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Crispy Chicken Thighs With Charred Zucchini

By Ham El-Waylly

Updated Oct. 12, 2023

Crispy Chicken Thighs With Charred Zucchini
Mark Weinberg for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.
Total Time
1 hour
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
50 minutes
Rating
4(647)
Comments
Read comments

Char your vegetables. Its brings the best out of many brassicas, like broccoli and cabbage, but also summer squash like zucchini. All too often zucchini can fall a little flat, but charring caramelizes the natural sugars that are present in the zucchini, enhancing their sweetness and adding a hint of smoky flavor. This is the perfect, punchy weeknight dinner, as the pumpkin seed dressing comes together entirely in the blender while the chicken finishes cooking in the oven. Save this sauce in your back pocket, as it does everything a green goddess dressing can do, but is much lighter — and equally great on a wedge of iceberg or as a dip for potato chips.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 4bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 1½ pounds)
  • Kosher salt
  • 3medium zucchini, halved lengthwise
  • ¼cup raw pumpkin seeds
  • Tender cilantro sprigs, for garnish

    • For the Sauce

    • ½cup buttermilk
    • ¼cup raw pumpkin seeds
    • 1cup torn tender cilantro stems and leaves
    • 1garlic clove
    • 1jalapeño, stemmed (and seeded, if preferred)
    • 3tablespoons lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
    • 1teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)

    To Serve

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 400 degrees. Use a paper towel to pat both sides of the thighs until dry. Generously season the chicken thighs all over with kosher salt. On a plate, season the cut sides of the zucchini with salt and let sit.

  2. Step 2

    Place the thighs skin side down in a medium or large oven-safe skillet and turn the heat to medium. Cook, undisturbed, until the fat on the chicken skin has rendered, the thighs release easily from the pan, and the skin is a golden brown with splotches of dark brown, about 15 minutes. Flip the thighs over and cook until the other side is golden brown, about 5 minutes.

  3. Step 3

    Transfer the chicken, skin side up, to a plate. Return the pan to medium heat. Pat the zucchini dry and place cut side down in the pan and press down firmly with a spatula. Cook until deeply charred in spots, about 3 minutes, then flip. Add ¼ cup water and scrape up any browned bits with a stiff spatula or wooden spoon. Place the thighs (and any juices) on top of the zucchini, skin side up. Scatter the pumpkin seeds around the pan and transfer skillet to the oven. Roast until thighs are cooked through, about 15 minutes.

  4. Step 4

    While the chicken roasts, make the sauce: To a blender, add the buttermilk, pumpkin seeds, cilantro, garlic, jalapeño, lemon juice and salt; blend until smooth.

  5. Step 5

    Scatter cilantro on top of the chicken and finish with a light drizzle of sauce. Serve with rice and the rest of the sauce on the side.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
647 user ratings
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Comments

Richard

Remove the seeds from the zucchini and salt it for 20 minutes before you cook it to pull out some of the water. That will help keep it from getting mushy while cooking.

spm

I love charred zucchini on the grill. In this recipe it turned out too mushy. Consider substituting a sturdier vegetable. Next time I may try Brussel Sprouts. Pumpkin seeds were a nice addition.

Es

Great dinner. I loved the different textures. This is what I did: First of all, a large zucchini (missed in the garden) cut in half and then the halves cut in half (6 pieces); salted for a half hour (did not remove seeds) and then grilled until charred all over; cooked the thighs and then deglazed the pan with a touch of dry sherry; put chicken on top of zucchini surrounded by pumpkin seeds, and then roasted. Sauce superfluous but good. Zucchini not mushy. Rice with corn with sauce as a side.

tk

Zucchini was very mushy.

Colleen in DC

This is really good and super simple. I was looking in my cabinet for the dried herbs, and I saw an unopened jar of Penzey’s Tuscan Sunset seasoning that I purchased in a whim and used 2 tsp of that instead and it was great. If you have some Penzey’s Tuscan Sunset seasoning, use it here.

Kristen

I missed the step on salting the zucchini - will try that next time. I changed the sauce a little - used about half mint and half cilantro. My garden is overrun with mint! I think you could use any tangy base - buttermilk, plain yoghurt, even a thinned out sour cream.

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