Easiest Chicken Thighs Ever

[greystorms]

I'm posting this in Kitchen Tips and Tricks because it's a ridiculously easy dish to prepare, and takes almost no prep time whatsoever; mods, if I'm erring in posting here instead of in "Main Dishes", please feel free to move my post.

For the past couple of months, this "recipe" has been the go-to for super simple and easy, delicious food for me.  My wife and I discovered a while ago that Costco sells chicken thighs in big packages - 4 thighs per pouch, roughly 8 pouches per "package".  The cost is about $1/lb, and the big package will come to about 12 or 13 pounds.  It's really easy to set out a few pouches of chicken thighs to thaw, and they're even easier to cook.  

Once thawed, I'll take a pouch and set all 4 thighs into my cast iron skillet(skin side up), while the oven pre-heats to about 375F.  These are bone-in, skin-on thighs, by the way.  I season with whatever spices I feel like using at the time, and then the cast iron goes into the oven for about an hour, maybe ten minutes more.  Take out when the time is up, and you have incredibly delicious chicken thighs with wonderfully crisp skin on top.  These are great by themselves, or could be shredded for topping a salad, or whatever.  

The best part is that they require absolutely no attention whatsoever while they're cooking in the oven, so you can take the time to make whatever side dishes you like.  I find that they're also perfect when I'm feeling lazy and don't want to do much cooking, but still want a filling meal.

Total prep time:  maybe 5 minutes? However long it takes to put the thighs in the skillet and season them
Cook time: 1 hour to 1 hour, 10 minutes.  

[nrich]

That's a great suggestion, thanks for sharing. My way of cooking chicken in a "hurry" is pulling a frozen bird (about 2 - 4 lbs) out of the freezer, thawing overnight in the fridge. This will get the bird about half frozen which is fine enough for this recipe. I then cut up a few ribs of celery, carrots and/or sweet potato and onion and throw those in the bottom of a crock pot. I like to do all this prep work at night so in the morning I basically dump, set and go. Mix some preferred spices in a small bowl to throw on the chicky in the morning. I like paprika, salt, pepper, sage, and oregano. In the morning I throw the chicken on top of the prepped veggies. Sprinkle the rub on his top and underside. You can also drizzle some fresh lemon juice or orange juice (about 1/4 cup and from the orange, not a carton) to give it some extra flavor. Put the lid on and set the pot to low 6-8 hrs but the bird will probably be done in 4 hours. Check the bird's temp to see if it is 160degreesF at least. That's all there is to it. 10 min prep and your meal is done when you walk in the door after work. (BTW - no need for any liquid in the pot. It will make it's own juices).