Crispy chicken thighs with lentils
A French bistro favorite: shatter-crisp chicken thighs over earthy lentils with carrots and a tangy mustard finish.
- 55 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $1.74 a serving
- 510 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 cup lentils, rinsed
- 2½ cups chicken broth
- 4 bone-in chicken thighs, skin on
- 2 carrots, diced
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 1 shallot, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 bay leave
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- 1¼ tsp salt, divided
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Each serving has about 510 calories, 36 g protein, 37 g carbs and 25 g fat, and costs about $1.74 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No chicken broth? Vegetable broth or bone broth works.
- No bone-in chicken thighs? Chicken drumsticks work.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the lentils, broth, bay leaf and thyme in a medium and over high heat.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Turn the heat to low and 20 to 25 minutes, until the lentils are tender but still hold their shape. and fish out the bay leaf.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Low heatTimer: 22 min 30 sec
Meanwhile, the chicken dry and it with 1 teaspoon of salt and the pepper.
Pat dry. Patting dry means pressing paper towels onto food to soak up the moisture on its surface. Wet food steams instead of browning, so this is how you get a good sear and crisp skin.
How you’ll know: The surface feels tacky, not wet, and the last paper towel comes away barely damp.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Heat the oil in a large over medium. Lay the thighs in skin side down and cook 14 to 15 minutes without moving them, until the skin is deep and .
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium heatTimer: 14 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Leave them alone. The skin releases from the pan on its own once it’s crisp.Flip the thighs and cook 8 to 10 minutes more, until the thickest one reads 165°F near the bone. Move them to a plate skin side up.
Medium heatTimer: 9 min
Food safety: Chicken and turkey are done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of fat. Cook the carrots, celery and shallot 5 minutes, until , then in the garlic for 1 minute.
Softened. For vegetables it means cooked until they bend and lose their crunch; for butter, left out until it dents easily. Soft onions taste sweet, and soft butter mixes in smoothly.
How you’ll know: Onions squash easily against the pan with your spoon, and butter dents under a finger without looking greasy.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Medium heatTimer: 6 min
in the lentils, mustard, vinegar and remaining ¼ teaspoon of salt and cook 2 minutes, until hot.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Medium heatTimer: 2 min
Spoon the lentils onto plates, set the chicken on top skin side up, and scatter the parsley over.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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