Easy Skillet Chicken Thighs

Quick Summary

This Easy Skillet Chicken Thigh recipe with a simple garlic cream sauce is the perfect chicken dinner for easy weeknights or entertaining. Everyone loves this juicy chicken dish and it takes less than 30 minutes to make!

chicken thighs with cream sauce in skillet with spoon.

I have a winner, winner chicken dinner for you! This Easy Skillet Chicken Thigh recipe is a family favorite and takes less than 30 minutes to make!

We make this chicken recipe all of the time because it is so simple and the chicken is SO juicy. It turns out perfect every single time.

If you don’t cook with chicken thighs very often, you have to give them a try. Thighs are versatile, full of flavor, and absolutely delicious. They stay super juicy, no matter how you cook them. Plus, they are usually less expensive than chicken breasts.

For this recipe, we season the chicken thighs with a simple spice rub and cook them in a hot cast iron skillet. We also whisk together a simple garlic cream sauce to serve with the chicken. The sauce is INCREDIBLE, don’t be embarrassed if you lick every last drop off of your plate. It happens all of the time:)

This one-skillet chicken meal is the BEST! Make it for dinner tonight. I guarantee it will be a regular meal at your house.

chicken thighs in cast iron skillet with spice rub.

Key Ingredients

The ingredients are simple, but put them all together and you will end up with the most amazing chicken dinner!

  • Chicken thighs– you will need about 1 ½ pounds of chicken. You can use skin-on or skinless chicken thighs, whatever you prefer. Chicken thighs with the skin will have more flavor and the skin will get nice and crispy. Technically, you can use chicken breasts, but we recommend thighs because they are juicier.
  • Spices– onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika create a great rub for the chicken.
  • Olive oil– for cooking the chicken.
  • Butter– to create a rich and delicious sauce.
  • Shallot– look for shallot by the garlic at the grocery store.
  • Garlic– for flavor!
  • Chicken broth– for the sauce. You can also use white wine.
  • Lemon juice– to brighten up the sauce.
  • Thyme– fresh thyme goes so well with the chicken.
  • Crushed red pepper flakes– for a little heat.
  • Heavy cream– to finish the sauce, don’t skip it! It takes the sauce to the next level.
  • Parsley– for garnish!
cream sauce in cast iron skillet.

How to Make Skillet Chicken Thighs

  • Use a paper towel to pat the chicken thighs dry. Don’t skip this step! You want to remove excess moisture so the chicken will brown and crisp up nicely.
  • In a small bowl, combine the spices, salt, and black pepper. Rub the seasoning mixture all over the chicken thighs, on both sides.
  • Heat a large cast iron skillet to medium heat and add the olive oil.
  • Place chicken thighs skin side down in the hot skillet and cook, until skin is crispy about 5 minutes, flip chicken thighs and cook for another 8 to 10 minutes or until internal temp is 165 degrees. Transfer chicken to a plate.
  • Add the butter, shallot, and garlic to the skillet. Cook for 1 minute. Stir in the chicken broth, lemon juice, thyme, and red pepper flakes. Reduce heat to low and stir in the heavy cream. Simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until sauce thickens up a bit.
  • Place the chicken back in the pan with the sauce. Garnish with fresh parsley.
  • Serve the chicken warm with the sauce.
easy skillet chicken thighs in skillet with cream sauce.

Side Dish Suggestions

We highly recommend serving the skillet chicken thighs with crusty bread or garlic bread to soak up all of that delicious sauce. If you want a few other side dish ideas, here are a few of our favorites.

How to Store & Reheat

Leftover chicken thighs will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

To reheat, preheat the oven to 325°F and place the chicken in an oven safe dish. Cover with foil and bake until warmed through. You can reheat in the microwave for 1 minute or until hot, but we prefer using the oven.

chicken thighs on plate with salad.

More Easy Chicken Recipes

Easy Skillet Chicken Thighs

This Easy Skillet Chicken Thigh recipe with a simple garlic cream sauce is the perfect chicken dinner for easy weeknights or entertaining. Everyone loves this juicy chicken dish and it takes less than 30 minutes to make!
4.53 from 392 votes

Ingredients
  

  • 6 boneless chicken thighs, about 1 ½ pounds*
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 small shallot, minced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 2 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream
  • Freshly chopped parsley, for garnish

Instructions
 

  • Use a paper towel to pat the chicken thighs dry.
  • In a small bowl, combine the garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, and black pepper. Rub the seasoning mixture all over the chicken thighs, on both sides.
  • Heat a large cast iron to medium heat and add the olive oil.
  • Place chicken thighs skin side down in the hot skillet and cook, until skin is crispy about 5 minutes, flip chicken thighs and cook for another 8 to 10 minutes or until internal temp is 165 degrees. Transfer chicken to a plate.
  • Add the butter, shallot, and garlic to the skillet. Cook for 1 minute. Stir in the chicken broth, lemon juice, thyme, and red pepper flakes. Reduce heat to low and stir in the heavy cream. Simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until sauce thickens up a bit.
  • Place the chicken back in the pan with the sauce. Garnish with fresh parsley. Serve the chicken warm with the sauce.

Notes

You can use skin-on or skinless chicken thighs, whatever you prefer. You can use chicken breasts, but the thighs are juicier.
Store leftover chicken thighs in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. 

Nutrition

Calories: 360kcal, Carbohydrates: 3g, Protein: 19g, Fat: 30g, Saturated Fat: 10g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g, Monounsaturated Fat: 13g, Cholesterol: 131mg, Sodium: 380mg, Potassium: 281mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 1g, Vitamin A: 440IU, Vitamin C: 2mg, Calcium: 26mg, Iron: 1mg
Keywords chicken, dinner

Have you tried this recipe?

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Maria

I'm Maria and my husband is Josh. We share a love of cooking, baking, and entertaining. We enjoy creating recipes that are simple, fresh, and family friendly. We love sitting around the table with good food, good conversation, and good friends and family! Our kitchen is always open!
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  1. 5 stars
    This was so good! Even my picky partner enjoyed it! Followed recipe exactly except didn’t have Shallots on hand, so used onion in its place, and used skinless thighs as that is what I had in the freezer. The sauce was delicious, both the pan and plate were licked clean! Served with Mashed potatoes and steamed Broccoli. Will definitely make this again!

  2. 5 stars
    So easy to make – I already had most of the ingredients in the pantry! Very flavorful – the whole family loved it!

  3. 5 stars
    I’m not a big fan of chicken thighs, so I made this recipe with boneless pork chops. I used evaporated milk instead of heavy cream. They were delicious!

  4. 5 stars
    Loved loved everything about this recipe. Served it with roasted broccoli. Excellent. Thanks for all the great content.

  5. 5 stars
    We loved it. I prepped and my 16 year son cooked it up. He loved it and wants me to print out the recipe for him.
    Thank you!

  6. 5 stars
    LOVE this flavorful, juicy chicken recipe! I used bone-in thighs with skin on and had to add only a few minutes to the cooking time. The sauce is out of this world, so we topped our dumpling noodles with it as a side. Thank you, Maria, for this simple and delicious recipe.

  7. 5 stars
    Well goodness gracious…that was delicious!!! Enjoyed it very much! Couldn’t leave my house so I had to substitute the heavy cream for milk/butter with a little flour to thicken it….but it tasted so good, the sauce had a gravy consistency so I had it with garlic mashed potatoes and broccoli with a slice of French bread (cause that’s all I had).

  8. 5 stars
    This was actually the best chicken I’ve ever made. Substituted half and half for cream and onion for shallot as that was all I had and it was still delicious.

  9. 5 stars
    This was one of the best moist chicken recipes I’ve ever made!!! I served it over rice & it was delicious! It truly tasted like a dish I would order in a fine dining restaurant! My kids loved it as well!!

  10. Very good. Needed to adjust cook times because the theighI used were large. Over all tast was very good served with roasted cauliflower.

  11. 5 stars
    Made this tonight, and all I can say is that all the reviews about how delicious this is, are absolutely RIGHT!! The seasoning and sauce make this soooo flavorful! I used bone-in thighs and trimmed some of the excess skin and fat, then browned them about 10 minutes each side. ( I’m always concerned about undercooking chicken, and thighs will accommodate some extra cooking without drying out.) The only thing I wasn’t clear on was the sprigs of fresh thyme — do you cook the whole sprig in the sauce then remove it when done? Or are you supposed to strip the tiny leaves and leave them in the sauce? I cooked the sprig whole then discarded it. Sauce was amazing, so I’d say this was a good choice with the thyme.

  12. 5 stars
    The sauce is amazing! I love this simple, yet elegant meal. I’m starting a cooking biz in my little apartment building and I’m adding this recipe to the rotation. Thanks!

  13. 5 stars
    This was Amazing! I had to add juice from 2 key limes because I didn’t have enough lemon juice, I also added in addition, lemon pepper seasoning. Yum it tasted like the lemon chicken from our favorite Chinese restaurant Red Dragon

  14. The whole family loved this! My girls are super picky eaters and they gobbled this up! Highly recommended….I now have to go and purchase a bigger cast iron ;0)

  15. Made this tonight; it was really good and easy. I added spinach just because we like it. Next time I will try to double the sauce because it is so tasty! Served with egg noodles. Thankx!

  16. It’s very good and amazingly easy to make. Having said that, even though we found it delicious, it’s lacking depth of flavor. Pouring in the juices from the chicken resting plate helped, but it still lacked a wow factor. I think that the next time, I’ll deglaze with some white wine to see if that kicks it up a notch, to quote Emeril.

  17. 5 stars
    This recipe did NOT disappoint. I had everything on hand except the heavy cream. I used evaporated milk. Our bellies are full and the house still smells amazing. Thank you for this recipe. We put some of the magic sauce over the rice too…YUM!

  18. 5 stars
    Very easy and a great hit with the kids!
    Didn’t have cream or fresh thyme on hand so used canned coconut milk/cream and added dried thyme to the chicken rub.
    Skipped the salt during cooking and had everyone salt their individual dish so I could give some chopped up chicken to the baby (9 months old). Even the baby scarfed it up!

    It will definitely be in our regular rotation.
    Next time I’ll make it as written with the cream and fresh thyme.

    Ps. After putting the chicken back in the pan, toss it a bit and remove it again. Throw in some fresh or frozen spinach and let the risidual head thaw/cook and you’ve got yourself a super tasty veggie to go along with it!

    1. Just seeing some comments saying it lacked depth and I forgot to add in my original comment:
      I tripled or quadrupled the spices and used smoked paprika instead of plain and the dish had plenty of depth. I forgot to mention this because I always add way more spice than recipes generally recommend.

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