Crispy Skinned Chicken Thighs with Lemony Kale and Chickpeas
Difficulty – Beginner
Time to Prepare – 1 hour
Featured Seasoning – Bird Blend
Servings – 2
Heather
About this recipe:
The key to getting crispy skinned chicken is to thoroughly dry it out. We achieve this by patting the skin dry and allowing the chicken to sit in the fridge uncovered on a wire rack for at least 12 hours. We recommend not skipping this step for a great textural element to this dish.
Ingredients
4 chicken thighs, deboned and excess fat removed
1 Tblsp Spiva Cooking Bird Blend Seasoning
5-6 Tblsp olive oil
1/2 cup cooked chickpeas
1 large bunch kale, stems removed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 small red onion, small diced
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chicken bone broth
1/2 large lemon, zested and juiced
Procedure
- At least 12 hours before preparing, dry the chicken thighs with a paper towel and place on a wire cooling rack in the fridge. This will allow for any excess moisture to dry out.
- After the chicken is dry, preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
- Thoroughly dry out the chickpeas with paper towels. Toss the chickpeas with enough olive oil to give a nice coating, about 1 Tblsp. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Bake chickpeas until crispy, stirring occasionally. This should take about 20 minutes, but watch carefully as the time progresses. They will slightly crisp up more as they cool.
- Meanwhile, drizzle about 1 Tblsp olive oil over the 4 chicken thigh skins and season well with the Spiva Cooking Bird Blend.
- Heat a large steel saute pan over medium heat with about 2 tblsp olive oil. Once relatively hot, but not smoking, add the chicken thighs skin side down. The chicken should be sizzling at a medium speed, so as to achieve a crispy skin but not burn the seasonings or the skin itself before the chicken has cooked.
- Cook the chicken for about 5 minutes on the skin side without moving it around. Periodically check the skin to make sure it is not browning too fast and adjust the heat if necessary. Once the chicken reaches about 120-130 degrees internal temperature, flip the chicken. Cook until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Remove from pan and keep warm in an oven.
- For the lemony kale, heat a cast iron pan on medium heat with 1 tblsp olive oil. Add the diced red onion and season with a pinch of kosher salt. Saute red onion until translucent.
- Add the sliced garlic and cook for about 1 minute.
- Drizzle a bit more olive oil in the pan and add the kale pieces in a single layer. You may need to cook the kale in 2 batches to avoid overcrowding the pan.
- Allow the kale to sit untouched for about 1 minute. Stir in the chicken broth and a good pinch of kosher salt to the kale. Immediately remove the kale from the pan with tongs to a bowl and cover.
- Cook the remaining kale if needed and add to the bowl.
- Stir in the lemon juice and zest to the kale and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve the chicken thighs on top of the lemony kale. Garnish with the crispy chickpeas. Enjoy this healthy and satisfying meal!