These Lemon Soy Chicken Thighs might be one of my favourite, easy dinners to cook all year round. They can be cooked in the oven or in the slow cooker. You can mix the sauce right in the oven dish or slow cooker pot, nestle in the chicken thighs and simply cook!
If you have a toddler or fussy eater and are wondering how to adapt these Lemon Soy Chicken Thighs for your family, see here >
You’ll love this recipe because it’s:
- So easy, just mix up the sauce in the pot you’re going to cook it in, nestle in the chicken thighs.
- It’s budget friendly when you use bone-in, skin on chicken thighs.
- Which brings me to my next point, you can use either bone-in or boneless chicken thighs, totally your preference, the recipe gives directions for both.
- You can cook this dish in the slow cooker instead of the oven if you prefer. Slow cooking is great for when you have more time earlier on in the day, than just before dinner, to start cooking. It’s also great on a hot summers day to not have to turn the oven on!
The Stars of my Lemon Soy Chicken Thighs
This dish is really all about the sauce. It’s my version of an Anglo-Asian lemon chicken. Aside from the lemon we will be obviously using, here’s what else we’ll be adding in:
- chicken stock
- dark & reduced salt soy sauce
- oyster sauce
- dark brown sugar
- rice wine vinegar
- and cornflour / cornstarch to thicken the sauce a little.
FAQ’s For My Lemon Soy Chicken Thighs
Do I need to add lemons slices?
No, you don’t, and I don’t usually add them. Really, I would only recommend you bother if you are serving the dish to guests, as aesthetically it looks much better with the lemon slices (and a few coriander sprigs if you have any).
If you did want to add the lemon slices, I’ve noted in the recipe to just add them in for the last 10 minutes if oven baking, or the last half an hour if you’re slow cooking them. If you add them at the start of the cook, you can end up with an overpowering bitter lemon flavour, especially when cooked in the slow cooker.
How should I serve these Lemon Soy Chicken Thighs?
I love to serve these with white rice and either simple steamed vegetables like broccoli, baby corn, mange-tout or carrots. If you prefer to stir-fry them, go for it!
Is there a taste difference when slow cooking this dish vs baking them in the oven?
So there are a couple of differences. When you oven bake the chicken thighs, they will get a lovely golden and caramelised sheen on them. When cooked in the slow cooker, you won’t get that. So presentation wise, if you’re serving this meal to guests, you might want to bake them in a nice oven or casserole dish, and top with the lemon slices and a few sprigs of coriander if you like. If you’re just eating at home with your immediate family, I honestly wouldn’t worry about this and go for the slow cooker if you prefer.
The big bonus when you slow cook these chicken thighs instead of oven baking them, is that you’re going to get lovely fall-off-the-bone, soft chicken.
Can I prepare this dish in advance?
Yes, you could absolutely make the sauce up in advance. Just store it in the fridge in an airtight container until ready to cook.
Can I feed more people with this recipe?
Oh, you can definitely feed more people with this dish. You can double or even treble this recipe if you like. As I mentioned above, if you are serving to guests, presentation wise it would look aesthetically more pleasing if you oven bake them. To do this you will need a large oven dish or bake them in two oven dishes. I would also recommend you using bone-in, skin-on thighs as not only will that be cheaper, but also it will look better on serving.
To scale up the recipe, use the buttons to the top right of the ingredients list to scale up the recipe.
Of course, if you’re just serving to immediate family and you have a large one, you can double up and cook in the slow cooker / Crock Pot, so long as it’s big enough.
How can younger children help make it?
They can help add all of the sauce ingredients to your pot and stir it up for you. If you allow them to add the chicken to the pot, it’s best for them to do that with a fork or tongs, and ensure they wash their hands for at least 20 seconds afterwards.
Can I Store Lemon Soy Chicken Thighs leftovers?
You can store any Lemon Soy Chicken Thighs leftovers in an air-tight container or resealable food bag in the fridge for up to 3 days (cook day + 2). They can also be frozen. If you’ve used bone-in thighs, you’ll want to remove the meat from the bone before you freeze it. Even if you use boneless chicken thighs, it’s best to cut the meat into chunks before you freeze it as it will microwave more evenly that way. Then just defrost for 24 hours in the fridge and reheat in the microwave, stirring halfway, until steaming hot all the way through.
More on safe food storage and reheating.
What diets is this recipe suitable for?
My Lemon Soy Chicken Thighs are egg and dairy-free. It should be nut-free too, just check the labels for all the ingredients to ensure they don’t say ‘may contain nuts‘. It is NOT suitable for gluten-free diets, vegans or vegetarians.
Adapting My Lemon Soy Chicken Thighs For Your Family
Eating together is beneficial for families of all ages and stages, for a multitude of reasons; nutritional, behavioural, psychological and for healthy family functioning. This section will show you how to tweak this Lemon Soy Chicken Thighs recipe for sharing with a toddler or a fussy eater, which will help make it easier to eat together as a family.
Keeping Fussy Eaters Happy
You may have a picky eater who is funny with the soft chicken texture that slow cooking gives chicken, if so, I would recommend that you oven bake these chicken thighs. If your fussy eater is funny with certain sauces, then I would recommend dishing those up without any sauce and maybe giving them a little of it in a dish or mini jug to add as they like.
Making My Lemon Soy Chicken Thighs Suitable for Toddlers
These Lemon Soy Chicken Thighs are suitable for little ones over 12 months old. This is because of the salt in the soy sauce and the sugar we are adding. To make it a little bit more toddler friendly, you can use low-salt chicken stock, and swap the dark soy for reduced salt soy. And obviously, don’t add in any salt to the sauce or the chicken. Cut the chicken into small bite-size pieces.
I’ve also added these notes to the bottom of the recipe so you have them to hand when you come to cook.
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Lemon Soy Chicken Thighs (Oven and Slow Cooker)
Equipment
- Oven-proof dish
- Or slow cooker / Crock-Pot
Ingredients
- 1 kg chicken thighs bone-in, skin on (or 650g / 22.93oz boneless)
- 100 ml chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon reduced salt soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon cornflour / cornstarch
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 lemon sliced, optional
See notes for sharing with toddler
SERVING SUGGESTIONS
- Steamed or stir fried vegetables
- White basmati rice
Instructions
TO OVEN BAKE
- Preheat your oven to 200ºc/180ºc fan/400ºf/gas 6.
- Mix all the sauce ingredients together in an oven-proof dish using a mini hand whisk.
- Nestle in the chicken thighs. Bake for 45 minutes for bone-in, 35 for boneless, adding the lemon slices if you fancy 10 minutes before serving (see notes).
SLOW COOKER
- Mix all the sauce ingredients together in your slow cooker pot with a hand whisk.
- Nestle in the chicken and cover. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours (boneless, I’d go for 4 hours bone-in, 5). if you’d like to add lemon slices, add in for the last half an hour, just lying them on the top of the chicken.
Notes
Baby & Toddler
FUSSY EATERS
Nutrition
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