Lemon Pepper Chicken Thighs
Crispy-skinned thighs in a buttery pan sauce of lemon, garlic, and stock.
Ingredients
- 500 g Chicken thighs
- 1 Lemon
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 30 g Butter
- 1 tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
- 150 ml Chicken stock
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Black pepper
Method
- Pat thighs dry; season skin-side with plenty of salt and black pepper.
- Smash the garlic; zest and juice the lemon.
- Heat oil in a heavy pan over medium. Lay thighs skin-down, weight with another pan, and cook undisturbed for 10 minutes until skin is mahogany.
- Flip the chicken; cook 6 more minutes. Transfer to a plate.
- Pour off most of the fat. Add garlic to the pan for 30 seconds, then deglaze with stock and lemon juice. Reduce to a glaze, 2 minutes. Off heat, swirl in butter and lemon zest.
- Return chicken to the pan, spooning sauce over.
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About Lemon Pepper Chicken Thighs
Lemon pepper chicken thighs are an American home-kitchen classic reworked here around a proper crisp-skin technique rather than a shaken-on seasoning blend. Bone-in, skin-on thighs are patted dry, seasoned hard with salt and black pepper, and cooked skin-down under the weight of a second pan so the skin renders flat and even into a mahogany crust. That weighting is the defining trick: it maximizes contact and drives off moisture, giving you shatter-crisp skin without deep-frying.
Once the chicken is out, the fond in the pan becomes a buttery pan sauce, deglazed with chicken stock and lemon juice, reduced to a glaze, and finished off-heat with butter and lemon zest so it stays bright and silky. The flavor is savory and rich from the rendered fat and butter, cut cleanly by the lemon and the assertive pepper. Naturally low-carb and high in protein, it suits keto and low-carb eating without any special substitutions. Serve the thighs with the sauce spooned over, alongside something to catch it — mashed potato, rice, or wilted greens.
Lemon Pepper Chicken Thighs: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Lemon Pepper Chicken Thighs?
A serving has about 766 calories — 44g protein, 7.6g carbs, 61.6g fat, 0.8g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is it high in protein?
Each serving has about 44g of protein, roughly 23% of its calories.
Is Lemon Pepper Chicken Thighs gluten-free?
Based on its ingredients, Lemon Pepper Chicken Thighs has no gluten-containing components, so it's naturally gluten-free — as always, check that any packaged ingredients you use are certified gluten-free to be safe.
Is Lemon Pepper Chicken Thighs dairy-free?
Not as written — it uses Butter. Swapping it for a plant-based alternative makes it dairy-free.
How many servings does Lemon Pepper Chicken Thighs make?
This recipe makes 2 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.