Cracklin' Chicken is a family favorite! These crispy chicken thighs are tastier & healthier than regular fried chicken! Plus, they're Whole30-friendly, keto-friendly, and gluten-free!
2 teaspoons Magic Mushroom Powder (or your favorite Nom Nom Paleo seasoning blend (optional))
Categories
Dinner
Cuisine
American
Steps
Blot the chicken dry with a paper towel. Then, starting at one end of each thigh, use a sharp pair of kitchen shears to carefully cut out the bone, making sure you don’t cut through the meat. Stay as close to the bone as possible. When you get to the other end, trim around the joint and cartilage and remove the bone.
If extra skin or fat is flapping around and hanging off the thighs, you can trim it off as well. But don’t cut too much away, because the skin will shrink when you fry it.
Flatten the chicken with a meat pounder (or cut a gash in the thickest part of each thigh piece with your scissors) to ensure uniform cooking.
Turn the chicken skin-side-up, and sprinkle salt on the skin.
Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Melt the ghee in the pan and place four chicken thighs skin-side down in the hot pan.
Season the meat side with your favorite seasoning blend. If your seasoning blend of choice doesn’t include salt, you may want to add a bit more kosher salt to the chicken.
Let the skin fry undisturbed until crispy and golden brown (around 7-10 minutes), rotating the pan 90 degrees at the halfway point to make sure the heat from the burner is uniformly distributed.
Flip the chicken and cook for 3 more minutes or until cooked through. Transfer the chicken to a wire rack and rest ’em for 5 minutes.
Repeat the steps above with the four remaining thighs. When you’re ready to eat, slice them up and dig in!
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 1 serving
Calories: 433 kcal
Carbohydrates: 1 g
Protein: 31 g
Fat: 33 g
Reviews
Dee on 2026-04-28 (5 stars): My husband doesn't specify too many dinner ideas, but cracklin' chicken is often one of his favorite asks. I've been making this since your app! Always a hit. I find that we get our best results in a fry pan, like your original recipe. And we LOVE your mushroom powder. I made your recipe back in the day from scratch, but much prefer to buy your blend. Yum!
Chris on 2025-03-08 (5 stars): OMG! Winner dinner! Next time I may just leave the bone in but butterfly the thighs so they lie flat in the pan. And proceed with the recipe.
Sheila on 2025-03-07 (5 stars): Love this Cracklin Chicken.
D.B. on 2025-01-23 (5 stars): These always turn out delicious, but I keep finding that even if I flatten the thighs before cooking, they sort of contract and plump up again as soon as they hit the pan. The larger the piece, the more it thickens. With very big pieces, it ends up being difficult to make them cook through because they are so thick. I am going to try cutting larger thighs into smaller pieces next time.
BL on 2025-01-16 (5 stars): A favorite at our house! Easy and very good!
Mr Salty on 2024-03-20 (5 stars): I can definitely recommend de-boning the thighs. I made a batch last night feeling lazy and did not remove the bones. Had to finish in the oven... still bloody in the middle!
Dean on 2023-10-16 (5 stars): Everyone loves them
Bev Jones on 2023-04-21 (5 stars): I’ve made this recipe several times and it is a winner! If you love juicy, yet crispy chicken thighs give this a try!
Jill on 2022-09-07 (5 stars): I have been making this recipe for a couple years now and it has LITTERALLY become my grown children's, and grandchildren's, FAVORITE!!! Like birthday dinner pick favorite! So simple but SO GOOD!!! Learning to remove the bone from thighs was also life changing since I now do it in LOTS Of other recipes! Thank you SO MUCH!
