These Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Sage Brown Butter Sauce feature a winning combination of classic flavours. This is one of those magical dishes that is far greater than the sum of its parts.
It features:
- tender chicken braised in a rich smooth sauce
- browned butter for extra flavour
- earthy tones of sage
- brightness of lemon juice
- sweet and sticky thinly sliced whole lemon
Overview of method:
- dredge chicken lightly in seasoned flour
- brown chicken and set aside
- make brown butter sauce. Add sage and lemon juice
- return chicken to the sauce with lemon slices
- cover and bake for 45 minutes
The sauce comes together in the same pan that you brown the chicken in. This maximises flavour (and saves on washing up!)
This dish is very easy to scale up for a crowd. You're only limited by having a dish large enough to nestle the chicken pieces in a single layer, and enough oven space.
Depending how many side dishes you are serving with it, you would serve one or two chicken thighs per person. It's very forgiving-it's hard to overcook dark chicken meat to the point of it getting tough and dry.
This is a great make-ahead dish. Simply prep and put in the fridge, up to 3 days in advance. Remove from the fridge while the oven preheats.
Leftovers reheat beautifully and can even by frozen. This meal is low FODMAP for those of you following a low FODMAP diet.
🥘 Ingredients
Chicken thighs - I recommend ones that are bone in and skin on. It’s ‘dark’ meat (like chicken legs) in contrast to ‘white’ breast meat. Dark meat tends to be juicier because of its inherent higher fat content. Chicken thighs are easier to brown and eat with a knife and fork than legs. They take about 45 minutes to cook in a moderate oven. Allow 1-2 per person.
Lemons – we use lemon juice and a whole lemon, sliced thinly. Use organic or unwaxed ones or wash the skins well. This will help get rid of the wax often applied to the outside to make them shiny. When cooked in this way, the lemon slices lose their sourness and become gummy and delicious!
Butter - makes the dish taste rich and indulgent, even though it's not present in massive amounts.
🔪 Instructions
The sauce comes together quickly. We start by getting the sauce ingredients prepped. We don't want to risk burning the browned butter because we stopped to get ingredients ready.
What does it mean to dredge chicken?
Dredging is giving the chicken a dusting of seasoned flour. The flour dries the surface of the meat by absorbing excess moisture. This helps create great browning (colour equals flavour!) and helps coat the chicken with extra flavour. Remnants of flour left in the pan after browning the chicken helps to thicken the sauce which the chicken is cooked in and served with. No need to make a separate gravy. In summary, it's a very simple step that adds many benefits!
Browning the chicken
We brown the chicken because browning adds great flavour. It also makes the chicken look better. The skin won’t stay crispy because we cook this dish in the oven covered, but it will stay looking browned. We’re not aiming to cook the chicken all the way through in the browning step. This happens later in the oven.
What does it mean to deglaze the pan?
When you deglaze a pan, you use liquid (in this case melted butter) to lift the fond and incorporate it into the dish. Fond is the browned food residue stuck at the bottom of the pan. When we brown the chicken, there will be browned flour, chicken fat and seasoning left in the pan. This is all wonderful flavour that we don’t want to lose. Deglazing the pan ensures that nothing is wasted, and all flavour created is maximised.
Browning the butter
Butter is delicious. Let’s agree on that! Browned butter even more so. We melt the butter, use it to deglaze the pan, then take it a bit further so that it changes colour and gets a bit bitty. This is good. It develops great colour, but also takes on a slightly nutty, toasted flavour. It doesn’t take long to achieve. Cube the butter (rather than adding in one block) for more even melting and then browning.
We nestle the browned chicken into the sauce and tuck in the lemon slices. We cover the dish with a layer of baking paper, then a tightly secured layer of foil. Ready for the oven!
What could you serve with these?
It’s nice to serve these with something to absorb and mop up the sauce. Maybe a big hunk of bread like focaccia, or mashed potatoes or rice. A simply dressed salad could complete a light lunch. These chicken thighs are great as part of a dinner served ‘family-style’ with lots of sides to pick from. Maybe the crunchiest roast potatoes, bright orange mashed veggies, roasted purple cabbage or blanched greens?
This recipe leans heavily on a recipe from delicious by design.
📖 Recipe
Equipment
- Ovenproof dish that can take all the chicken thighs in a single snug layer. If it has a lid, great. Otherwise, we can cover tightly with foil.
- baking paper
Ingredients
- 60 g plain flour
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 10 chicken thighs (bone-in, skin-on)
- tablespoon olive oil
- 100 g unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons fresh sage leaves
- 2 lemons
Instructions
- Preheat Oven - to 170°C.
- Make Dredge – combine ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.60 g plain flour2 teaspoons salt¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper½ teaspoon paprika
- Prep Sauce Ingredients – cube the butter and place back in the fridge. Finely chop the sage leaves. Finely slice one lemon (wash skin first if not organic/unwaxed) and juice the other. A mandoline is handy for this if you have one. Slice on the thinnest setting and use hand protection!100 g unsalted butter2 tablespoons fresh sage leaves2 lemons
- Prep Chicken - remove any excess skin ‘skirts’ from around the chicken thighs (don’t remove the skin!). Your butcher may have already done this. Dry the chicken pieces well with paper towel until there are no shiny bits.10 chicken thighs
- Dredge Chicken – press the chicken one pieces at a time in the dredge on both sides. Make sure all parts are well coated. Pass between your hands to dust off excess and transfer dredged pieces to a plate. Discard any excess dredge.
- Brown Chicken - heat the pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil. Place the coated chicken skin-side down first and brown on both sides. This will take around 5-7 minutes in total, depending on the heat in the pan. Try not to overcrowd the chicken; you will need to do it in batches. We’re aiming to get good colour on the outside of the chicken at this point, not cook all the way through. Transfer the chicken to a plate in a single layer, skin side up as they are browned.tablespoon olive oil
- Brown Butter Sauce - turn the heat off (there will be lots of residual heat left in the pan) and add the butter. As the butter melts, use a flat-ended wooden spatula to loosen the stuck-on bits from the bottom of the pan. Once the butter is completely melted, put the pan back over medium heat. Keep stirring until the butter turns a nutty brown. Add the sage and cook this for 30 seconds or so. Once the butter gets deep brown, quickly take off the heat. Stir through the lemon juice to cool quickly and prevent it burning.
- Chicken in Sauce - transfer the chicken, skin side up to the sauce in a single layer and push the lemon slices between.
- Cover & Cook – cover with baking paper, then a heavy well-fitting lid or foil. Transfer to the oven for 45 minutes. Check that the chicken is cooked all the way through to the bone before serving. Make a cut through one of the biggest pieces at the thickest part and press to push some juices out. If its clear (and not pink), you’re good to go.
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