The regional table
Skillet Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Olives
Published August 31, 2026
The thighs go into the pan skin down and come out of the oven skin up, and everything in between happens to the potatoes.
This is the dish I cook when people are coming over and I do not want to be cooking when they arrive. Twelve minutes of attention at the stove, then half an hour in the oven that needs none, and the pan goes to the table.
The order matters more than anything else in it. Skin is rendered on the stovetop, where you can watch it; the potatoes cook in the fat that comes out; and the thighs go back on top, skin above the liquid line, so the oven crisps what the pan started. Any version that does all of this at once in the oven gives pale, flabby skin and potatoes that never brown.
Why this version works
Olives added late. Twenty minutes of roasting is plenty for olives. An hour makes them leathery and pushes their salt into everything, which is how this dish ends up inedible.
Skin above the liquid. The single rule of this recipe. Anything that touches the broth steams; anything above it roasts. Nestle the thighs into the potatoes rather than on top of them, and keep the skin proud of the surface.
Bone-in, skin-on thighs. Thighs have enough fat to render a real basting layer and enough connective tissue to stay juicy well past the point where breast meat is dry. The bone slows the middle down, which is what you want when the skin needs time.
Lemon slices, not juice. Whole slices roasted in the pan go sweet and faintly bitter at the edges, and their juice comes out slowly into the broth. Lemon juice added at the start just boils off its aroma and leaves sourness behind.
Ingredient notes
Broth: half a cup is all you want. This is a roast, not a braise, and more liquid than that will lift the level past the skin.
Olives: Castelvetrano for sweetness, Picholine if you want them sharper. Buy them whole and crush them with the flat of a knife rather than buying pitted — pitted olives sit in brine and turn mushy.
Chicken: four large thighs feed four people alongside the potatoes. Dry the skin properly and salt it at least twenty minutes ahead; overnight in the fridge, uncovered, is better still.
Potatoes: Yukon Gold, halved if small and quartered if not. Waxy potatoes hold their shape in the broth; russets fall apart and thicken it into paste.
Step by step
- Salt and dry. Pat the thighs dry and salt the skin with 1 teaspoon of the salt. Leave them uncovered on a rack for 20 minutes, or up to overnight in the fridge. Heat the oven to 425°F.
- Render the skin. Lay the thighs skin down in a cold 12-inch cast iron skillet, then set the heat to medium. Cook 10 to 12 minutes without moving them, until the skin is deep gold and about three tablespoons of fat have pooled in the pan. Move them to a plate, skin up.
- Brown the potatoes. Raise the heat slightly and add the potatoes cut side down to the fat. Cook 5 minutes, undisturbed, until the cut faces are browned. Season with the remaining salt and the pepper.
- Build the bed. Scatter in the garlic cloves, the lemon slices and the oregano, pour in the broth, and stir once to loosen the browned bits.
- Roast. Nestle the thighs back in skin up, keeping the skin clear of the liquid. Roast 25 minutes.
- Add the olives and finish. Scatter the olives around the thighs and roast 8 to 10 minutes more, until the potatoes give to a knife and the chicken reads 175°F at the bone. Rest 5 minutes in the pan before serving.
If the skin softened in the oven, the liquid was too deep or the thighs sank. Lift them onto a plate and run the pan under the broiler for two minutes with the chicken back on top — it recovers most of the crispness, though not all of it.
Storage and make-ahead
Leftovers keep 3 days refrigerated. Reheat in a 400°F oven for 12 minutes rather than the microwave, which turns the skin to rubber and the potatoes to mush.
The pan juices set to a soft jelly in the fridge and are worth keeping separately: spooned over rice or bread the next day, they are better than the leftovers themselves.
What to serve with it
The potatoes are the side, so all this needs is something green and sharp — escarole with a lemon dressing, or cucumbers with dill and vinegar. If you want bread, make it something sturdy enough to wipe the pan.
From the recipe box
Skillet Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Olives
Bone-in thighs roasted on top of potatoes so the skin crisps in the oven while the fat runs down into everything underneath.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 35 min
- Total
- 50 min
- Serves
- 4
- Calories
- 624 per serving
Instructions
- Salt the chicken skin with 1 teaspoon salt and rest uncovered 20 minutes. Heat the oven to 425°F.
- Lay the thighs skin down in a cold cast iron skillet, set the heat to medium, and render 10–12 minutes until deep gold. Move to a plate.
- Add the potatoes cut side down to the fat and brown 5 minutes. Season with the remaining salt and the pepper.
- Add the garlic, lemon slices, oregano and broth, and scrape the pan once.
- Nestle the thighs back in skin up, above the liquid, and roast 25 minutes.
- Scatter in the olives and roast 8–10 minutes more, to 175°F. Rest 5 minutes and finish with parsley.
Nutrition
| Fat | 36 g (9 g saturated) |
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| Sodium | 1120 mg |
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| Protein | 38 g |
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| Serving | 1 thigh with potatoes |
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| Calories | 624 |
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| Cholesterol | 185 mg |
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| Carbohydrates | 34 g (2 g sugar, 4 g fiber) |
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Nutrition is an estimate calculated from the listed ingredients and is provided as
a courtesy, not as dietary advice.
Questions readers ask
Do I need cast iron?
Any oven-safe 12-inch skillet works. Cast iron holds heat better when four cold thighs go in, so the skin starts rendering sooner, but stainless or carbon steel will get you there.
Can I prepare it ahead?
Salt the chicken and cut the potatoes up to a day ahead and keep them covered in the fridge, the potatoes in water. Everything after that wants to happen in one go.
Can I use boneless thighs?
You can, but drop the oven time to about 15 minutes and expect less rendered fat to cook the potatoes in — add a tablespoon of olive oil to make up for it.
Can I use chicken breasts?
Not well. Breasts are dry by the time potatoes are tender, and there is not enough fat under the skin to brown them. If you must, roast the potatoes 15 minutes alone before adding seared breasts for the last 12.