. I like to make sure it is distributed evenly by shaking the chicken with the baking powder and seasonings in a bag or a large bowl with a lid.
- I have made this recipe with frozen and fresh chicken thighs. The frozen chicken thighs are more wet before cooking than fresh but they yield the same crispy results.
- I have also used this recipe to make crispy chicken legs. They were just as amazing! Just make sure you keep an eye on them in the final cook because they can cook a little quicker than the thighs.
Andrea says
I made these in my Air Fryer! SO delicious! Had to make in 2 batches 4 at a time. They came out perfect! 400 degrees 20 minutes! Excellent!
April says
Andrea, I just got my Air Fryer as an early Christmas gift. I’m SO going to try your suggestion!! Thanks for posting!!
Lori says
WOW WOW WOW WOW!!! This recipe was amazing. I’ll never go back to regular fried chicken. The flavors were mouth watering. My husband gave it an A+ and hes very picky about his fried chicken. It was easy as well. I feel now I’ve perfected the fried chicken issue Ive had. Thank you for sharing this. I will be making this weekly.
Lori D says
WOW WOW WOW WOW!!! This recipe was amazing. I’ll never go back to regular fried chicken. The flavors were mouth watering. My husband gave it an A+ and hes very picky about his fried chicken. It was easy as well. I feel now I’ve perfected the fried chicken issue Ive had. Thank you for sharing this. I will be making this weekly.
June says
Made these tonight! OMG perfect in every way. Crispy like you said. I told my husband to eat the skin and he wouldn’t (old school, no skin). So I ate his since I am doing Keto. Just delicious. I will be making this again and again. Even though I used a rack my chicken on the bottom wasn’t crispy. Do you have any advice about this. Made lots of juice in the pan which I also like. Thanks again
.
Michelle says
This recipe is delicious!! My son told me it was the best chicken he’d ever ate!
Barbara says
1/2 tablespoon of salt? All we tasted was the salt
jenniferbanz says
Did you use kosher salt? 1/2 tablespoon of kosher salt for 4 pounds of chicken thighs is pretty standard. 4 pounds of chicken thighs would be about 8 thighs.
Jody says
Nani, did you increase the temp in the oven after the first 30 minutes? It goes a second half hour but at 425 degrees. Should work brilliantly. I did let mine go a little longer because I was waiting for another dish to cook.
Martha says
Love this recipe, crispy perfect every time! Using baking Powder on buffalo or hot wings works well too!
Jody says
I made this last night and my family LOVED the chicken thighs. My son said several times how much it tasted like KFC. LOL I will definitely be making this again – even for the simple fact that I’m not eating meat protein for two weeks and missed out on it. Thanks for the recipe!
Diann says
This was a great recipe. I had two lbs of chicken and I tweaked the recipe accordingly. I didn’t have smoked paprika (out), so I used regular and the liquid smoke tip. I had another casserole in so I couldn’t do the temps the same, so I did 350 until temp, and we loved it. It takes a little longer to cook that way, but it was fine. Love this recipe!
Nyoka says
I’m wanting to make this with leg quarters. I’ll probably have to play with the baking time but I’m excited to make it. My mom use to pretty much make the same thing but with cornstarch instead of baking powder. I didn’t know baking powder would crisp up. Thanks for the tip!
Peter says
Are you using a conventional oven or a convection type?? Does affect temperature setting.
I made this dish and everyone loved it.
I think that I would use parchment paper versus foil next time. The other thing that I should have done is remove the chicken when increasing the oven temp t0 425. I left the chicken in the oven and found that I had to shorten the final bake time to prevent burning.
Elisa says
Can I use skinless thighs? Do you think it will crisp up at all? And if I make it in the morning, how would you suggest I warm it up at night?
jenniferbanz says
I would not use this recipe for skinless thighs
Meg says
Umm…. this was amazing. I can’t beleive that I was able to do this! Usually all my Pinterest recipes fail, but this was SO FREAKING GOOD. Perfectly cooked. Perfectly tasty. I’m so excited! Thank you!
Lori McBride says
It was easy and so delicious
Patty Scott says
This was SOOO good. We just had it tonight with a side of crockpot macaroni and cheese and salad. The one change I made was to pour a dash of liquid smoke into my hand and rub it on each thigh before putting it into the seasoning bag. The flavors in this sing and it was so good my whole family complimented it the whole meal through. Not just another Pinterest chicken recipe.
Cathy Moody says
Adding this to my repertoire!! Thanks!!
Valerie J Patterson says
What is the nutritional information? Carbs?
jenniferbanz says
It’s just chicken and some spices so I would say max 1 carb per piece
Lisa K Cowan says
Thank you for this fabulous recipe . I used it last night for bone in, skinless chicken thighs. I used 1 Tbsp of baking powder and they turned out great. So good in fact. I am using this recipe tonight using skin on bone in chiken breast. I am going to check the temp in the second stage of baking. This recipe is a keeper thank you Jennifer.
Nani says
Ah sounded good but did not work form! After 30 min at 250 chicken looked pretty raw. 30 minutes at 30 min uncooked and dried out.
Sarah says
No mess In the kitchen, grease disaster in the oven. But DELICIOUS – so, worth it.
Kat says
My family raved about this delicious chicken recipe. It was crispy and tasty! My son asked what the secret recipe was! ?
Ashleigh says
I meal prep alot so always finding new and different ways to cook with chicken. Was a bit hesistant on how it was going to turn out. But it turned out amazing, juicy and crispy!
Thanks!
K Smith says
So good and easy. I skipped the step of lining the pan with foil tho and nearly had a fire from all the grease in my gas stove! So don’t skip the foil ha ha and I may need to figure out what else to do so it doesn’t happen next time. Slightly reduced the baking powder due to the reviews and skin was perfectly flavored and crispy – thanks!
Byenia says
Made this recipe last night and loved it! Super crispy skins! 🙂 Used slightly less baking powder since I had only 3.6 lbs. of meat to season, and I did wind up needing to cook the chicken in the oven at 425 degrees for an extra 16 minutes in order for it to cook fully through, but otherwise didn’t change a thing. Will definitely save and share this recipe. Thanks!
Courtney says
YOU ARE A FREAKING GENIUS!!!! I have been searching for a skin-on chicken thigh recipe like this forever. Tried multiple other recipes, and the skin is still rubbery and soggy. Not this one. It cracked when I cut into it. The skin was perfectly crispy, the chicken was juicy, and the flavor was spot on. I can’t thank you enough for this recipe. We will be using this same technique for thighs, wings and drumsticks for the rest of my life.
Ahava says
Amazing ! So crispy and moist and delicious- my husband said best chicken he ever had ! And my kids loved as well –
Thank you!
Gigi says
Hi there! I‘d love to make this recipe tonight – I am in Germany by the way, so mind the time difference 🙂 – and was wondering whether you defrosted the chicken thighs overnight first or just marinated the frozen thighs and popped them into the oven frozen? If it’s the latter, what would the cooking time be? Thanks a lot!:)
jenniferbanz says
They should defrosted
Yvonne says
I’m trying this again , but with chicken legs. This is the best recipe. The chicken was delicious. Doing keto you miss that fried chicken crisp taste. Loved the recipe!
Lisa says
I made these with Cajun seasoning and dipped them in a mixture of 1/2 Franks and 1/2 butter. Yummmy. You have made my buffalo wing dreams come true. More meat!
jenniferbanz says
Sounds amazing!
Doug says
This recipe is amazing. I honestly didn’t think it was going to work as advertised, sorry for my cynical nature, but I was definitely proven very happily wrong. You definitely have talent Jennifer. Thank you very much for this wonderful site.
Sincerely
Doug
Krissy says
Sooooooooo good. Did not taste any baking soda. My hubby said it was better than kfc ? and my toddler liked it. Thanks for the recipe!
jenniferbanz says
Now that’s a compliment! So glad you liked them!
DownSouthDiva says
These were Amazing! The people complaining about tasting baking powder had to have used too much…I’ve put these in my weekly menu rotation. I don’t even like thighs but since I’m doing Keto these were the better choice. With this recipe I look forward to chicken thighs. Thanks for sharing!
jenniferbanz says
Yay! So glad to hear that!
Gina says
I cook my chicken like this all the time. I have been doing it long before I read this post but wanted to say that if you season well, you won’t taste the baking powder. Also, Morton’s Season All tastes just like Shake-n-Bake seasoning. Like, seriously. It’s also good on pan fried pork chops.
Kim says
Made this tonight and OmG it is so yummy!! Definitely a keeper!
Jenny C says
I made these tonight, the thighs looked beautiful. Mine tasted to much like baking powder, then I realized your only supposed to use 2 tbsp. Make sure you read the recipe all the way down to bottom. I didn’t see the full recipe until after I reread it.
I actually used baking powder as if was flour. That is a no no. Lol
Shelly says
If cooking from frozen would you cook longer?
jenniferbanz says
You would definitely need to cook them longer. I’m not sure cooking from frozen would work as well though.
Pollie says
This did not work at all. I followed the recipe exactly and all you could taste was the baking powder. My daughter had no idea how I made it and she actually asked me if there was some kind of powder on it. It wasn’t edible.
Mir says
There was a comment above that said they didn’t read the recipe and used it like it was flour, but it was supposed to only be 2 tablespoons… sounds like you did the same thing.
JP says
I had the same issue…baking powder taste. I followed the recipe exactly, except for having slightly less chicken…but there was a bit of seasoning left in the bag.
CeriAnn says
Theses thighs have become a staple in my home. We eat them at least once a week! Thank you for sharing!
I’m prepping some freezer meals and I’m wondering if it would work to season the thighs and then freeze them, or of there would be too much moisture as they defrost?
I love having a freezer full of seasoned meat, but I’m just not sure this one would work. What do you think? (I realize I’m asking a question that you can likely only answer with guess, I’m OK with that : )
jenniferbanz says
I have used frozen thighs to make this recipe with no problem. I’m not sure if anything would change with the added seasoning, though.
Shari says
I fixed this recipe and it was amazing — thank you so much for this!!
My daughter really likes chicken breasts. Can you tell me if this recipe can be adapted to chicken breasts? If so, what time/temperature should I use and should I adjust the amount any of the seasonings?
Megan says
I just made these with boneless, skinless thighs, so it’s similar to breasts. I did them at 250 for 30 minutes just as instructed, then bumped them up to 400 (my oven runs hot) for another 15. They were a tad overdone ( internal temp 170). I suspect 12 minutes would’ve been enough. I finished them on high broil for one minute for crispiness. Delicious!
Shari says
Thank you so much for the recipe — cooked these last night and they were amazing!! My daughter is a fan of chicken breasts. Can you tell me if this recipe will work for chicken breasts and if so, what the cooking times/temperatures would be?
donna quixote says
At the moment, this recipe has 30 reviews of 5/5 stars. I concur. This recipe has definitely met and exceeded my level of enjoyment of the modest chicken thigh. I change the spice from the oregano and smoked paprika to ground rosemary leaves and mustard seeds (in a mortar and pestle). The rest I left the same. The result? It was a mouth watering, juicy crisp texture and gorgeous color. My only thought was maybe use a little less Baking Powder, as you can taste it a little. So good! No one even spoke at dinner, we kept eating… and eating…
Lila Joe says
Can I use skinless, boneless chicken breast?
jenniferbanz says
You could but this process would be pointless without the skin
Shari Wolfe says
Hi Jennifer – this recipe was amazing with chicken thighs. If we use chicken breasts, what would the baking times be and would we need to increase the spices, etc for the larger pieces?
jenniferbanz says
I would only use bone in skin on chicken breast and I would double the spices but not the baking powder if you are doing 8 chicken breast. I would do the same time a temperature but make sure to check for doneness with a meat thermometer.
Nancie says
Absolutely delicious!! Whole family declared it best chicken they’ve ever had! This will be a regular for us. Many thanks.