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Creamy Baked Chicken Thighs with Mushrooms & Bacon. An easy weeknight dinner packed full of flavour the whole family will love! Another tasty low carb and Keto approved recipe.
Golden, crispy skinned and juicy bone-in baked chicken thighs with tender cremini mushrooms and crispy fried bacon pieces, simmered in a garlic parmesan cream sauce? YES please! Another ripper chicken dinner… readers have been loving this recipe since forever! Accidentally gluten free and low carb with maximum deliciousness.
BAKED CHICKEN THIGHS
There’s nothing like a delicious bowl of Creamy Chicken and Mushroom! But throw in golden baked chicken thighs WITH crispy bacon and you’re onto a winner. Both heavy cream and half and half options have been included in this recipe.
May the fats be ever in your favor.
HOW TO BAKE CHICKEN THIGHS
You want crispy skinned chicken for this. I can’t imagine anything worse than soggy, fatty skin swimming in a cream sauce. To get them nice and golden, you’re going to:
RUB skin-on and bone-in chicken thighs with olive oil, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper.
SEAR thighs in a large oven proof pan or skillet, skin-side down first, to render the fat and get the skin a beautiful golden brown colour. Flip and sear the other side for about 2-3 minutes.
TRANSFER chicken to your preheated oven and bake until completely cooked through, about 25-30 minutes.
REMOVE chicken from the pan, keeping about half of the pan juices (chicken grease) in the skillet to start your sauce.
SAUCE FOR CHICKEN
Once your baked chicken thighs are nice and crispy, use the SAME PAN to prepare your sauce.
SAUTÉ garlic in the reserved pan juices over medium heat until fragrant. This process only takes about 30 seconds to a minute.
FRY bacon until crispy and add in the mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms begin to soften.
POUR in the cream, some chicken broth and Parmesan cheese, simmering until slightly thickened.
TASTE TEST before seasoning with additional salt as the bacon may add enough saltiness too the sauce.
ADD chicken thighs back into the pan SKIN-SIDE UP! This keeps them nice and crunchy for when you’re ready to serve.
SIMMER in the sauce to absorb all of those delicious flavours into the underside of the thighs.
PARMESAN AND GARLIC
These flavours are seen in most of our family recipes, from Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potatoes to our reader favourite Mac and Cheese.
MORE BAKED CHICKEN THIGH RECIPES
Honey Soy Baked Chicken Thighs
Spinach Artichoke Chicken Thighs
Chicken Cacciatore
Crispy Cilantro Lime Chicken
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Creamy Baked Chicken Thighs with Mushrooms & Bacon
Ingredients
FOR THE CHICKEN:
- 6 chicken thighs bone-in, skin-on or off
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
- 1 pinch Kosher salt to taste
- 1 pinch ground black pepper to taste
FOR THE CREAM SAUCE:
- 4 cloves garlic crushed
- 7 ounces diced bacon
- 14 ounces brown mushrooms Cremini, sliced
- 1 cup heavy cream or half and half
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup parmesan freshly grated
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper freshly ground to taste
- 1 pinch salt only if needed to your taste
- 1 pinch fresh parsley extra chopped, to garnish
- 1 pinch parmesan fresh shaved or grated, to garnish
Instructions
BAKED CHICKEN THIGHS
- Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).
- Arrange chicken on a plate. Combine together the olive oil, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper in a jug. Rub the oil mixture over the chicken to completely coat.
- Heat a large oevn proof pan or skillet over medium high heat. Sear the chicken, skin-side down first, until skin is crisp and golden brown. Rotate and sear the other side (about 2-3 minutes per side).
- Transfer to oven and roast until completely cooked through, about 25-30 minutes.
- Once chicken is done, remove from skillet; set aside. Pour out HALF of the chicken juices left in the pan.
SAUCE
- Using the same skillet the chicken was in, fry the garlic in the reserved chicken juices over medium heat, stirring frequently until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the bacon and fry until just beginning to crisp. Add in the mushrooms and cook until mushrooms begin to soften.
- Pour in the cream, chicken broth and Parmesan. Let simmer until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes.
- Season with pepper. Taste first before adding in any extra salt, as the bacon will add the salt.
- Add the chicken back into the pan; allow to simmer for 1-2 minutes in the cream to take on the flavours.
- Garnish with parsley and shaved or grated parmesan, if desired. Serve over rice, pasta, or steamed/grilled vegetables.
Notes
TIPS
- If using cream: Thickened cream, heavy cream, light or reduced fat cooking cream are all fine to use. If you prefer a thicker sauce, whisk together 1 level teaspoon cornstarch with 1 tablespoon cream until lump free and well blended. Add the mixture into the cream sauce, while stirring continuously, until thickened.
- If using half and half: Bring to a gentle simmer; whisk 2 teaspoons of cornstarch into 1-2 tablespoons of *extra* half and half; pour cornstarch mixture into the centre of the pan; stir continuously until the sauce thickens and becomes a 'cream'. Nutrition facts are calculated based on skin-on, bone in thighs, and heavy cream.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was a delicious recipe! I ended up cooking some bacon before adding the chicken and then just added the chicken (seasoned with Lawry’s seasoning salt instead of salt and pepper) parsley, and garlic all together in the pan with the bacon grease following the recipe from there. Served it over penne pasta. I only used 4 thighs as we’re a family of 3 and I wanted more sauce for the pasta and I think it was a good amount of extra sauce to cover our pasta too. Overall got a thumbs up from my husband and kiddo and will be cooking this again!
Made this tonight with a few adjustments. No parsley as I’m allergic. Next I had 10 thighs so I double the cream, broth and cheese. I also used Hardwood smoked bacon. We ate over an hour ago and my ole man had not stopped talking about and we’ve shared the recipe to 2 different people so far. He asked you still have the recipe right so we can eat this all the time! We don’t cuss but he looked at me and said please forgive me and used so many colorfull words blew my mind lol. Thank you so very much for an amazingly awesome recipe. So rich smoky and flavorful. Hard to believe all the flavor and only using salt, pepper and garlic
I added feta cheese when done. Was delicious. Highly recommend.
I have now made this recipe many times for many members of my family, occasionally with some changes.
My personal favorite is to use lobster ravioli instead of the tortellini. So good!
I’ve also omitted the chicken, used different kinds of tortellini, and tonight, I’m subbing crab meat for the chicken.
PS the cream sauce is the closest thing to Alfredo sauce my husband will eat.
This recipe is a hit at my house!
Love, love and loved it!
I saw this recipe and thought that it would be good. However, it was better than I imagined. I cut the amount of mushrooms in half. The sauce itself is over the top.
Excellent. I used pre-cooked bacon and added with the mushrooms.
I made this a few weeks ago for my family. There were no leftovers. I made it again tonight and doubled the recipe so I could have it for lunch tomorrow…..There were no leftovers.
This looks really delicious. Will definitely try this soon! Thank you so much! 🙂
Wow! My husband and daughter is usually a very picky eater and dinner ideas gets hard and always want to try new recipes. Husband and daughter absolutely loved it and said it was one of my best!