Behold! The most coveted of keto dinner items, and I’ve unlocked the secret to coming away with a crispy chicken thigh every time. There are a couple of key aspects to getting the perfect crispy chicken thigh, which I’ll share with you in this post. Chicken thighs are a keto staple due to their relatively cheap price tag along with the high fat content provided by the skin, which we plan on crisping to perfection. 
The Trick to Making a Crispy Chicken Thigh
Moisture is the enemy of crispiness. Everyone knows it. Now, how do we go about getting a super dry skin, perfect for crispifying without drying out the whole thigh? It’s simple. You want to set the thighs out with a healthy sprinkling of salt for about one hour prior to cooking. Skin side up. This will draw all of the moisture out of the chicken skin. By the time you check back an hour later, you should notice water visible on top of the skin. Just prior to cooking, pat the skin dry with a paper towel. The drier the crispier! 
Crispy Skin
Aside from getting the skin as dry as possible, there is another step to achieving crispiness and flavor. Tuck a generous handful of seasonings under the skin. This will not only provide flavor, but will also ensure separation between meat and skin. This will allow for the skin to get extra crispy and the meat to be nice and tender. 
Cast Iron Skillet
We’re using a cast iron skillet, as we do for most of our stovetop cooking. Cast iron is able to hold a steady heat even when the chicken thighs are added which is the main benefit to using it. We’ve had ours for a few years now and it has a lovely base of seasoning on it. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, you can use any type of skillet or nonstick pan!
Make sure to check out our handy guide on the best cast iron griddles!
Keto Dinner Time!
You can serve the thighs in their whole form, but I love cutting these into big chunks and serving them over some buttery cauliflower rice. This provides a great cross section in which you can see all the delicious seasonings underneath the skin, the crispy chicken thigh skin itself, and the moist meat below. The perfect keto meal is served. We’ve got a bunch of other tasty keto chicken recipes you should check out if you like this one. Our Cashew Chicken and Chicken Saltimbocca are two of our most popular!
Search “Ketoconnect – Crispy Chicken Thigh” On MyFitnessPal.com
Crispy Chicken Thigh with Rosemary Butter
Ingredients:
- 4 raw chicken thighs bone-in, skin on
- 1 tbsp Dried Rosemary
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp Onion powder
- 1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 1/2 tsp Pink Himalayan Salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
Instructions:
- Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
- Remove the bone from the chicken thighs.
- Place chicken things on a cutting board and pat dry.
- Throughly coat the top of the skin and under the skin with the seasoning mix. Also put 1/2 tablespoon of butter under the skin of each thigh.
- Use remaining seasoning mix to rub on the back of the thighs.
- Add coconut oil/ ghee to a pan on medium-high heat and place thighs on skillet with the skin facing down.
- Cook for about 10 minutes or until skin is crispy and flip over and cook for another 10-15 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked through.
- Serve warm and enjoy!
Notes
Written by
Matt Gaedke
Matt is a former college basketball player turned computer engineer who discovered his passion for health and nutrition after cutting sugar from his diet in 2016. That year he founded KetoConnect with Megha in order to share their ketogenic lifestyle through recipes, videos, and educational content. Matt is always seeking to grow and try new things, a passion he shares with his wife and two amazing sons.
This was great! I loved the bit of heat from the cayenne to compliment the rosemary and butter. I didn’t want/have cauliflower, so I added mushrooms to the pan for the last 8-10 minutes.
I did these on the grill. Delicious 🙂 Congrats yall!
Made this for dinner tonight, and it was extremely tasty. Thank you for such a great recipe.
Dang, I accidentally bought skinless thighs! Can I still use them for this recipe, even though I’m missing out on that yummy skin? (Or do you have another recipe that would work better?) Thanks!
Should be fine, but maybe not as crispy. You could make our butter chicken!
Meal prepping For my first keto diet with you guys! Looked online, by fat you have the best guide! And recipes
. And I’m a chef lol
Thanks and can’t wait to done on good food! And lose weight?! Lol
Good luck!
Just made these tonight, along with the wings for meal prep. Can’t wait for work tomorrow (Geez, I don’t think I’ve EVER thought, said, or typed that!)
Love you two,
Lori from Iowa
Lori enjoy those wings girl!!! *WINGS WINGS WINGS!!!*
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I enjoyed this mix of spices very much. I am way too lazy to remove the bones so I just cooked them a lot longer. Maybe almost double the time.
Just made these. Very good I have been looking for ways to make chicken thighs. But what is a good way to remove the bone without losing very much meat?
This dish is so good! We added some curry powder and chili powder as well, you must make this.
Yum!
This was super tasty, but I had quite a bit of smoke fill up the house from burning spices on the skin. Does that happen to you?
We do get a little bit of smoke when we make this dish but it is never anything too crazy. You could try seasoning it while its in the pan after you crisp the skin.
Probably have your pan too hot. This will cause the spices to burn.
Can you make these bone in? Not so good at de-boning chicken. 🙁
Ya you can, it’s going to take extra time in the pan though!
Looks delicious! May i ask what the recipie iis for the calimash?
Cauliflower Mash recipe!
That calorie count is that for all 4 pieces or per piece?
Per chicken thigh.
I’m new to keto and trying to save money, so I just buy whatever meat is on sale and figure out later how I’m going to prepare it (btw, I’m new to cooking, too). Which is how I stumbled onto this recipe (chicken thighs were on sale).
#2 “Remove the bone from the chicken thighs” – just one harmless little sentence, as if everyone knows how to do that! Took me about an hour (and many Youtube videos – God bless the Internet) to debone the darn things.
But oh, was it worth it! The chicken was very flavorful and the skin was superb! SO crunchy!
Thank you for this fantastic recipe! I look forward to cooking more recipes from this site. 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it Kate! We should probably go into more detail on how to debone the chicken thigh, you’re right.
Really simple and easy recipe adding to my go-to meals! Making tonight and my kitchen smells heavenly
I dont cook, but when I do I look for simple recipes. This by far was the easiest and tastiest dish I’ve made in my life. Kudos to all your wonderful recipes. Yall make keto very fun to follow.
Thanks!!!!
Thank you! Nothing like some good crispy chicken thighs!
What temperature do you set the oven to?
No oven involved. Everything is done on the stovetop!
I presume medium heat? Or high?
Yes, it should be medium-high. Added that to the recipe description, thanks!
we made these last night, they tasted just perfect. Thanks for sharing.
Simon
Do you use any oil in the pan?
Yes, coconut oil or ghee! Apologies for not adding it into the ingredients – great call for asking! It’s fixed now.
Are these bone-in? Or boneless?
Charlie,
Sorry about that. These are bone in, but we remove the bone prior to cooking. If you can find boneless with the skin on go for those, but they’re hard to find in my experience.
I have a similar recipe I use about 2-3 times a week and I keep the bone in and cook it for about 15 minutes skin side down and then flip and cook for another 5 minutes and then put the whole thing in the oven at 450 (convection) or 475 regular for about 8 minutes on each side to finish. LOVE this recipe!!