Rich in flavor, tender and moist, and practically impossible to overcook; when we’re not roasting a whole bird, we are almost always cooking up chicken thighs in the Oui, Chef kitchen. There are probably dozens of chicken thigh recipes in our archives here, so the bar is set pretty high for another to be added to the collection. When I saw this recipe recently on Epicurious, I suspected that it might make the grade, but one whiff of the seductive marinade as I poured it over the chicken sealed the deal. The potent flavors of garlic and curry, tempered by creamy, Greek yogurt and left to infuse the chicken overnight (the recipes says you can let it sit for as little as 3 hours, but overnight is the way to go) is only half the magic. The rest comes when you mix pan drippings with some fresh yogurt, lemon juice and herbs for a sauce to serve up with the roasted chicken.
To die for!
Often times people bypass “curry” recipes for fear that they’ll be over-the-top spicy or too robust in flavor, this is not one of those dishes. Garlic is another ingredient, especially when a recipe calls for 12 WHOLE cloves, that might give people pause. Here, curry is just a bit player, but adds deep, warm spice to the meal, and the garlic, while plentiful, mellows as the chicken crisps during its high-temp roast. The recipe does require a little advance planning with its overnight marinade, but is sure easy to pull together. Cooking it requires little more than pouring the zip-bag full of chicken and marinade into a baking dish and popping it in the oven. When cooked, a quick whisk of some of the pan juices with yogurt, lemon, and some fresh herbs (if you like), produces an addictive, no-cook sauce that will tempt you to lick your plates clean.
Go ahead…..I’ll never tell.
Serve it up with a simple rice, a small green salad, and wedges of lemon for a last minute spritz on the plate. Perfect!
Cheers – Steve
Ingredients
- 1 head of garlic (about 12 cloves), peeled, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons curry powder
- 2 cups plain Greek yogurt, divided
- 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- 12 skin-on bone-in chicken thighs (about 6 pounds)
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Mix garlic, oil, curry powder, 1 cup yogurt, 2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 cup water in a large bowl. Working in batches, add chicken thighs and turn to coat, using your hands to rub marinade under skin of each thigh. Transfer to a resealable plastic bag and chill at least 3 hours or up to overnight.
- Position a rack in upper third of oven and preheat to 425°F. Transfer marinated chicken, skin side up, to a 13x9" baking dish. Roast chicken until skin is browned and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of chicken registers 165°F, about 35 minutes. If chicken skin starts to burn, move pan to a lower rack to finish cooking.
- Transfer chicken to a serving platter, reserving pan juices. Whisk lemon juice, 1/4 cup pan juices, remaining 1 cup yogurt, and remaining 1/2 tsp. salt in a medium bowl. If sauce is too thick, add more pan juices. Serve sauce alongside chicken.
- Do Ahead: Chicken can marinate up to 1 day before cooking. Keep chilled.