Oven Baked Chicken Thighs With Onion Gravy

Baked chicken thighs... quite a classic but still loved by pretty much everyone. I'm cooking thighs at least twice a month and it's a really a sure bet with my family. My kids love thighs too, so when I need to cook something quickly and I want to make sure everyone would eat it, thighs are a great choice.

I usually serve them with basic mashed potatoes or rice and that's why I usually opt in for a method that ends up with a solid amount of sauce or gravy. And today, I would like to show you one of my favorite recipes, where the gravy pretty much cooks at the same time as the thigs are baking in the oven.

I have a more detailed version of this baked chicken thighs recipe on my blog, including some optional modifications you might want to try.

Let's move to the recipe, shall we? :)

As with my previous Instructables, let me post a video first. The recipe is VERY easy, so I'm sure you can make it just by following the video.

Oh and BTW, may I have a small request? I started posting videos on YouTube just recently, please subscribe to my channel if you like this one. It feels much better to shoot videos when there is actually someone watching them :)

Thanks in advance!

Just a few basic things are needed, let me list them below. I know that "caraway" is not that popular in certain parts of the world, so feel free to skip it when having trouble to get some.

8-10 chicken thighs
3 large onions
3-4 cloves of garlic
1-2 cups of broth or stock
1-2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon crushed caraway
2-3 teaspoons of your favorite BBQ mix

Note: You can definitely play with the seasonings a bit! Add something spicy if you wish, use whatever your favorite BBQ mix is, add more herbs... your fantasy is the only limit.

Start with the olive oil, this way the dry spices will stick to the meat better. Be generous with the salt and BBQ mix! Don't be afraid to use your hands and get dirty, give the meat a proper massage. And obviously, wash your hands afterwards!

Roughly cut the onions and garlic. Layer them over the bottom of the baking dish (use a deep one) and pour 2 cups of broth or stock over them. The onions should be almost fully submerged in the broth.

Note: Using unsalted stock? Add some salt to it. No broth or stock at hand? Use water and season it with salt and pepper.

Place the thighs over the onion base, cover with foil and start baking at 200-225C (400-425F).

We're gonna bake the thighs in 3 phases. The first phase takes 20-30 minutes, based on the size of the thighs used.

After 20-30 minutes, as mentioned in the previous step, remove the foil and give the thighs a fork check. They should be somewhat soft by now, so the fork can slide in relatively easily. If that's the case, remove the foil and keep baking for 20 more minutes.

Now it's time to work on the gravy. Remove the thighs to a plate and use a soup ladle to transfer all the onions, garlic and most of the sauce to a small pot. Leave just about 1cm (1/2 inch) of sauce in the baking dish. Put the thighs back in and keep baking, this time on the max temp which should be 250C or 475F. Make sure you don't burn the skin or dry the thighs out so keep an eye on them!

Use a hand blender to finely blend the onions and garlic and form the base of the gravy. The color will turn into a creamy one and that's what we want. Now bring it to a boil and thicken it with starch slurry. You should only need a few teaspoons of it. Give the gravy a test and add salt if needed, but it should taste well already.

The thighs are fully cooked now, the color looks really good! I'd say it's time to serve now :)

I used simple boiled rice as the side, with lot's of that delicious gravy of course! And a small bowl of a simple apple & bacon coleslaw that my son made today. It really did taste GREAT!

Want to try some more "chicken" recipes? Give a try to my Sheet pan chicken drumsticks.

Enjoy :)