Sheet pan chicken thighs are an easy and healthy one pan dinner. Bone-in chicken thighs are baked in the oven with root vegetables like carrots, parsnips, and turnips for a delicious weeknight dinner that’s perfect for fall and winter!
Roast chicken is one of my favorite meals, but I don’t make it very often. It takes time that I don’t always have, and I hate fussing around with side dishes. I definitely prefer one-pan meals!
This crispy chicken thigh recipe takes all of the best parts of a chicken dinner – salty, crispy skin, juicy dark meat, and sweet roasted vegetables – and pares it down so it’s simple enough to make any night of the week with no advance planning.
The vegetables absorb the flavor from the chicken drippings, making them extra flavorful and delicious
What you’ll love about this recipe:
- EASY TO ADAPT – Swap out the carrots and parnsips for your favorite vegetables
- INEXPENSIVE – Bone-in chicken thighs are more affordbale than chicken breasts, plus they have more flavor!
- CLASSIC ROAST CHICKEN FLAVOR – All the flavor of a roast chicken dinner with minimal effort.
What you’ll need for these sheet oan chicken thighs
- Bone-in chicken thighs. You can use chicken breast if you prefer, but thighs have so much more flavor, not to mention that delicious crispy skin!
- Crushed rosemary. Crushed dried rosemary is a staple on my spice rack. It’s finely chopped, so it doesn’t have that pine needle-like feel that fresh rosemary can have, but it delivers so much flavor.
- Carrots. For their natural sweetness.
- Turnip. Turnip has a mellow flavor that soaks up the chicken juices. You could also use potato or radishes here.
- Parsnip. Parsnip has a slightly peppery flavor that’s so delicious in this recipe!
- Parsley. For a pop of fresh flavor that elevated these chiken thighs.
How to make crispy baked chicken thighs
To make the best oven baked chicken thighs with crispy skin, start by trimming off any excess chicken skin and then patting the chicken dry with paper towels. Removing the excess moisture will help ensure the chicken skin crisps up instead of steaming. Then season it generously with salt, pepper, and a little crushed rosemary and roast it in a very hot oven.
Buying air-chilled chicken, which is processed without any water or liquid solutions, also helps ensure your chicken is super crispy. I also love the flavor of this chicken. But you can definitely get great results with conventional chicken, too! Just be sure not to skip that paper towel trick. It really makes all the difference.
Add the chopped vegetables to a sheet pan or shallow dish, then nestle the chicken thighs on top. This way, the vegetables will soak up all of those chicken juices as they cook, helping them soften and giving them so much flavor.
How long does it take to roast chicken thighs?
It will take about 45 minutes to bake bone-in chicken thighs to an internal temperature of 165ºF in a 400ºF oven. I highly recommend using a meat thermometer to ensure your chicken is done without overcooking it.
Be sure to let your chicken rest for at least 5 minutes after you take it out of the oven. That way the juices will have a chance to redistribute themselves throughout the meat and you won’t be left with dry chicken.
What vegetables to make with baked chicken thighs
I love serving sheet pan chicken thighs with root vegetables. For this recipe, I use my favorite combination of carrots, parsnips, and turnips. The carrots are really sweet, while the turnips and parsnips have a more peppery flavor.
I roast the chicken right on top of the vegetables so the juices drip down over them, almost like a built-in gravy. The vegetables absorb a ton of flavor that way and come out so good!
You can use any other starchy root vegetables that you’d like. Potatoes or butternut squash are both nice additions, as is celery root. All together, you’ll want 3 to 4 cups of uncooked diced vegetables to go along with 4 chicken thighs.
Can I use chicken breast instead?
Sure! This recipe is good with chicken breasts too, just keep your eye on the cooking time. Boneless breasts will cook faster, while bone-in breasts will take about 10-15 minutes longer than thee chicken thighs so.
What’s the difference between baking and roasting?
When it comes down to it, roasting and baking are pretty much the same thing. Both are dry heat cooking methods that leave food browned and crisp. So what if your oven has two settings?
Growing up, our oven did two things: turned on to whatever temperature you set it to, or broiled. But convection ovens today frequently have both bake and roast settings. For the longest time, I had no idea what the difference was so I just cooked everything on bake.
Then I got curious one day and actually opened the manual. It turns out that the bake setting only uses the bottom heating element, while the roast setting cycles between the bottom element and the broiler at the top. There isn’t a difference in terms of temperature – 350º is still 350º – but the more intense heat at the top of the oven that you get with the roast setting helps foods brown and crisp.
As a rule, if you’re cooking something that doesn’t have structure when you start, like cookie dough or cake batter, use the bake function. If you’re cooking something that starts out solid, like crispy chicken thighs or sausages, use the roast function.
Here are a few more baked chicken thigh recipes:
- Honey-Sriracha Chicken Thighs
- Roast Chicken Thighs with Farro and Burst Tomatoes
- Sheet Pan Gnocchi with Chicken Thighs and Broccoli Rabe
- Clementine-Soy Baked Chicken Thighs
Sheet Pan Chicken Thighs with Root Vegetables
Ingredients
- 4 bone-in chicken thighs
- Kosher salt
- Cracked black pepper
- ½ teaspoon crushed rosemary
- 4 carrots peeled and diced
- 1 turnip peeled and diced
- 2 parsnips peeled and diced
- Parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 400ºF.
- Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Season generously with salt, pepper, and rosemary.
- Add the diced vegetables to the bottom of a casserole dish. Place the chicken skin-side up on top of the vegetables.
- Roast on the top rack of your oven for 40-50 minutes, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees and the skin is crisp.
- Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh parsley.
Really delicious, chicken skin was super crispy and I didn’t miss the oil.