Baked, skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs are a marvel for dinner. Since the , it's no wonder (though ). The skin is also a delicious treat, but have you ever tasted it after dry-brining? It gets incredibly crispy, so crackly and crunchy; and while the texture is incredibly good, the flavor will have you looking longingly at the baking tray as you contemplate going back for seconds.
Dry-brining your chicken thighs (which involves rubbing the thighs all over with either salt or your seasoning choice, including salt, then placing on a baking tray, uncovered, in the fridge for up to 24 hours) draws moisture from the skin, bringing it to the surface, where it then evaporates into the cold refrigerator air. This much-less-moist skin, then, can get extra crispy in the oven. It also bears mentioning that you should likely use more salt than however much you were planning to.
A good rule of thumb is about 1 teaspoon per pound of chicken, though you can use more if you think that stretches the salt a bit thin (and you can always experiment with adding more salt on subsequent batches). More tips for getting extra crispy chicken thigh skin You'd be doing your chicken thighs a disservice if you went through the long dry-brine process, only to pop them in the oven at too low a temperature or without raising them from the cooking surface. Dry-brining is incredibly effective, but you can also help along the process while cooking by blasting the chicken with heat — no less than 400 degrees Fa.
