Crispy Oven 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.
Italian Seasoning Chicken
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!
After rubbing each side of the chicken thighs with the spices and drizzling them with olive oil, the meat is ready to bake. Pop the pan of chicken in the oven and let it cook for about an hour. The skin will be browned and crisp when the chicken is ready.
That’s all it takes! The chicken comes out tasting incredible with crisped skin each and every time.
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 this chicken 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.
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.
You might also like this Apple Gouda Stuffed Chicken Breasts by Rachel Cooks and this Lemony Chicken Saltimbocca by For The Love of Cooking for a simple meal with fancy taste.
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.
Kitchen Tip: I use this sheet pan when making this recipe.
Baked Italian Chicken
You’ll love these crispy chicken thighs that don’t require any breading or frying. Served with a side of Italian Artichoke Tomato and Pasta Salad, baked Italian chicken will be a hit with the whole family.
Crispy Italian Oven Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 ½ - 3 pounds bone-in chicken thighs
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning store-bought is fine
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 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 spices 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 about 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Gloria Jean says
These sound really, really good, I think the men in my home would love recipe. Thanks for the glove tip too
Carol says
I made the crispy chicken with Italian spices and the mashed potatoes with cheese-both winners and so good together. Thank you!
Carol
Harryetta Pennington says
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
Mindi Gusman says
Excited to try this tonight! Love things that are yummy and easy to prepare!
Gord says
1 hour at 400 IS TOO long. 45 min. is enough. Should be 350
Mary says
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.
Cathy says
So easy and so yummy! This is a major keeper recipe!
Dave says
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.
Mary says
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.
Ignacia says
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?
Mary Younkin says
I have no advice for the whole chicken substitution for this recipe. Bone in breasts will work well though.
Laurie Gia says
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!!!!
Mary says
I’m so happy you enjoyed the chicken, Laurie!
Thomas Debenedictis says
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
Thomas Debenedictis says
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 🙂
Jolene Carrera says
This is devine! Loved it and cooked perfectly in one hour. Will definitely make this one again!! Thanks for such an easy recipe! 🙂
Mary says
I’m so glad that you like the chicken, Jolene!
Victoria Tegg says
Wow! That looks super delicious! Great recipe! My hubby is a huge sucker for shrimp dishes!
Moses Brodin says
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!
Alisha Ross says
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!!
Dave says
Perfect, Absolutely perfect. Thank you for sharing this recipe, Mary!!!
Mary Younkin says
I’m so very happy you like the recipe, Dave!
Ankita says
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
Mary Younkin says
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Ankita!
Rose Martine says
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!
Mary Younkin says
I’m glad you like the chicken, Rose!
Danielle M. says
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!!!
Mary Younkin says
I hope that you love it, Danielle.
Rose Martine says
This recipe is awesome!!! We love it. Thanks!
Mary Younkin says
So glad you like it, Rose.
Sharon Verghese says
This looks so yummy. I have never tried Italian food. This looks tempting. Will try out this soon
Mary Younkin says
I hope that you love the chicken, Sharon.