Mexican-Spiced Chicken Thighs

I bought chicken thighs at Costco, which means I'm drowning in chicken thighs. I wondered what in the world I was going to do with all that meat. And then I made these. And I can't stop thinking about them. It was a beautiful 70 degree Sunday afternoon. I decided we should have a little picnic in the backyard. I threw together these chicken thighs and made some fresh tortillas (admittedly I use the cook and serve variety when I'm feeling lazy). I kicked back in my lounge chair with an IBC cream soda and a plate of this chicken and a couple tortillas. After that is all a blur of gluttony. The meat was moist and flavorful, the skin...oh the skin!....it was crisp and packed a punch of flavor. How could 5 minutes of prep work lead to such heavenly food? I found myself using that tortilla to soak up any last ounce of flavor. Oh my, you must try this! If you've ever been afraid to cook with bone-in skin-on chicken, now is the time to get over it and enjoy that moist meat and crispy skin. Please, join me in my Sunday backyard picnic heaven.


Ingredients

8 chicken thighs
2 limes, to juice
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
3 tablespoons butter


Instructions

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Lay out the chicken thighs in the prepared pan, skin-side up. Squeeze the lime juice all over the meat. 

3. Combine all the spices in a small bowl. Sprinkle generously over the meat. 

4. Divide the butter up into 8  little clumps. Place 1 clump on top of each chicken thigh.

5. Bake for about 45 minutes.

Chicken thighs might seem like an intimidating cut to work with because they have both bones and skin. No worries! They have a good amount of meat on them, and a good crispy chicken skin is to die for. The trick to getting a crispy skin is that it can't sit in any moisture and it needs a heat source to crispen it up. With a chicken thigh, the dark meat will stay juicy while the skin crisps up, so it would take a lot for your meat to dry out. The bone-in helps bring out the chicken flavors while keeping it moist. Don't be scared of bones and skin, it's where all the flavor is! And as for my kids....I just pull it off the bone for them and they gobble it right up.