Lemon Garlic Chicken Thighs
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our privacy policy for details.
Olive oil, lemon juice/zest, garlic, Dijon, oregano, thyme. THE BEST marinade ever. Made on the grill or stovetop. SO SO GOOD.
I have never ever been so excited to eat grilled chicken.
Like really, really, really, really excited where it’s all I can think about, day or night.
Where all I want is a plate full of these perfectly juicy, garlicky, lemon chicken thighs with a side of roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli.
Well, who am I kidding? I would prefer this with some crispy french fries sans sweet potato and broccoli but hey, it’s wedding season.
No, but really, these thighs are out of this world. And with a simple marinade, you’ll also be thinking about this constantly.
Plus, with the warmer weather, you can throw these bad boys on the grill with some lemon halves for extra charred lemon juice for serving. It’s so so good.
Lemon Garlic Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- ½ cup chicken stock
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 ½ tablespoons canola oil
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine chicken stock, lemon juice, olive oil, lemon zest, garlic, Dijon, oregano, thyme, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper.
- In a gallon size Ziploc bag or large bowl, combine chicken and chicken stock mixture; marinate for at least 2 hours to overnight, turning the bag occasionally. Drain the chicken from the marinade.
- Heat canola oil in a cast iron grill pan over medium-high heat.* Working in batches, add chicken to the grill pan in a single layer and cook until golden brown and cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 4-5 minutes per side.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
Hi! Can I use a non seed oil instead of canola for cooking?
Was delicious. I made for dinner tonightÂ
Of course you can. Â Use whatever you want. Some oils have more flavors than others so be mindful of that.Â
This was fantastic. I used bone-in chicken thighs instead of boneless and finished them up in a 400 degree oven skin side up for twenty minutes. Used the cast iron pan I browned them in. While they finished cooking I boiled the marinade, adjusted the flavors, and added a bit of corn starch at the end. Delicious!
Best chicken marinade I’ve used! This is so good! I added about 1-2 teaspoons of maple syrup for a teeny touch of sweetness, but kept all else the same. New go-to for sure. Thanks for the great recipe.
Absolutely LOVE your recipe. I missed the chicken stock and used 1/2 teaspoon of basil. I marinated overnight the chicken was amazing. . 5 stars from me.
Thank you!!
Can you cook this in a crock pot???
This chicken thigh recipe is amazing! Ticks all the boxes; yummy, healthy, easy , flavorful!
A repeat for me .
Best chicken I have made for a long time and easy to do !
Yum yum
Can I use bone In thighs and cook longer perhaps?
We loved this marinade definitely using it again. My husband especially liked it and he’s normally not a lemon flavored things type of guy! ThanksÂ
Excellent recipe everyone loved it thanksÂ
Love this marinade!  I was making about 3 lbs of chicken thighs.  I used garlic powder instead of fresh and added a tablespoon of honey to the marinade.  While my husband grilled the chicken I made a sauce with sautéed shallots in butter, lemon juice, white wine, salt, pepper, oregano and capers.  Thinned with a little chicken broth.  I will be using this marinade again and again!
OOOOHHHHH Thank you! I used your recipe and it made the chicken divine!!!
Can this be made ahead and frozen?
Can this be done in a smoker
this was amazing marinade and great taste ! thank you 🙂
Marinade is amazing, grilled on gas BBQ 350-375 for 5 minutes a side. Serve with grilled zucchini and fresh gf lemon fettuccine. Perfect meal will use this marinade for my chicken souvlaki next time. I think the Dijon makes all the difference with the thyme.
Can you say yummy! I used clarified butter chicken thighs and added red bell peppers to the pan otherwise followed recipe. Really really good. Quick and easy to boot! Who can ask for more. My brother who is a chef said it’s a great recipe. Served with broccoli and put the lemon-butter sauce from the chicken over the broccoli. OMG good.
So delicious, we loved this marinade. Served with quinoa and grilled veggies for a light and tasty meal. Thank you!
Making this a second time. It’s amazing! I used garlic powder instead of actual garlic and it was still good. Gotta try more of these marinade recipes!
This marinade sounds amazing. I wonder what it would be like to use this for kebabs? Marinate the chicken, they skewer the cubed chicken with veggies and some lemon wedges on the grill?
Love this recipe, have made this many times I prefer to use ground herbs and fresh Italian parsley. Love it so much!Â
This is amazing and actually how I first found your website! Since then I have been diving into your other recipes. this by far is a great staple!
I never leave reviews but had to for this one. Outstanding. We have been making these like once a week for the past couple months – over kale salad, with parmesan crusted squash, on a toasted bun…marinate overnight for the best flavor and now that the weather is turning I pan sear them and finish them in the oven. My favorite way to eat chicken – thank you!!Â
Hi, curious as to what temp and how long you cook them in the oven? I feel like this is usually the best way to get juicy chicken.
Thank you!
Hello. Did anyone ever figure out how long to cook these in the oven and at what temp?
I would suggest 200 for 20-25 mins depending on ten size of the chicken thighs used
I’d like to bake this in the oven but i dont see how 200C for 25 minutes is going to cook it properly- did you mean 425C?
I would suggest 400-425. 20-30 mins. I never rely on just a time, always watch your chicken so that it doesn’t dry out.Â
Simple & Delicious We all loved this great recipe! I marinated for 4 hours and used stovetop grill, it was great!
Absolutely delicious–and so easy to prepare! The marinade makes a great sauce with the addition of more chicken broth and white wine. Just be sure to bring it to a boil and cook at a high temp for at least 5 minutes. Add a bit of cream at the end. I’m saving the two leftover pieces for a picnic next week! Thank you for a great recipe.
Easy and delicious as-is with no modifications. Thanks!
Sounds good but where is nutritional values? Planning on making it tomorrow night
Fantastic recipe!! I suggest using the marinade to make a sauce. Add a little heavy whipping break cook it down a bit and then you have a nice sauce for extra flavoring or gravy over mashed potatoes. Overall, great flavors and it has become a family favorite!
In lieu of using cream – try using fat free yogurt. Â
OMG its a delicious looking i really hope its taste also fantastic
Didn’t have any chicken stock but the chicken thighs still came out juicy and delicious. Thanks for such a tasty and easy recipe!
Both adults and 1.5 out of 3 kids liked this, which is a record in our family for chicken. 🙂 Thank you!!
It was great! Â I am always looking for new chicken recipes and this one hit the mark big time!
I’m not a huge dijon fan, so I left it out. This marinade was amazing! I loved it!
Amazingly delicious and easy to make. Used the marinade to make a sauce as earlier suggested, but added additional lemon juice. Will be making this again. Thank you.Â
Thank you so much for this recipe!! My mom used to make a delicious lemon garlic chicken when we were kids (I used to ask for it on my birthday) but the recipe got lost and I’ve never been able to re-create the same flavours until now…so Thank you! You’ve made a kid at heart very happy!
Of note: I used chicken breasts instead of thighs and found that they stayed very moist and were super flavourful even with just the 2 hour marinade. So tasty!!
I didn’t have chicken stock on hand, but used the rest of the recipe. Cooked the chicken thighs in the air fryer at 350 degrees Celcius for 8 minutes – they were amazing!
I pan-fried these in a teflon fry pan after marinating about 3 hours, and they were delicious. Instead of discarding the awesome marinade, I combined it with 2 Tbsp corn starch and about 3/4 cups water and boiled it to make a sauce that I poured over the thighs before serving. The recipe doesn’t say how many lemons. I would plan on 3 or 4 if you want some to garnish your platter, but you could get away with 1 or 2 if you’re just making the marinade.
I would’ve grilled these outside but the temps here have been around 105-110° this weekend so I had no choice but to cook indoor in a grill pan, though not cast iron.
The marinade is definitely tasty and I wish I had read the other comments about boiling the leftover marinade to use as a drizzle. I also had trouble getting the thighs to fry evenly and in under 10 mins.
Next time I will probably pound them to equal thickness or cut slits in the thicker parts. I also read where someone used breasts, so I’ll try that as well when I don’t have any thighs. Thank you!
How long did you pan fry these chicken thighs to make sure they were cooked through? Was it on low flame?
I marinated overnite. I could’ve screamed! The meat is sooo tender and refreshing. The herbs and lemon……OOOOHHHH MY !!!
It needs a teaspoon of sugar in the marinade. Makes all the difference.
it looks delicious, i appreciate your work and also tried at home soon.
Many Thanks
Wow! Â Excellent marinade! Â I grilled the chicken and saved the marinade…boiled the marinade and added more stock and a little of wondra to thicken it delicious.Â
I made this with a whole spatchcocked chicken roasted in the oven. Doubled the amount of thyme and crushed the garlic. It came out amazing!! There wasn’t a morsel left!! Making it again as I write this.
Followed the recipe exactly, and took the extra step of deglazing my pan with some white wine (vigonier), then (following another reviewers tip) boiling the leftover marinade in the same pan once the thighs were resting. This really is a delicious, well-written recipe with ingredients that are typically on-hand. Thank you!!
So good!!
I coked these on the grille and they were super!!!
Love that, Jim! 🙂
Need to double or triple this for a crowd. Can it be made in a large pyrex rectangle in the oven? If so, what temp and how long?
This was really good. I used the marinade on bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs that were cooked straight on the grill. This will become a weeknight staple in our house.
We love hearing that! Thanks, Em!
Delicious
This was amazing. I made it for the first time last week and grilled it outside over charcoal, absolutely fantastic. My family loved it. One question, you specify chicken stock, which I used. Does using chicken “broth” make a difference?
Chicken stock tends to be made more from bony parts, whereas chicken broth is made more out of meat. Chicken stock tends to have a richer flavor, but I use them interchangeably at times, depending on what I have on hand. Hope that helps, Jose! 🙂
I love how I can change a few things and your recipes are STILL amazing. I’m in the middle of moving so I just had to do what was easier while packing. I oven baked (just simpler while packing) and used breasts instead. Once I’m done moving I will try thighs on our cast iron grill. Also, your crock pot recipes have been very convenient right now. Thank you!
We love that, Angela! We hope the move goes very smoothly! 🙂
Hello, I am marinating this chicken and so excited to grill tomorrow! More importantly, I wanted to let you know your mobile site does not function well with the pop up ads. I was trying to prep with the site up on my phone and had to scroll up and down multiple times because it kept moving. Just an FYI!Â
I made this the other night and it was delicious!!Â
That’s what we like to hear! Thanks, Shannon! 🙂
Made this for dinner yesterday and it was a big hit…. The family liked it so much that they wanted to know when I would be making it again!
That’s what we like to hear! Thanks for sharing, Robin. 🙂
Made these yesterday for my three children and served with some garlic olive oil couscous. They polished off the batch without a drop left. I modified the recipe only in terms of how I cooked it. They are so busy with after school activities that I did not want to have to cook them when we came home so I cooked them in my slow cooker with the marinade (after they marinaded over night) and then just before serving took out some of the hot marinade, added a little corn starch for thickening and let them cook for another 15 minutes. Searched with lemon wedges because my kids can’t get enough lemon. This recipe is a keeper!!! Thank you!
You are so welcome, Jenn! We’re so happy to hear that the children enjoyed it so much!
How long to cook in slow cooker?
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. But if you get a chance to try it, please let me know how it turns out! 🙂
Hmm, it sounds delicious. It’s going to be Sunday dinner, let’s hope it’s up to the hype…
I made this chicken last night for dinner. I have to say it was one of the best recipes I have ever tried. I did not change anything and so many people do.
However though this needs to be cooked on medium high, the next time I would take that same cast iron grill pan and put it outside on my barbecue. My house was totally filled with smoke.Â
Yes, it can get quite smoky using a grill pan. An outdoor grill would be perfect for these! 🙂
One word. Fabulous. Â Thank you posting. Â Even better this morning cold
Love that you ate this cold the next morning, Barbara!
Ahh you had me at dijon!! I love your recipes!
I Am so glad I saw this recipe and made these for our lunch yesterday. I had an enormous package of chicken thighs that I nabbed at Sams Club this weekend and they needed to be dealt with ASAP. This recipe was so delicious and The Whole house smelled amazing. Made them in my grill pan and I dipped mine in chimichurri sauce just to gild the lily So to speak. They needed nothing more though, the flavor was fantastic! I realized after I had them in the fridge marinating that I forgot the chicken broth… they were fine without it!
We’re so glad you enjoyed this, Christina!
What a delicious meal! These flavours are just amazing.
Pretty good, although the marinade didn’t contribute as much to the taste as I had thought it might.
Try using a little more lemon zest,thyme but not too much, thyme is a strong herb, I used some Italian seasoning.. it was delicious. Just a little suggestion. I’m a professional chef.
Hi, Chunga! Â I love your recipes so much, I have a board on Pinterest just for Damn Delicious recipes.
This recipe looks delicious, but I don’t like chicken thighs…do you think it would work with chicken breasts?
Thanks
Absolutely!
Question. Is the marinade thrown away. If so what makes the gravy?
Hi Judy! Yes, it is discarded. But I’m not sure where you are getting the gravy from. This recipe is served as is with some squeezed lemon juice (if you like).
Can you bake the chicken
Of course!
How long to roast 2 breasts in the oven & at what temp? I don’t have a meat thermometer with me …
Thanks! Â Love your recipes!