3-Ingredient Lemon Chicken Recipe

Name: The 3-Ingredient Chicken I Make When I Just Can't
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 65 min
Ingredients: 6 medium bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 pounds); 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt; 1 large lemon, thinly sliced (around 1/8 inch) and deseeded; 4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed; 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

Overhead closeup view of a white serving platter of lemon chicken thighs and lemon slices — Simply Recipes / Ali Redmond

Why Make This

• This 3-Ingredient Lemon Chicken is easy and foolproof, saucy, and has super crispy skin.
• It takes very little time to put together and comes out perfectly after 45 minutes of hands-off baking time.
• You can customize the flavors.

If I had to choose just one protein to cook and eat for the rest of my life, I would pick chicken thighs. There are multiple reasons why, but one of the biggest is this very recipe. Inspired by Clare de Boer’s melting lemon chicken, it’s become a solid go-to when I don’t want to put too much effort into cooking but still want a really delicious meal.

It’s crispy, saucy, versatile, and foolproof, thanks to one key technique for incredibly crispy, bubbly chicken skin.

The 3-Ingredient Dinner I Make When I’m Craving Comfort

The Secret to Super Crispy Skin

For really crispy chicken skin, you have to salt the skin in advance, then pat it dry with paper towels right before roasting. The salt pulls out some moisture from the skin, and the paper towels remove all that moisture from the surface, prepping it to bubble and crisp up into a beautiful, well-seasoned, golden-brown finish that I know we all crave.

The salting step doesn’t take long. For this recipe, I call for seasoning the skin at least 15 minutes in advance—ideally while the oven is preheating and you’re prepping the other ingredients—but you could also do this up to an hour beforehand.

Overhead view of a white serving platter of lemon chicken thighs and lemon slices with a large serving spoon next to a clear glass of a clear carbonated beverage and a small plate with a chicken thigh, fork and table knife — Simply Recipes / Ali Redmond

Play With It

Cooking is my job, so I tend to view recipes more like blueprints than strict instructions. I’ll usually make any given recipe exactly as written the first time, but after that, it’s fair game to play around with and adjust to my own taste or what’s currently languishing in my pantry or fridge.

Here are some simple ways to play around with this recipe:

Use boneless chicken: You can use boneless, skin-on chicken thighs for this recipe; the cooking time will be approximately the same. I would not recommend using skinless cuts here, as the crispy texture of the skin is a key component
Add herbs to the mix: A few sprigs of thyme or rosemary would be particularly well-suited here
Vary the citrus: Add in thin slices of a deseeded orange or Meyer lemon
Add alliums: Thinly sliced onion, scallions, or even leeks would play nicely with the flavors here
Spice it up: Add chili flakes to the lemon mixture or season the chicken thighs with a pinch of smoked paprika, cayenne, or your favorite seasoning
Sweeten it: Mix a drizzle of honey or a pinch of sugar into the lemons before roasting to cut some of the bitter and sour notes of the lemon skin.

3-Ingredient Lemon Chicken

Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 45 mins

rest 5 mins

Total Time 65 mins

Servings 4 servings

Yield 6 chicken thighs

When eating the lemon rind, as in this recipe, I recommend washing the lemons really well with warm water before slicing to remove any wax that might be coating them. If you have a mandoline, use it to slice the lemons so they’re very thin and even.

Cook Mode (Keep screen awake)

6 medium bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 large lemon, thinly sliced (around 1/8 inch) and deseeded
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

Preheat the oven to 450ºF.

Place a rack in the middle of the oven.
Season the chicken:

Season liberally with salt on both sides. Set aside at room temperature while you prep everything else.
Add the lemon, garlic, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil:

In a 9x13-inch baking dish or rimmed baking sheet add the lemon slices, garlic, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Toss to combine.
Add the chicken and remaining olive oil:

Firmly press paper towels to the skin side of the salted thighs to remove any liquid on the surface, then transfer to the baking dish and pull any skin from underneath the chicken to the sides so that it can get crispy. Drizzle the chicken with the remaining olive oil and use your fingers to make sure the oil coats all the skin evenly.
Bake:

Bake at 450°F until the chicken thighs are cooked through, the skin is golden brown and crispy, and the lemons are softened, about 45 minutes. If the chicken is cooked but the skin isn’t crispy yet, broil until the skin is your desired color.

Remove from the oven and let sit for about 5 minutes before serving, spooning plenty of the softened lemons, garlic, and sauce onto the plate with each chicken thigh.

Love the recipe? Leave us stars and a comment below!

Simply Recipes / Ali Redmond

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
377	Calories
22g	Fat
23g	Carbs
30g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories	377
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 22g	28%
Saturated Fat 6g	29%
Cholesterol 152mg	51%
Sodium 684mg	30%
Total Carbohydrate 23g	8%
Dietary Fiber 6g	20%
Total Sugars 8g
Protein 30g
Vitamin C 108mg	540%
Calcium 69mg	5%
Iron 2mg	14%
Potassium 637mg	14%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.