Roasted Chicken Thighs With Garlicky Cucumber Yogurt

Ash - oh dear! If you've ever enjoyed Turkish, Greek, Syrian, Israeli - any Middle Eastern food, or North African, Caucasian, Southern European or Central Asian food, you would know that yogurt and raw garlic are made for each other. Use less, or add other flavors if you like - cumin, as you suggested, mint, dill, etc., but for heaven's sake DON'T leave the raw garlic out.

I would recommend grating it, one of our favorite quick salad dressings is Greek yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil and a little grated garlic (one clove). Delicious.

I just pulled the pan out of the oven. 425 F is too hot. The juices burned and the lemon mostly incinerated. I check my oven with a thermometer every 2 or 3 months, but I think it has trouble maintaining a consistent temp. Next time, I will make larger wedges of the lemons and hold them until the last 20 minutes;grease the sheet pan; and check the oven more often. I’m thrilled to have such a quick and easy dinner.

Doubled the marinade in order to add some halved baby red potatoes to the chicken and lemons, then put them all on a foiled sheet pan and popped them in the oven. Lowered the oven temp to 400 degrees as others suggested, checked the chicken at 25 minutes and it was at an internal temp of 165, so did a quick broil to brown everything, then removed from the oven. Did not modify the tzatziki - it was very good with both the chicken and the potatoes.

PS: the only time I’ve ever ruined boneless thighs. The temp is too high and unforgiving. In 30 minutes, the meat was totally dry and tasteless.

Boneless thighs are generally done in about 20-25 minutes at 350, so temperature and time in this recipe are really off.

Thanks to all who posted. Because of you, I made a delicious meal! heated a cast iron in the oven, increased garlic, and all seasonings, marinated the chicken 3-4 hours, doubled sauce and added lemon zest and juice. Basically amped up all the flavors, halved the lemons instead of sliced, a few minutes under the broiler to caramelize everything. Delicious!!!!!!

I found this delicious. Followed the instructions except I cooked it in a large cast iron skillet which I left in the oven as it pre-heated. My husband said "he couldn't stop eating it" .. luckily there were some leftovers which I am enjoying today with some hommus. Definitely will make it again!

Try marinating the chicken in the garlic, oregano, lemon and olive oil for 3-4 hours. We did that and found the dish easy and delicious. Except for marinating, we used the recipe exactly as given.

Skin-on chicken thighs are a whole different ballgame. I cook those similar to skin-on breasts, and render the fat skin-down before roasting. But *this* recipe above calls for boneless skinless, where “crispiness” is not a factor, and I think this method works perfectly. I actually wonder if boneless skinless would dry out in air frier.

I mix grated or minced garlic into yogurt all the time. And so do, oh I don't know, half a dozen Mediterranean cuisines off the top of my head. If it's not to your taste, that's fine, but a blanket condemnation flies in the face of a lot of both tradition and contemporary practice here.

Oh my-I can’t imagine tzatziki (or even riata) without a wee bit of grated garlic. Doesn’t need much, but gotta have it!

You can make raw garlic milder by removing the small sprouting center from the cloves, if you want to tone down the taste.

After reading the comments, I’ve decided to use skin-on, bone-in thighs. If flattened a bit, 30 minutes at 425 should be plenty of time, and the skin should help keep the meat moist while providing a satisfying crispiness.

Skip the oven. Make this in a deep skillet on the stovetop. It will be easier to control the heat and brown the meat. I used lemon zest and the juice instead to coat the chicken. More lemon taste that sticks to the chicken. Really delicious dish.