Recipes › Easy comfort dinners› Brown butter dill chicken thighs
Easy comfort dinners · Easy · Serves 4

Brown butter dill chicken thighs

One skillet of golden chicken thighs with shatter-crispy skin, basted in brown butter and finished with dill and lemon. The kind of weeknight dinner that earns a Tuesday.

Anna Lind Harper
by Anna Lind Harper
Tested twice · Published 2026-06-06
Four golden bone-in chicken thighs with shatter-crispy skin resting in a black cast iron skillet, basted in brown butter with fresh dill sprigs, smashed garlic cloves, and a halved lemon wedge. A side of crispy roasted baby potatoes on a small sheet pan, a folded striped cream-and-blue linen tea towel, and a small bowl of flaky salt on a white marble counter. Soft morning light from the kitchen window.
Prep
10 min
Cook
30 min
Serves
4
Difficulty
easy

These are the chicken thighs I make when I want a dinner that feels like a real recipe but takes about as long as ordering one. Bone-in skin-on thighs go into a hot cast iron skillet, the skin gets shatter-crispy, and the whole thing finishes in a pool of brown butter with dill and a squeeze of lemon.

The brown butter is the trick. It carries the dill, the garlic, and a small note of lemon, and it pools at the bottom of the pan so every bite tastes like more effort than it took. I usually roast a sheet pan of baby potatoes alongside, but a piece of crusty bread does the same work.

“Crispy skin, brown butter pooling, dill, a squeeze of lemon. The kind of dinner that earns a Tuesday.”
Why this one earns a weeknight

What you'll love about it

  • 01One skillet of crispy-skinned chicken thighs in dill brown butter. The kind of weeknight dinner that earns a Tuesday.
  • 02Forty minutes, mostly hands-off. The potatoes run in the oven while the chicken does its thing on the stove.
  • 03Skin gets shatter-crispy, the butter carries the dill and garlic, the lemon at the end keeps it bright.
  • 04Forgiving and flexible. Swap thyme for dill, skip the potatoes for crusty bread, halve the recipe for two.
A pair of hands in a soft blue pullover with sleeves rolled to three-quarter length working at a cast iron skillet of crispy-skin chicken thighs on a lit gas stovetop, one tilting the skillet handle with a folded cloth while the other uses a metal spoon to baste the chicken with the deep amber brown butter pooled at the tilted edge of the pan. Dill sprigs and smashed garlic cloves float in the butter. A marble subway-tile backsplash sits directly behind the stove and a white shaker cabinet flanks it at the lower-left.
Tilt the pan, spoon the brown butter over the chicken. The dill and garlic ride along.
Ingredients

For the chicken

  • 4bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, patted very dry, about 6 oz each
  • 1 tspkosher salt
  • ½ tspblack pepper
  • 1 Tbspolive oil
  • 3 Tbspunsalted butter
  • 2garlic cloves, smashed
  • 4fresh dill sprigs, plus more chopped for serving
  • 1small lemon, halved
  • for finishingflaky salt

For the crispy potatoes

  • 1½ lbbaby potatoes, halved
  • 2 Tbspolive oil
  • 1 tspkosher salt
  • chopped, for servingfresh dill and parsley
Method

How I make it

  1. 01
    Heat the oven, start the potatoes.
    Preheat the oven to 425°F. Toss the halved potatoes on a sheet pan with the 2 Tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp salt, cut-side down. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, until the cut sides are deeply golden and crisp. Shake the pan once.
  2. 02
    Season and dry the chicken.
    While the oven heats, pat the chicken thighs dry on both sides with a paper towel. Dry skin is the only path to crispy skin. Season generously with the kosher salt and pepper.
  3. 03
    Sear the chicken, skin-side down.
    Heat a 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium-high. Add the 1 Tbsp olive oil. Lay the thighs in the pan skin-side down. Now do nothing for 10 to 12 minutes. Don't lift, don't peek, don't move them. The skin needs uninterrupted contact with the hot pan to crisp.
  4. 04
    Flip, brown the butter.
    Flip the thighs. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the butter, smashed garlic, and dill sprigs to the pan. As the butter melts, it'll foam, then turn golden, then a deep amber with a toasty smell. That's brown butter. Tilt the pan and use a spoon to baste the thighs with the dill-and-garlic-scented butter for 4 to 5 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through (165°F at the bone).
  5. 05
    Finish with lemon and dill.
    Squeeze the halved lemon over the chicken (let the juiced halves drop into the pan too). Sprinkle generously with chopped fresh dill and a pinch of flaky salt. Serve right from the skillet, with the crispy potatoes alongside, and spoon some of the brown butter from the pan over everything.
    A pair of hands in a soft blue pullover squeezing a halved lemon over a finished cast iron skillet of brown butter dill chicken thighs, with the other hand cupped underneath to catch any seeds. A thin stream of lemon juice falls onto the chicken. The skillet sits on a folded striped cream-and-blue linen tea towel as a trivet on the white marble counter, with a small ceramic bowl of chopped dill and a small bowl of flaky salt to the side.
    Squeeze the lemon right over the pan, let the juiced halves drop in too. They keep working.
Macro close-up of a single chicken thigh's shatter-crispy golden brown skin glistening with brown butter, with a fresh dill sprig and a slightly caramelized smashed garlic clove resting on top, a flake of flaky salt on the surface, and a pool of golden amber brown butter visible at the bottom edge inside the black cast iron skillet.
A note from Anna

Two small things make this recipe great. First, pat the chicken extremely dry before salting; a wet thigh is a steamed thigh and you'll never get crispy skin. Second, leave the thighs alone for the full 10 minutes skin-side down. The urge to peek will be strong. Resist. The skin needs uninterrupted contact with the hot cast iron to render and crisp.

What to serve with it

Round out the table.

  • ·01
    A simple green salad
    Arugula or butter lettuce with olive oil, lemon, and flaky salt.
  • ·02
    Crusty rye or sourdough
    For soaking up the brown butter at the bottom of the pan.
  • ·03
    A small glass of crisp white
    Or sparkling water with cucumber and lemon.
Storage & reheating

Keeping the leftovers good.

Fridge: Keeps for 3 days in a sealed container. The skin softens overnight, which is normal.

Reheat: Best in a 375°F oven for 8 to 10 minutes, uncovered, on a sheet pan. The skin will crisp up again. Skip the microwave if you can; it makes the skin sad.

Make ahead: The potatoes can be roasted ahead and reheated. The chicken is best cooked right before eating, but the dry-salting step (step 2) can happen up to a day ahead and just sit uncovered in the fridge for even crispier skin.

Freezer: Not recommended for this one. The crispy skin is the whole point and it doesn't survive freezing.

Recipe card

Brown butter dill chicken thighs

One skillet of golden chicken thighs with shatter-crispy skin, basted in brown butter and finished with dill and lemon. The kind of weeknight dinner that earns a Tuesday.

Prep
10 min
Cook
30 min
Serves
4
Total
40 min
Ingredients
  • 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, patted very dry, about 6 oz each
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
  • 2 garlic cloves, smashed
  • 4 fresh dill sprigs, plus more chopped for serving
  • 1 small lemon, halved
  • for finishing flaky salt
  • 1½ lb baby potatoes, halved
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • chopped, for serving fresh dill and parsley
Method (short version)
  1. 01Heat the oven, start the potatoes.
  2. 02Season and dry the chicken.
  3. 03Sear the chicken, skin-side down.
  4. 04Flip, brown the butter.
  5. 05Finish with lemon and dill.

Nutrition information is an estimate. See full nutrition disclaimer.

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