5 Spice Chicken Thighs

Now, to be honest, this recipe was going to be the Chinese 5-Spice Chicken recipe from the April 2009 issue of Bon Appetit magazine. My first mistake was sending my boyfriend to the store for the required "Chinese Five-Spice powder". Knowing I would have a hard time finding it myself, I don't know what I was expecting him to come up with. Needless to say, by the time he called from the store frustrated because he couldn't find it, I told him I'd figure something else out. It's easier to post a recipe I make on average once a week anyhow.

I feel like I need to insert a disclaimer here:

This dear friends, is chicken that will indeed, if not careful, make you want to slap your mama. It is THAT good. So until you have tried it a few times, refrain from having mom over for this meal. Or grandma even, I can't make any guarantees.

Here is what you'll need:


-12 chicken thighs, defrosted (which leaves plenty for leftovers, but I wouldn't bet on having any left over)

-2, gallon sized, ziploc bags

-1 cup olive oil

-8 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped. Or more, I won't hold it against you.

-2 tsp kosher salt

-2 tsp each cumin, cayenne, and lemon pepper

-1 1/2 large onion, chopped into wedges. I use white, but use whatever tickles your fancy

Now, put half of the olive oil, garlic, salt, and other spices in one of the ziploc bags, and the rest in the other. You'll have a mix that looks like this.


















Then add 6 pieces of chicken to each bag. Now let that sit and get to know each other for at least an hour, all the way up to 24 hours or so. On this night, I let mine sit for about 3.


















This is also when I chopped my onion. I wanted to be able to just toss it all together when I was ready to cook it. This would be a great meal to have everything ready the day before, so you could just assemble and toss it into the oven when you get home from work.



















I add a sprinkle of salt and pepper to my onions because I am a rebel.



















Mmmm, now take a look at that!
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.



















Line the bottom of a roasting pan roughly 13x9x2 in size, with the onions. Make sure you have a pretty even layer.



















Look at that chicken. Sitting in it's hot tub of delicious, all excited and ready to join the onions.



















Lay the chicken thighs, skin side up, on top of the onions.



















Here's where we can get really crazy. I then drizzle the seasoned oil that the chicken was marinating in, over the chicken and onions. I just seal the bags closed, clip off a bottom corner, and squeeze all the oil and lovely chunks of garlic out.



















Now there are times when you just KNOW the dish you are preparing is going to knock your socks off. This is one of those.

You wouldn't believe how delicious the house smells just 20 minutes after putting this in the oven.

Roast the chicken until it is cooked through, mine took 55 minutes.



















If you could only smell this.



















I took the chicken out, and put the pieces on a serving platter, then loosely covered it in foil so it could rest for 15 minutes or so. That fork comes in handy to jab at any stray men that wander into the kitchen to sneak a piece at this point.



















I ladled all but a tiny bit of the juices out of the pan, just leaving the onions. I put those back in the oven to get some color, about 15 minutes should do.

Yum, would you just lok at that juice! That is going to be the base of some KILLER stock.



















Here's the spread. Chicken, rice, and mixed veggies. The vegetables are literally just a mix of whatever I had in the freezer, plus some fresh cauliflower I had in the fridge. Sprinkled with some freshly grated asiago cheese and some pepper.The rice is cooked with chicken stock, instead of water.



















The onions were FABULOUS over the rice.

This recipe is so easy, but it is packed with so much flavor. You won't believe your taste buds.

Enjoy!