There are so many ways to bake chicken pieces in the oven. Herb butter baked chicken is one of our favorite ways to eat chicken thighs. It reminds me of our Thanksgiving dinner where we always rub the turkey with herb butter and stuff fresh herbs under the skin.When you cook the chicken this way, it gives the thighs so much extra flavor and keeps the meat very juicy.
How to make the blended herb butter:
It is so easy to make flavored whipped butter. Using a mixer or sturdy wooden spoon, blend softened butter with some chopped herbs and seasonings until the butter is whipped and the herbs are fully incorporated.
The herb butter will keep in the refrigerator in a sealed container for about a month. Ours have never lasted that long but you can also freeze the herb butter for up to 6 months..
How to make herb butter baked chicken:
- Use chicken thighs for this recipe. Thighs are perfect for baking because they will stay juicy on the inside while giving you crispy skin on the outside. You are much less likely to overcook thighs.
- Thighs or dark meat are less costly than white breast meat.
- It is also the "good fat", monounsaturated, which helps lower our LDL cholesterol and raise the HDL.
- Choose your favorite herbs. Some that are excellent with poultry are sage, rosemary, oregano, thyme, marjoram, tarragon and garlic.
- Brush a little oil over the herbs to help prevent burning in the oven.
- Spoon out a dollop of the herb butter separately to use on the chicken. To avoid contamination, do not reintroduce the spoon, knife or fingers back into the butter if you have used the utensil to spread on the chicken.
- I actually just use my fingers to spread the butter under the skin and then put a mixture of herbs under the skin. Lightly salt and pepper on the skin and they are ready to go.
- Bake the thighs in a 400°F oven for about 40-45 minutes or until a meat thermometer reaches 160-165°F. It will continue to rise a bit when you take the chicken out of the oven.
I served our herb butter baked chicken with brown rice, steamed green beans and cauliflower rice. The rice and vegetables were all cooked with some of the herb butter and it deliciously tied all the flavors together for a fantastic meal.
Try some our of other chicken recipes:
Herb Butter Baked Chicken
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
An easy baked chicken dinner given a special flavor boost with a mix of herbs and whipped herb butter .
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. bone in chicken thighs
- ½ cup/ 1 stick butter, softened
- fresh herbs of choice, finely. minced. *
- brown rice, cooked according to package directions
- cauliflower rice
- green beans, cleaned and trimmed
Instructions
Herb Butter
- Blend the softened butter with minced herbs until butter is whipped and herbs are completely mixed in.
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Prep the chicken by smearing some herb butter under the skin of the thighs and put some fresh herbs underneath skin as well. (Save some for vegetables)
- Salt and pepper the thighs and bake in oven for about 40-45 minutes or until meat thermometer registers 165°.
- While chicken cooks, you can prepare your side dishes. Cook the rice as package directs. As it finishes cooking, you can add some herb butter to flavor the rice.
- Cook the vegetables by first sautéing them in a pan with the herb butter and then add some water to the pan, cover and steam to fully cook, approximately 5 -7 minutes.
- Add salt and pepper to rice and vegetables to taste.
Notes
*I used sage, thyme, rosemary, oregano and garlic. Dried herbs are a great substitute if fresh is not available.
**Scoop out as much butter as you will need and work from that. As you are putting the herb butter under the chicken skin, be careful not to dip your utensil or fingers back into the butter container to avoid contamination.
**You will probably only need about 1 pat (½ tablespoon) of the herb butter per thigh, so you will have leftover butter to use on vegetables or as you choose.
**If your herbs stick outside of the chicken thigh, you can put a tiny bit of oil on them to help avoid the herbs burning.
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