Baked Chicken Thighs with Garlic Mustard Crust are so easy to make! Tender, melt in your mouth kind that is full of flavor! You will taste wine, garlic, mustard, and much more! Perfectly easy for midweek dinners!
Chicken thighs are our family's favorite. To achieve the golden brown color on the chicken skin, you will need skin-on bone-in chicken thighs. These are the juiciest parts of the chicken and work well in many chicken recipes, including Instant Pot Chicken and my favorite Spatchcock Chicken with Mustard Crust. These flavorful thighs are crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside!
I love easy chicken thighs for busy weeknights. If you want to get the most out of them flavor wise no matter the method, then my Ultimate Guide to Cooking Chicken Thighs (Every Method) is for you.
How to make the best baked chicken thighs
These baked thighs will change how you make your chicken!
- Use bone-in skin-on chicken thighs. Once you picked out your chicken thighs, make sure you have a large skillet or rimmed baking sheet. I used this inexpensive 12 inch carbon steel skillet. Lodge makes carbon steel pans now. Who would've known?
- Mustard mixture. Next, you will prepare mustard garlic mixture. This most flavorful mixture consists of garlic, Dijon mustard, soy sauce and olive oil. I also added hot pepper sauce, wine and Herbs de Provence.
- Use large bowl. You will need a large bowl where that mixture will go and then chicken thighs.
- Whisk the mustard mixture ingredients. Once you whisked all the ingredients of the chicken thigh mixture, it's time to put it into use.
- Use the bowl to coat the chicken. Now place chicken thighs into the bowl with the mixture and rub them all over.
- Move the mustard covered chicken thighs to a preheated skillet skin side up. You will preheat chicken thighs for about 5 minutes.
Some chicken thighs love mustard, others love wine and herbs, if you would like to explore all chicken thigh recipes (baked, pan-seared or made in the instant pot), then Best Chicken Thigh Recipes collection is for you.
Oven time. How long should you bake chicken thighs? I usually bake mine at 400 F. for 35 to 45 minutes. You will see when the crust forms at about 35 minute mark.
Oven Baked Thighs with Garlic Mustard Crust
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon dry white wine
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Tabasco hot pepper sauce
- 1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ lb. chicken thighs (skin on, bone in)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- For the garlic mustard mixture: Mix all the ingredients (except the chicken) in a large bowl.
- Place chicken thighs into the bowl with the mustard mixture and rub the mixture all over them.
- Place the chicken thighs in a large skillet, skin side up.
- Now put the skillet in the oven and cook the chicken for 35 to 45 minutes or until meat thermometer reaches 165 and juices run clear.
- The chicken thighs should be well browned and dark on top.
Video
Important tip on baking chicken thighs
To make the very best chicken thighs recipe, it is important to remember that baking temperature matters! If you want them to be crispy on the outside and super moist on the inside, bake them at 400 F!
Once the chicken is done baking, you will see a nice golden brown color on your chicken thighs. So much flavor under that skin! Enjoy the best chicken thighs with a side of Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes!
Daniel says
Un souper excellent, tout le monde ont adoré. Merci Olya.
Olya says
Profiter de la nourriture est merveilleux, Daniel
Larry says
This is a great recipe. Very easy to make and the thighs are moist and flavorful. I didn’t open a bottle of white wine just for a tablespoon so I left it out this time. I’m going to make this often.
Olya says
So glad you enjoyed this and thank you for your 5-star rating!
ALICIA D OLAH says
Hi. Just coming across your recipe. I love to cook and especially craving chicken thighs. A mustard garlic sauce sounds amazing! I would suggest doing this in a cast iron skillet because a regular skillet is not going to work in the oven. I'm confused as to why there is a step to put these in the skillet to heat up the chicken if the purpose is not to brown the skin? Maybe if they have just came out of the refrigerator and are still cold? Sometimes I take my chicken out of the refrigerator 30 minutes or so so that it gets room temperature before baking. When I try this recipe, I will also marinate the chicken with the sauce overnight before baking. 🙂
Olya says
I did heat up the chicken thighs before putting them in the oven. I believe this step accelerates crust formation once the chicken is in the oven.
Liz says
The recipe doesn’t mention heating the thighs on the stovetop. I assume you do it like Jacque Pepin did in the recipe from which this is adapted.
Martha Douds says
Hi, Olya. I’d like to try this but I have no oven (due to gas leak and no money to replace...on furlough). I was wondering if possible to completely stove top (I have butane and electric burners) OR an electric skillet to act as the oven?
Thank you!
Olga says
I'm so sorry about the oven situation! How about getting boneless chicken thighs - then you don't need the oven at all!
Jenny says
Doubled the marinade, and put aside about a quarter of it. I used chicken breast strips, coated them and browned in a hot skillet. In a second skillet I browned mushrooms using the quarter of marinade I set aside. Once the chicken was finished, I used a splash of mushroom broth to deglaze the pan, then added the mushrooms. I served it over spaghetti squash, and it was delicious! Fantastic recipe!
Olga says
Jenny, I loved reading your comment - it's so well written! But I especially liked the use of spaghetti squash!
Marianne says
I am really into using my slow cooker at the moment. Can I cook this in my slow cooker and put under the griller/broiler to brown up the skin afterwards?
Olga says
It might work. Broil on high or even brown it on the stove top in oil at high temperature.
Taira says
Is there a mistake in the recipe? I ask because it says 1 tablespoonS of Dijon and my raw chicken didn't look like yours at all. It looked like it was missing marinade. It tasted fantastic though, but I want to make sure I didn't miss something! Thanks!
Olga says
It's definitely only 1 tablespoon. Was your marinade too runny on raw chicken?
Alicia says
I had this same problem too and I followed the recipe exactly. Does not match the color or thickness of your sauce. Any ideas?
Olga says
It maybe the brand of Dijon mustard?
Darlene says
Sooo delicious! My kids asked for seconds.