You will love this baked chicken with green sauce both for its vibrant colour and spectacular flavour. Chicken thighs are marinated in a special, herb-rich sauce and baked to succulent perfection! Easy enough to make for a weeknight dinner! This chicken thigh recipe is Paleo, Whole30 and keto-friendly.
If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen my live video story of making these juicy baked chicken thighs with a special, secret green sauce. I promised that I would the recipe up on the blog, so here it is!
LET’S TALK ABOUT THE GREEN SAUCE
This sauce is fantastic for using up any fresh herbs and leafy greens. It is similar to salsa verde and is used both as a marinade for the chicken before it’s baked and as a condiment served over the top or alongside this dish.
It’s also quite versatile and can be used with any other meat, fish or seafood. I like it on top of scrambled or poached eggs in the morning, and as a base for a salad dressing.
HOW TO MAKE BAKED CHICKEN WITH GREEN SAUCE
- I am using chicken thighs with skin on and bone in but you can easily use chicken thighs without the bone and without the skin. If the thighs don’t have the bone in, they will need a little less time to cook. Similarly, you can use chicken breasts or turkey steaks. Pork steaks or fish fillets would also work well. You will need less cooking time for those.
- You can use any fresh herbs you like. I prefer to use ‘soft’ herbs like basil, parsley, coriander and so on, rather than ‘hardy’ herbs like rosemary, sage or thyme. Celery leaf is a flavourful addition and a great way to use up the whole celery. Rocket or spinach can also be added. Store leftover sauce in an airtight container for up to a week.
- Herbs, garlic and other seasonings and condiments are blended into an emerald-green sauce. Chicken meat is then coated and marinated in half of the sauce before getting baked in the oven. See the full recipe and timings below.
MORE OF MY FAVOURITE CHICKEN RECIPES
- Sticky Marmalade Chicken
- Paleo Bang Bang Chicken With Spicy Sauce
- Grilled Chicken Piccata (Keto, Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)
- Mexican Chicken Schnitzel (Paleo, Whole30)
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Learn how to make succulent baked chicken with special green sauce. This emerald sauce is made with multiple herbs, garlic, mustard and seasonings blended until smooth. It's super fragrant and flavourful and can be used with more than just the chicken. This recipe is Whole30, paleo, keto/low-carb friendly.
Ingredients
- 8 chicken thighs skin on, bone-in, see notes for alternatives
For the green sauce
- A handful of celery leaves
- A handful of coriander/cilantro leaves
- A handful of parsley leaves
- 1 tablespoon of oregano leaves
- A handful of basil leaves
- 2 cloves of garlic roughly sliced
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- Juice of 1/2 large lemon plus extra for serving
- 5 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 C / 400 F. I leave the flat oven tray in the oven to heat up as well.
- Place the green sauce ingredients in a small blender or a food processor. Whiz up for a minute, processing into smooth, thick sauce. Scrape the sides half way through. Alternatively, you can chop all the ingredients very finely and mix the marinade by hand.
- Reserve 2 tablespoons of the sauce in a small bowl and pour the rest over the chicken thighs. Mix well, making sure the pieces are evenly coated.
- Melt a teaspoon of coconut oil in the preheated, large, flat oven tray or a sheet pan. Place the chicken pieces, skin side down, on the tray and scoop any remaining marinade from the chicken bowl on top of the pieces (not the reserved sauce, as we’re using it right at the end). Sprinkle the chicken with a little more sea salt. Place the oven tray in the oven, middle shelf, and bake for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes rotate the tray (not the chicken) to ensure even cooking. Turn the oven down to 180 C / 380 F. Place back in the oven for 5 minutes. After 6 minutes, remove the tray and turn the pieces over, placing them skin side up. Then back in the oven for the final 10 minutes.
- Remove the cooked chicken to a plate, facing them skin side up (or whichever way you like). Scoop a teaspoon of the reserved green sauce on top of each piece and garnish with a fresh herb leaf, if you like. Serve with extra lemon on the side.
Notes
- I am using chicken thighs with skin on and bone in but you can easily use chicken thighs without the bone and without the skin. If the thighs don't have the bone in, they will need a little less time to cook. Similarly, you can use chicken breasts or turkey steaks. Pork steaks or fish fillets would also work well. You will need less cooking time for those.
- You can use any fresh herbs you like. I prefer to use 'soft' herbs like basil, parsley, coriander and so on, rather than 'hardy' herbs like rosemary, sage or thyme. Celery leaf is a flavourful addition and a great way to use up the whole celery. Rocket or spinach can also be added. Store leftover sauce in an airtight container for up to a week. If there are some herbs that you don't have as fresh but you have them dry, you can use that instead but the colour might not be as vibrant green.
Nutrition
Serving: 2 thighs with sauce | Calories: 795kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 47g | Fat: 66g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 12g | Monounsaturated Fat: 33g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 283mg | Sodium: 820mg | Potassium: 623mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 0.1g | Vitamin A: 406IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 2mg
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My mouth is watering looking at this recipe. I love chicken thighs even without anything on them, but the mixture of these fresh herbs – yes please! Looks so flavorful!
Yum, these look amazing. What a great way to use up greens too.
This looks incredible, that gorgeous green sauce would be good on everything!
Chicken thighs are my favorite and these look amazing! Full of flavor and crispy skin- yum!
These look absolutely DELICIOUS ! I also love the little green leaf decoration on top of the chicken. So cute !!!
Oh my goodness!!! These might be the most gorgeous chicken thighs I have seen. That sauce!!! It sounds amazing.
The ingredients in the green sauce are brilliant! I was wondering as I clicked through what it was going to be made of and it exceeded my expectations! Looks great!
Gorgeous recipe and I love the photos! I really love making sauces that are packed full of herbs – am pinning this one to try in the week. Thanks for a great recipe!
Oh my that sauce looks and sounds like it has all the types of “zing” I love!!
This green sauce is going to be on repeat throughout the summer, my garden herbs are just starting to come in abundance!
That’s a great way to use up those lonesome herbs. I bet cilantro would taste amazing!
That sauce looks so good! And that skin on the chicken is perfect 🙂
All those herbs. All that garlic. The crispy skin! PERFECTION!
Made this tonight…was delicious, thank you
It will be on high rotation as all the family loved it ?
What an amazing herb-filled sauce idea!
These chicken thighs look so succulent! I bet that sauce tastes amazing on top too! Can’t wait to make!
Thanks Kendra! Make sure to give them a try 🙂
Pardon my ignorance! But, for clarification and from those that have made this recipe. #4 and #5 instructions both say “skin side down.” At any time are the thighs cooked skin side UP? Thank you for the clarification. I want to make these! But, as an amateur I don’t want to mess up!
Hey Brenda,
Yes, it’s meant to be skin side up in step #5! My copy mistake. I have amended the steps. Thank you for spotting this.
Irena x
These are on my list to make for dinner next week, what vegetables would you serve with them to make a complete dinner time meal?
You could make some sweet potato and cauliflower mash, which would soak up that lovely green sauce and add some sweetness to the meal. Lightly steamed green beans, broccoli and carrots are also simple and nice. Otherwise, a gorgeous coleslaw would go well as well.
I don’t know why I didn’t think it would brown with a sauce on it, but it did and it the chicken thighs a lovely green ting. I love the spices you used.
So yummy! Thighs are so juicy too!
WOW.
I made some changes based on what I had available and it turned out wonderfully but I’m sure the original is fantastic too! Here is what I did differently:
For “herbs” in the sauce I only used leaves of 2 bunches cilantro, handful celery leaves & handful baby spinach. The rest of the ingredients I followed exactly.
I used a ceramic casserole dish in oven so I added 5 minutes to the cook time after rotating the dish then I used coconut oil in frying pan to crisp the skin after all of the baking was done because the skins did not crisp in the oven. (I imagine they would have on a sheet pan.) Everything else I followed exactly.