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Find out how easy it is to make delicious, crisp-skinned chicken in the oven with Italian Baked Chicken. Oven baked chicken with Italian seasoning has a crispy skin and juicy interior that makes it one of my all time favorite chicken recipes.
Italian Baked Chicken
Juicy chicken thighs with a crisp and flavorful skin are possible with less than 5 minutes worth of effort! This crispy chicken is made in the oven without any breading at all; the only ingredients you need are the chicken, a drizzle of oil, and a sprinkling of spices.
I’ve been making different variations of our crispy pan-fried chicken and crispy oven-baked chicken for the past few years and it just doesn’t get old. From Crispy Oven Baked Ranch Chicken to Crunchy Baked Chicken, I especially love this method for baking chicken in the oven.
If you think you can only get your chicken thighs crispy by frying them on the stove, you’ll be surprised by this recipe. There’s no standing over a stove frying each chicken thigh one at a time. Best of all, you don’t have to worry about any splashing oil!
Baked Italian chicken is juicy, tender and full of flavor from the Italian herbs, while the skin is just as crispy as your favorite pan fried chicken.
Oven Baked Italian Chicken Recipe
The recipe is dead easy and my whole family loves this chicken. It will likely be the easiest chicken dinner you’ll ever make. No marinade, no fancy ingredients, just a sprinkling of spices that are likely in your pantry already.
I like to serve these Italian seasoned chicken thighs with the Italian Rice Pilaf from my cookbook and a salad, but it would also work well with coleslaw, pasta salad, or potato salad. Every time I serve a platter of Italian baked chicken for dinner it disappears so fast I can hardly make it back for seconds!
This is a meal that makes both kids and adults happy and for that reason it’s definitely a winner.
How Long to Bake Chicken Thighs
To make this Italian baked chicken, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- chicken thighs
- olive oil
- Italian seasoning
- salt
- pepper
This chicken gets its Italian flare from a generous rub-down with a blend of Italian herbs and spices. Any store-bought Italian spice blend works well, or you can use your handy Homemade Italian Seasoning!
Crispy Baked Chicken
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a large baking tray or half-sheet pan (I use this sheet pan when making this recipe.) with foil and place all the chicken pieces on it, skin side down. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and Italian seasonings, and flip each piece skin side up.
Drizzle a little oil over the skin on each piece of chicken and rub lightly to coat. Sprinkle again with salt, pepper, and spices.
Bake for one hour, until most of the fat has rendered out of the chicken and the skin is golden brown and crisp. Remove from the oven and let rest for about 5 minutes before serving.
Baked Chicken Recipes
If your family loves chicken dinners as much as mine, you can never have too many baked chicken recipes. We at chicken multiple times a week and never get bored with it thanks to all the fabulous ways we’ve found to prepare it.
When you’re in the mood for an Asian inspired meal, try my Sticky Asian Chicken or this Asian Glazed Orange Chicken by Foodie Crush. My kids also request this Sriracha Honey Cashew Chicken quite often.
One of our all time easiest dinner favorites is this Sheet Pan Chicken with Green Beans and Potatoes by Barefeet In The Kitchen. The whole thing comes together in one pan making it perfect for a weeknight meal.
Need more ideas for baking chicken legs? I put together a list of The Best Baked Chicken Thigh Recipes to help you out!
For a stove top version of this Italian chicken, try my recipe for Pan Fried Italian Chicken Thighs. We love the chicken prepared both ways! The stove top version is great when your oven is occupied baking something else and you’re trying to get everything on the table at once.
Crispy Italian Oven Chicken
Ingredients
- 2½ – 3 pounds bone-in chicken thighs
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1½ teaspoons Italian seasoning homemade or store-bought
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a large baking tray or half-sheet pan with foil and place all the chicken pieces on it, skin side down. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and Italian seasonings, and flip each piece skin side up.
- Drizzle a little oil over the skin on each piece of chicken and rub lightly to coat. Sprinkle again with salt, pepper, and spices.
- Bake for one hour, until most of the fat has rendered out of the chicken and the skin is golden brown and crisp. Remove from the oven and let rest for about 5 minutes before serving.
{originally published 10/18/16 – recipes notes and photos updated 8/26/24}
These sound really, really good, I think the men in my home would love recipe. Thanks for the glove tip too
I made the crispy chicken with Italian spices and the mashed potatoes with cheese-both winners and so good together. Thank you!
Carol
going to try the crispy italian oven chicken i havevalot of allergies no dairy of any kind no white or whole wheat no corn or anythiong derived from corn would be a blessing to find something t hat doesnt make my face go numb
Excited to try this tonight! Love things that are yummy and easy to prepare!
1 hour at 400 IS TOO long. 45 min. is enough. Should be 350
For what it’s worth, I make it exactly this way every single time. Feel free to adjust it however you like. The chicken will cook through, however, the skim may not be nearly as crispy.
So easy and so yummy! This is a major keeper recipe!
WOW!!! An HOUR at 400?? Sounds like it would all end up scorched. It sounds like a great recipe and I read the comments to see if anyone addressed this concern. I thought maybe some of the instructions were missing. I may just have to try it and see.
It just plain works, Dave. If your oven happens to run hotter, you may want to adjust the time slightly. However, an hour is perfect for most ovens.
What if you have a whole chicken how much time do you need to cook that in the oven can you also substitute chicken breast for thighs?
I have no advice for the whole chicken substitution for this recipe. Bone in breasts will work well though.
This was a fantastic recipe! My family gobbled their chicken up in no time. It was the crispiest, juiciest, most tender chicken we ever had. Thank you so much!!!!
I’m so happy you enjoyed the chicken, Laurie!
First thing is ty for the hard work you put into your site as well as recipes ….. 🙂
Ive made this chicken quite a few times as well…..its turned out great everytime 😉
Now having said that and reading some of other comments.
i just wanted to toss a bit of opinion out there in regards to the timing and heat.
A couple people mention being worried about timing… so ill just toss what ive realized out there. and maybe it will help you get a better understanding of how i try to do things when a recipe comes up like this.
First thing is ….
what i find to be the key is the sizing of the thighs themselves …so if you have 3 pounds and its 4 thighs, then this will turn out amazing without instance ,…..
however do the exact same amount only instead the weight is still 3 pounds but instead it is 6 thighs meaning smaller actual pieces then you might wanna adjust time lower a bit …
This is where you drying out will start to happen ….withing the size of the pieces ….this is again according to your own taste! in my house… half of us are dark meat eaters and the other half are white meat…. meaning the one half like it kinda dry and the other wants the wet greasy or juicy stuff .
Anyways thats my two cents on the timing and heat issue that people are concerned about i hope this helps if it can!
P.S. side tip – how far apart you place each piece onto the pan or tray or grill matters as well ….the farther apart the pieces are the more the heat in your over consumes the meat….keeping in mind also where you rack is set in your oven also matters 😉
All of the above is just my personal opinion and May not be suitable for peoples purposes!
Ty Tom
Oh just to point out ..the spacing thing i referred to usually wont matter if your only doing a very small amount ….this was mentioned more so in regards to having them like so close there almost touching as opposed to say 2 inches space between each piece. 🙂
Have a great day everyone 🙂
This is devine! Loved it and cooked perfectly in one hour. Will definitely make this one again!! Thanks for such an easy recipe! 🙂
I’m so glad that you like the chicken, Jolene!
Wow! That looks super delicious! Great recipe! My hubby is a huge sucker for shrimp dishes!
Hello! I stumbled across your blog some time ago and enjoy all the recipes! The chicken looks yummy! Several in our family are on the GAPS diet right now and we are always looking for new recipe ideas! Thanks for sharing!
Made this last night. This is, by far, the best chicken I’ve ever eaten. Any time I make a new recipe I give it a ‘Star’ rating (out of 5 stars) and I very rarely find a recipe that has 5 stars. This one is a 6!! Thank you for this amazing recipe!!
Perfect, Absolutely perfect. Thank you for sharing this recipe, Mary!!!
I’m so very happy you like the recipe, Dave!
Hi!!
Love your post. It’s really amazing & helpful too. Being foodie i keep trying new dishes i tried this recipe & it turned out to be really tasty . Keep sharing 🙂
Thank You & Regards
Ankita
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Ankita!
Looks beautiful and delicious! I do some prep ahead meals but not that many. I think this is very worthwhile and nice to know you always have a meal on hand!
I’m glad you like the chicken, Rose!
I am trying this for dinner tonight for my family! Super excited to try this!! Excellent idea as well as quick and easy to do!!!
I hope that you love it, Danielle.
This recipe is awesome!!! We love it. Thanks!
So glad you like it, Rose.
This looks so yummy. I have never tried Italian food. This looks tempting. Will try out this soon
I hope that you love the chicken, Sharon.