Our chimichurri chicken recipe is super simple and tastes incredible. Our irresistible homemade chimichurri tops perfectly cooked chicken thighs for an easy dinner!
It’s no secret that we love chimichurri sauce! We spoon it over all sorts of things, from steak to seafood and even cauliflower steaks! In this recipe, we use it for chimichurri chicken.
I love these perfectly cooked chicken thighs with crispy golden-brown skin. They are so delicious with our fresh chimichurri sauce. The contrast between the crispy skin and the fresh, herby, and slightly vinegary sauce is simply irresistible. The chimichurri cuts through the richness of the chicken, leaving you craving bite after bite!
Key Ingredients
- Chicken: I love skin-on chicken thighs for this recipe! With my method for cooking the thighs, the skin will be golden and super crispy, which is absolutely perfect with the sauce spooned on top. Chimichurri does a great job of cutting through fat (thanks to the vinegar), so I like keeping the skin on the chicken. You can substitute skinless chicken thighs or chicken breasts. Make sure that you see the tips below the recipe for cooking tips, as the method will be different.
- Chimichurri Sauce: An easy, fresh sauce made with parsley, garlic, shallot, dried oregano, salt, pepper flakes (or chilies), red wine vinegar, and olive oil. The recipe below includes instructions for making the sauce, but if you want to learn more about this zesty, green sauce, see our chimichurri recipe.
How to Make Chimichurri Chicken
You can make the chimichurri by hand or use a food processor (or blender). I like to keep some texture, which is easier when making it by hand but still possible with a food processor. You’ll see in our recipe that you have some play with how spicy and how vinegary the sauce turns out. I like a bit of heat and a bit more vinegar, but feel free to reduce as you need to!
For the chicken thighs, you’ll start with a cold skillet. Season your chicken with salt, then place the thighs skin-side down. Turn on the burner to medium, and then watch as the fat in the chicken skin slowly renders and the skin turns golden. It takes around 20 minutes.
You won’t be able to move the chicken at first, but as the fat in the skin renders and becomes crispy, they will move easily (promise!). Once flipped, I finish cooking the chicken in the oven (10 to 15 more minutes).
From there, you’ll spoon your homemade chimichurri over the chicken and dig in! I love this chicken next to rice, try our coconut rice, Mexican rice or this cilantro lime rice.
Easy Chimichurri Chicken
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
This chimichurri chicken is simple and delicious. I make my chimichurri while the chicken cooks, but you can also make it beforehand. Chimichurri sauce is best made the day you plan to serve it, although you can store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. As it sits, the color will become less vibrant.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
Chicken Thighs6 medium bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, about 2 pounds
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Chimichurri Sauce2 cups (50g) packed parsley leaves and tender stems
3 to 4 garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon minced
1 medium shallot, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or 1 jalapeño or Fresno chili pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup (120ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup to 1/3 cup (60ml to 80ml) red wine vinegar, adjusted to taste
Directions
- Cook Chicken Thighs
1Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
2Pat the chicken thighs dry with a paper towel. Then, sprinkle salt evenly on both sides of the chicken.
3Place the chicken thighs skin-side down in a cold oven-safe skillet. Stainless steel or cast iron pans work well. Don’t worry if the thighs touch.
4Turn the stove to medium heat and let the chicken cook until the skin turns a beautiful golden color and the thighs easily lift from the pan, about 20 minutes. Now and then, rotate the pan so the chicken cooks evenly. If the skin starts getting too dark, lower the heat a bit. If there’s a lot of oil splattering, cover the skillet with a lid. The golden skin is a sign that the thighs are ready to flip. If any are sticking, give them a little more time and use tongs to gently wiggle them loose.
5Once the skin is golden, flip the chicken thighs and carefully move the skillet to the preheated oven. Let them cook for another 15 to 20 minutes or until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat (closest to the bone) shows a temperature of 165ºF (73ºC).
6Remove the skillet from the oven and transfer the chicken to a plate. Let it rest for 5 minutes before serving with chimichurri sauce on top.
- Make Chimichurri Sauce
1Make the sauce by hand: Mince the garlic and shallot and add them to a medium bowl. Finely chop the parsley and add them to the bowl along with the salt, red pepper flakes, olive oil, and red wine vinegar. Stir, then taste and season with more salt or red pepper flakes if needed.
2Make the sauce in a food processor (or blender): Add garlic and shallots to the bowl of a food processor (or blender) and pulse until minced. Add the parsley, salt, and red pepper flakes. Pulse until the parsley is chopped small. Scrape the sides, and then pour in the olive oil and red wine vinegar. Pulse a few more times until the sauce comes together. Taste and season with more salt or red pepper flakes, if needed.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Skinless chicken thighs or chicken breasts: The cooking method will be different. Quickly sear the chicken thighs in a bit of oil in the skillet, and then finish them in the oven. For chicken breasts, I recommend using this skillet chicken recipe.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We included all of the sauce, but you may have some leftovers, in which case, the nutrition facts will be less.
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This sauce is, an you said, magical. I don’t love vinegar, so I used roughly half vinegar and half fresh lemon juice. I’m so happy I decided to make this. The chicken thighs look somewhat sad and naked. The sauce completely transformed them into a winner!
This was a fabulous chimichurri recipe. I took a note from one of the other commenters to soak dried oregano in red wine vinegar for a bit and add it in; it was fabulous! I ended up throwing everything into a blender, amping up the garlic, and used a heaping tablespoon of oregano. I also doubled the recipe and used the leftover chimichurri for a dipping sauce the rest of the week. I smelled like garlic for a while but it was worth it! I had less luck with the chicken (it got stuck to the pan) but it still tasted fabulous.
Excellent recipe! finishing the cooking in the oven is a time honored technique, at it cooks in the juices, preventing the meat from drying.
I lived 6 years in Argentina, traveling a lot and to ALL provincias, and I discovered that a sauce called Chimichurri is prepared everywhere, but there are a few, sometimes a lot of, differences between each state (Provincias). For a quick example, in Provincia de Bs.As., they use some dried oregano and a local dried ground pepper, called AJì Molido, which has great taste, but NO heat… and in Patagonia they use a mixture of a lot of lightly salted water with a few crushed cloves of garlic and some crushed hot chili peppers, and they continually drizzle it on the sheep carcasses they roast whole on the side of a bed of coals… and they also call it Chimichurri!
So try 1/2 a spoonful of dried oregano leaves steeped in 1 spoonful of Wine vinegar and 2 of water for at least 1/2 hour in a cup or similar small container, but remove all twigs and stems which remain.
¡Y Buen Provecho!
How do you suggest we make the pan cold before cooking?
Hi Gianina, By a cold pan, we just mean there is no need to preheat the pan or place it on the burner to heat up before adding the chicken.
Hi!
Do you recommend covering skillet w/ a lid at all while cooking the chicken?
Hi Joyce, For thighs we usually don’t use a lid — we just slide the pan into the oven to finish cooking the chicken.
I love chimmichurri! I like to use cilantro instead of parsley. I like your method of cooking the chicken thighs tho and will try this soon.
Yumm!These look amazing I love the idea of using chicken thighs. Can’t wait to try!
Thanks! We buy chicken thighs way more often than chicken breasts — they are a little cheaper and taste better 🙂
How do you recommend cooking the chicken thoughts if they are skinless?
Hi Lina, you could cook them over medium heat in a little olive oil until lightly browned on both sides then finish them in the oven. You could also toss them with a little chimichurri sauce and bake them in the oven (around 400 degrees) until done.
just retired – love food – looking for inspiration & your recipes look just right !