Crispy Chicken Thighs With Garlic Cream Sauce

Crispy chicken thighs smothered in a garlic cream sauce packs tons of flavor into a very affordable dish. Perfect for every day or for company.

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Why You Will Love This Recipe

Crispy Chicken thighs with a garlic cream sauce will bring everybody to the dinner table. This dish has so much flavor and pairs so well with many sides.

What we loved most about this dish was taking a relatively inexpensive piece of protein and elevating it in such a way as to surprise us. I would order this out.

Not finishing it swimming in the creamy garlic sauce but ladling it on when serving preserved that yummy crispy skin and allowed control over how much sauce one would want.

Another plus is preparing this dish in one pan, making cleaning up a breeze.

If you’re looking for a way to put a very tasty meal in front of your family while saving a few bucks in the process, then you need to try this recipe.

You want to make sure you have bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. We don’t mind de-boing the chicken thighs. If you’d rather not bother, use boneless. The rest of the ingredients are fairly standard; nothing crazy here.

How To Make Crispy Chicken Thighs With Garlic Cream Sauce

We decided to use boneless chicken thighs for this recipe, but we wanted that crispy skin. This meant we had to debone the chicken thighs.

Honestly, it’s no big deal. Get a nice sharp knife and place the chicken thigh skin side down. Find the bone and begin to cut the meat from the bone, allowing the knife to follow the edge of the bone. Work one side until you’re happy, then switch to the other side.

Using your knife, work your way around the knuckle of the bone until the bone comes free. Turn the thigh over and remove any excess skin.

Repeat the process until you have four boneless chicken thighs. If you want, you can place the bones and skin into a freezer bag and make some bone broth later. We do this all the time. You can’t beat homemade chicken stock!

Get Your Ingredients Together

Once the chicken thighs are deboned, place them uncovered in the refrigerator. We want these to dry a bit. Keep them refrigerated for at least 30 minutes. You can leave them for up to 24 hours.

A longer rest time will increase the crispiness of the skin. We did this recipe with a 30-minute rest time and were very happy with the result.

While the chicken thighs are in the fridge, go ahead and get the rest of your ingredients together. This will make the entire process super smooth. It’s not over-complicated, but you have the time, so you might as well.

Let’s Get Cooking

Remove the boneless chicken thighs from the refrigerator. Add salt and pepper to taste on both sides of the chicken.

Place the chicken skin side down into a large skillet. Turn the heat to medium. Yep, place the chicken into a cold pan and turn on the heat. Trust me.

This will allow the chicken to cook to a proper temperature without burning the skin.

Cook the chicken thighs until the skin is a nice golden brown. Check the chicken thighs and ensure you don’t over-brown or burn the chicken skin. Adjust the heat if needed. For us, this took about 12-13 minutes, and the chicken was reading around 125 degrees Fahrenheit.

Since we’re going to prepare a super flavorful, creamy garlic sauce after the chicken is cooked, preheat your oven to 200 degrees. We will place the finished chicken into the oven until we’re ready to plate.

Flip the chicken so its skin is side up, and continue to cook for approximately 5 to 7 minutes until the internal temperature of the chicken reads 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remove the crispy chicken thighs and place them into an oven-safe receptacle and place them into the oven. Do not stack them.

Making The Creamy Garlic Sauce

Reduce the heat of the stove burner to low.

Drain the excess rendered chicken fat, retaining all those yummy bits and pieces. This is the flavor!

Return the pan to the burner and add the butter. Watch the heat of your pan. Remove it from the heat for a minute or two if it’s still too hot.

When the butter has melted, add the garlic to the pan. Sauté the garlic until it’s nice and golden, about 5 to 7 minutes. Mind the heat. We don’t want to burn the garlic.

Add the flour, salt and pepper, Italian seasoning, onion powder, mustard powder, and dried thyme to the pan.

Whisk for a few minutes until you have a nice gold look to the beginnings of the sauce and the flour has cooked sufficiently.

Add the chicken stock, just a bit at a time, whisking vigorously.

Continue this process to get a nice, smooth sauce with no lumps. A little stock … whisk. Repeat until all the stock has been added.

Add the heavy cream and stir. Increase the heat and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low.

Add the parmesan cheese and stir until combined well. Continue to cook for about 7 to 10 minutes until thickened. Give it a taste at this point, and add salt and pepper to taste.

Putting The Dish Together

Remove the chicken thighs from the oven. Plate the chicken and drizzle the garlic cream sauce over it. Optionally, top with a little chopped parsley for garnish.

Serve with your favorite sides and enjoy the praise from the table!

This chicken dish is just hands down good. You get great textures and flavors with every bite. The crispiness of the skin, married with the robust flavor of the sauce, makes a boring chicken dinner turn into a dining-out experience.

Furthermore, the cost of this dish is very reasonable, and it’s all prepared in one pan. We all have that go-to meal that tastes great and is easy to make. Well, this is one of them. Give it a try!

Check out our Delectable Crispy Chicken Teriyaki Thighs recipe if you want a different flavor profile. The cook on the chicken is identical, but the sauce is all Asian. Super good!

What Can I Serve With This Crispy Chicken?

A nice fresh Arugula Fennel Salad goes great for a lighter side. If you want a classic, our Fast And Delicious Mashed Potato Recipe or our Decadent Whipped Potatoes recipe would make a side dish.

You can’t go wrong with our Basmati Rice Risotto for a rice side. Man, that stuff is good!

Variations

Try finding boneless skin-on chicken thighs. You can save yourself a few steps this way. More often than not, the boneless thighs will also be skinless, so be mindful. You have to have the skin for that crispy experience!

You could also use chicken breasts instead of chicken thighs.

Substitute with romano cheese for a bit more punch in the garlic sauce. We also enjoy adding some onion to the sauce when adding garlic.

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