Crispy Baked Chicken Thighs are the spicy, sweet, and crunchy alternative to chicken wings! Seasoned to perfection, these chicken thighs are baked to golden brown and slathered with a hot honey buffalo sauce!

I love chicken wings, and while there isn’t a replacement for them, sometimes you want the chicken wing “feel” and have chicken thighs.

This method for baking chicken thighs to crunchy deliciousness is simple. While the recipe uses specific seasoning, change it to your favorite flavors!

The method stays the same; the possibilities are endless!

I use the dry-brining method overnight in the fridge. In this post, you’ll learn why this makes a difference and how you can apply the same method to other poultry dishes.

The simple hot honey buffalo sauce has quickly become one of my favorites, and I’m sure it will be yours, too!

How to Make Crispy Baked Chicken Thighs

First, let’s gather the ingredients we’ll need for this recipe.

You’ll need bone-in skin-on chicken thighs. I like to pull the skin back over each chicken thigh so it’s covering the flesh.

Next, you’ll need a couple of seasoning blends or herbs and spices.

I use fresh herbs and salt to dry brine with in my Chicken Confit recipe.

In this recipe, I used a seasoning blend I purchased at Biltmore Estate from Spicewalla. It’s amazing!! If you can purchase Cedric’s Roasted Chicken Seasoning, do it!

Otherwise, I recommend T Pain’s Straight Fire Seasoning for this recipe! It’s incredible, too.

Seasoning you can buy Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning or blend your favorite seasonings.

Next, you’ll need a sheet tray of some kind and time.

These chicken thighs need a good 20+ hours in the fridge for the “science” to happen.

Dry-Brining Chicken Thighs

Okay! Let’s talk about the fun stuff!

Dry Brining.

It’s basically when you take a seasoning blend, salt, etc, and rub it all over the poultry skin.

Then, place it UNCOVERED in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

By leaving it uncovered, you allow the salt and seasoning to pull the moisture from the skin and into the flesh.

I do this for my Thanksgiving Turkey, and it makes such a difference!

There isn’t a lot more to seasoning your chicken than this, y’all.

Baking Chicken Thighs

So, now, let’s bake some chicken thighs!

Pull your chicken from the cold fridge 30 minutes before you turn your oven to preheat.

This allows the chill to come off of them and is better for getting that shatteringly crisp skin you want on chicken thighs!

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, and place your chicken on a clean-rimmed baking dish. If you’d like to save time on clean up, line the baking tray with foil!

Once your oven is preheated, you’ll bake your chicken thighs for 40-50 minutes, depending on their size.

While most people cook chicken to 165 degrees, as you should, I like baking bone-in dark meat past 175 degrees.

At the minimum temperature, dark meat can still be a little tight. You want to give it extra time to relax, cooking to juicy tender perfection.

While your chicken thighs bake, you can make the sauce.

The sauce is a Hot Honey Buffalo sauce and makes a fantastic dippable sauce.

It’s equal parts butter, hot honey, and buffalo sauce. Nothing fancy, y’all!

For four chicken thighs, I did three tablespoons of each ingredient.

What to Serve with Baked Chicken

I love serving roasted broccoli with roasted chicken. It all bakes at the same temperature, so there’s no going back and forth!

Cheesy Cauliflower Casserole is always a winner, too!

I can’t wait for you to try this recipe!