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Baked Chicken Thighs with Creamy Lemon Greens

A plate with crispy chicken thighs and lemon greens.
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★★★★★

5 from 5 reviews

A no-fuss dinner that everyone will love, this one-pan oven-baked chicken thigh dish is the perfect way to celebrate Spring. Bone-in chicken thighs are given a spice-rub and then baked up together with some spring greens and white beans before being tossed with lemon and greek yogurt for the perfect creamy citrus sauce.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 6–8 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon ground coriander
  • ½ teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, divided
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided
  • 1 tablespoon avocado oil
  • 1 sweet yellow onion, thinly sliced
  • 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 1 big bunch kale, de-stemmed and cleaned
  • 1 big bunch swiss chard, de-stemmed and cleaned (or other leafy green)
  • 1 (14-ounce) can white beans (butter beans, cannellini or navy), rinsed and drained
  • ⅓–1/2 cup greek yogurt (or cashew cream)
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425ºF.
  2. Pat chicken thighs dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle with cumin, coriander, paprika, ½ teaspoon sea salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper.
  3. Heat oil in large (about a 12” pan) oven proof skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add chicken skin side down. Cook until the skin is crispy, about 6-8 minutes. Remove chicken from the pan.
  4. Add onion, and cook until the onion is beginning to soften, about 3-5 minutes. Add in garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
  5. Add in ½ of the greens, and cook until beginning to wilt, about 2-3 minutes. Add in the remaining greens and cook until mostly wilted. Shut off heat.
  6. Stir in beans and remaining salt and pepper.
  7. Return the chicken to the pan, skin side up,  and bake in the preheated oven until the chicken has cooked through to 165ºF, about 18-22 minutes. If desired, you can broil the chicken for 1-2 minute at the end to get the skin extra crispy.
  8. Remove the chicken from the pan and transfer to serving plates. Add the greek yogurt, lemon juice and lemon zest to the greens and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding in more greek yogurt as needed for creaminess. Serve the chicken with the creamy greens immediately.

Notes

Depending on how large your chicken thighs are, a large 12″ skillet will hold between 6-8.

Need this to be dairy-free? You can use a dairy-free greek yogurt or use this recipe for cashew cream.

Nutrition

Keywords: Oven Baked Chicken Thighs

Find it online: https://lexiscleankitchen.com/baked-chicken-thighs-with-greens/

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