Crispy Chicken Thighs with Anchovy Butter

This recipe was inspired by Alison Roman’s Anchovy butter chicken. She slathers an entire chicken in butter mixed with lots of anchovies, and it’s amazing!!! I added some lemon zest, and garlic to the butter and paired down the anchovy ratio and voila, it’s an amazing addition to chicken thighs. The butter makes the skin super crispy, while making for a really juicy interior.

Servings: 4-5

Recipe by Tierney Larson

Ingredients:

5 chicken thighs, bone in skin on

Kosher salt

3 tbl unsalted butter softened

2 anchovy filets, finely chopped

1 small garlic clove, minced

zest of 1/2 lemon

6 sprigs of thyme

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Ok so…

Take your chicken thighs out about a half an hour before you plan to cook them so they come to room temp. Pat them dry and season on both sides with kosher salt and black pepper. Preheat the oven to 475F.

Mix together the softened butter, anchovies, lemon zest, garlic and a pinch of kosher salt. Give it a few grinds of black pepper as well and mix to combine. Making a space between the skin and the chicken, spread the butter mixture underneath the skin, spreading it out evenly on each thigh, using all of the butter.

Heat a cast iron or heavy bottomed skillet over medium high heat until hot, add 1 tbl of canola oil and then let that heat until shimmering and you just start to see tiny wisps of smoke start to come up. (if the whole pan is smoking rapidly you’re going to have to take it off the heat to cool it down, you want it just starting to smoke). Place the thighs skin side down and let them brown for about 5-6 minutes (or until golden brown and starting to get crispy). Then, flip the chicken over, skin side up, and throw in the sprigs of thyme. Put the pan into the oven and let finish cooking until the chicken is fully cooked, the internal temp should be around 165F. Remove from the pan and let rest for a few minutes before serving.