This easy baked chicken thighs recipe is packed with flavor thanks to maple, soy sauce, and ground cinnamon. The tender meat is wonderful with mashed potatoes!
This simple chicken thighs recipe is one of my favorite no-fuss dinner ideas. It’s the kind of recipe you can throw together when you get home, then bake in the oven while you decompress from the day. You can also assemble it the night before (in less than 5 minutes) for even easier prep. (Instructions for this in the recipe card below.)
Soy sauce, maple, and cinnamon are used to infuse this chicken with a warm flavor that is truly delightful. I realize cinnamon may seem like an odd ingredient in a meat dish, at least to American ears. But it is delicious! In fact, cinnamon has been used in meat dishes for thousands of years and can be found in all sorts of cuisines. My grandmother used to use cinnamon when making conchinita pibil, which is a kind of Mexican pulled pork that she would serve with fried nopales (cactus pads). I should share her recipe now that I think about it. 🙂
What Goes with Baked Chicken Thighs?
This is one of those dishes that goes with so many things. Fluffy white rice, Instant Pot Mexican rice, homemade mashed potatoes, couscous, baked sweet potatoes, you name it.
You can also remove the thigh meat from the bone and serve it in tacos, burritos, and quesadillas. Sandwiches are another good idea!
How to Store and Reheat Extras
Let your chicken cool to room temperature, then transfer it to an airtight container and store it in the fridge for up to 4 days. I recommend pouring any extra marinade on top of the chicken – you don’t want to lose any of that flavor!
Reheat in the microwave for about 2 minutes or until heated through. I recommend reheating the chicken in a bowl covered with a plate (both microwave safe) to avoid splattering.
PrintMaple Soy Baked Chicken Thighs
This easy chicken thighs recipe is packed with flavor thanks to maple, soy sauce, and ground cinnamon.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Marinating Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 4
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 tablespoon soy sauce
- 5 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
- Generous pinch of kosher salt
- 4–5 chicken thighs (bone in, with skin)
Instructions
Make the marinade. In a large bowl combine the olive oil, soy sauce, maple syrup, minced garlic, cinnamon, ground pepper, and kosher salt.
Marinate the chicken. Place the chicken thighs in the bowl to marinate while your oven preheats. (Or you can place them in a ziploc bag or tupperware, add the marinade, then let them marinate overnight in the fridge.)
Preheat oven to 425F. Usually you would do this first but heating your oven after the chicken is marinating gives it about 30 minutes to soak up the flavor a bit.
Bake. When your oven reaches temperature add the chicken pieces and marinade to a baking dish. I used a 7×11 pyrex dish but you can also use a 9×13 if that’s what you have. Just make sure the pieces are in a single layer. Bake for 25 minutes skin side up.
Flip & raise oven temperature. After 25 minutes has passed, flip the chicken pieces onto the other side using tongs and raise the oven temperature to 450F. Cook for another 5 minutes. Flip the chicken one more time so that the skin is facing up, and cook for another 5-10 minutes until the skin has a deep golden color and some crispiness.
Test and serve. Test with an instant-read thermometer to confirm that the chicken has finished cooking. It is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 165F. Serve with your desired sides, spooning any remaining marinade onto the chicken when serving.
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