Oven Roasted Lemon Pepper Chicken is so easy to make and packed with delicious lemon pepper flavor! These chicken thighs come out of the oven with a crispy outside and juicy center!
Since everyone is absolutely loving my recipe for Crispy Baked Chicken Thighs and how to make them in the oven, I thought it was time for another great chicken thigh recipe!
I did go over the basics on how to make the perfect oven baked chicken thighs in that previous post, but, for those of you who haven’t seen it, we will definitely cover it again!
We adore chicken thighs and they are just as easy to make as chicken breasts, but, they have WAY more flavor! Let’s chat about the best cooking time and temperature for lemon pepper roasted chicken thighs, and a few other tips and tricks that will ensure your chicken turns out perfect every time!
Lemon Pepper Chicken:
- To make lemon pepper chicken you will start out with about 3 pounds of chicken thighs. This is typically about 8 thighs total for me.
- For this chicken, we use a combination of lemon juice, plus lemon pepper seasoning for max flavor! You will whisk together lemon juice and olive oil and coat both sides of your chicken.
- Then, you will mix together a blend of spices like lemon pepper, salt, garlic, onion powder, paprika, and Italian seasoning and sprinkle it very liberally over the chicken.
- After that, it goes directly into the oven and your work is done until it’s time to eat!
- I recommend using non-stick foil on your pan for easy cleanup. If your foil isn’t non-stick, simply give a light spray with cooking spray before placing the chicken in the pan.
- We love lemon pepper chicken served with rice, veggies, or sometimes Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes for a more decadent meal!
Chicken Thighs:
Chicken thigh meat is great for so many reasons! Thighs are more budget-friendly to purchase than chicken breasts, they are more flavorful and juicy as well. Believe it or not, thighs are much easier to cook as well, without having to worry about them drying out!
For this recipe, I prefer to use skin on and bone-in chicken thighs. However, if you have some boneless and skinless thighs on hand you can use those as well and they work great with this recipe. One thing to watch is that thighs without the bone may cook a little faster. Keep an eye on them. Chicken should reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees before consuming.
Chicken Breast:
Yes, you can use chicken breasts for this recipe if you prefer! There is no need to cut them in half. I find that when I use 2.5 pounds, it comes out to about 4 large chicken breasts. The cooking time will remain the same. Keep in mind that they won’t be as crispy on the outside due to not having the skin on like your chicken thighs would. But, they are still very juicy and tender!
On that note, I’d like to mention that it is not at all necessary to wash your poultry before cooking! You can read more about that on the USDA website right HERE if you’re interested.
Enjoy!
~Nichole
Lemon Pepper Baked Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 2.5 Pounds Chicken Thighs or Chicken Breasts
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Pepper Seasoning
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Onion Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- 1/2 Teaspoon Paprika
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with foil and set aside.
- Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and place on the baking sheet.
- Whisk together the olive oil and lemon juice in a small bowl.
- Drizzle the olive oil mixture evenly over both sides of the chicken, rubbing to coat well.
- In another small bowl stir together the lemon pepper seasoning, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, and paprika.
- Sprinkle the spices evenly over the chicken.
- Bake in preheated oven for 35-45 minutes, until the chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Excellent….. I made this for the first time.
I love this recipe! So easy and delicious. No long hours of marinading. I added a lot of lemon zest because it ignites the lemony flavor. It is now our go to lemon chicken recipe!
This was my first time cooking chicken thighs, I always use breasts, but they were requested and I was surprised at how long it takes to de-fat them before cooking – almost an hour! But totally worth it – yum yum yum! Wondering if I need to modify for air fryer, if anyone knows?
This was such an easy, yummy recipe. The chicken was juicy on the inside and crispy and tangy on the outside. My friend I made this for woke up talking about it!
Delic! Used leg 10 leg quarters. Doubled the season’s plus about 1/4 extra. Cooked about 15 to 20 minutes longer. Came out spectacular! Kids are already requesting as a regular dinner. Thank you?
When used leg quarters where they skin or no skin on them?
i love this recipe! real tasty and definitely puts a smile on my family’s faces 🙂
I used 4lbs of boneless chicken breasts and doubled the seasoning recipe. My husband, 3 kids and bonus child (ages 7 to 18) immediately went back for seconds and cleared me out. I used smoked paprika because I didn’t have regular paprika. That was the only change. I served this with a lemon butter sauce over basmati rice and veggies. I’m making it again only 2 days later – thanks for this easy, yet tasty recipe!
How long did you bake it for?
I used 4lbs of boneless chicken breasts and doubled the seasoning recipe. My husband, 3 kids and bonus child (ages 7 to 18) immediately went back for seconds and cleared me out. I used smoked paprika because I didn’t have regular paprika. That was the only change. I served this with a lemon butter sauce over basmati rice and veggies. I making it again only 2 days later – thanks for this easy, yet tasty recipe!
Tried this a little while ago, and it was excellent. A little too salty for me, but that’s easily fixed.
But that’s not what I’m writing about. I just got back from a fishing vacation with some blackfin tuna meat. We weren’t sure how to cook it, so I said let’s use the seasoning from this recipe. The only changes were that we pan seared the meat, and swapped black pepper for the salt. It was unbelievable. It was literally perfect as a blackening seasoning for tuna, and the lemon juice/olive oil really worked well with the flavor of the fish.
This chicken is very very good! Crispy outside with very juicy tender meat inside. Thinking the higher temp of 400 is what does the trick for the crisp/juicy part. This mix of seasonings for lemon pepper chicken is fantastic and the best I have ever tried! Kudos to Nichole for this recipe!