pan roasted chicken

I am always looking for new ways to cook meat. Ways that make the cut juicer, more tender and all around better. I found this recipe on how to cook chicken on the Williams Sonoma Blog. It worked really well with a few adjustments. The chicken was very flavorful and juicy.

Pan Roasted Chicken

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (they recommend breast halves with wings, but I got the thighs because they were cheaper. I got three large thighs for $3.00)
2 Tbs olive oil
Kosher salt + ground pepper
whatever seasoning you want to use (I used Spade L Ranch fish & seafood seasoning)

Preheat oven to 400 F
Rub chicken with 1 Tb olive oil. Season generously with salt and pepper, then rub on seasoning of choice.
In an ovenproof pan roaster or saute pan over medium-high heat, warm the 1 Tb olive oil and brown the chicken on each side.
Place the pan in the oven and roast until completely cooked through.


This is where I had to play around with the time. The recipe called for 10 to 15 minutes. It seems to me that recipes always downplay the time needed to cook. I swear they do this so it looks like it will be done in a jiffy. Well let me tell you Williams Sonoma: it took my chicken twice as long to cook. So my thighs cooked for a good 30-35 minutes until they were thoroughly cooked. Or my problem could be my whack oven; who knows?

Please remember to use an oven mit when taking the pan out of the oven. Please. Grabbing a 400 degree pan hurts. It hurts bad.

Once roasted, transfer chicken to cutting board, cover loosely with foil and let sit for 5 min before cutting into it. You don't want those yummy juices to run away!
Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and enjoy.

Also, I know that chicken with the skin on is "bad" for you, higher in fat, calories... yada yada. But the skin and bone-in are important for chicken. This keeps the chicken moist and flavorful. Good restaurants (the one I work at) only use skin-on, bone-in chicken. It's the way to go. And when I was at the store, it was cheaper. Win win.
And if you still don't want to eat the "bad" part, don't; take it off after it cooks.
Win win win.