Spicy Baked Chicken Thighs and Ranch Potatoes

If you’re a fan of juicy, tender chicken and crispy potatoes, this recipe is for you. It’s super easy to make and requires about 10 minutes of prep time with minimal raw chicken handling. And in case you’re wondering, the recipe totally works with chicken breast in case you’re not a fan of chicken thighs or need to save a few extra calories.

Below, I’ll walk you through the recipe and cover a few tips, tricks, and ingredient modification notes. And there’s a printable recipe card at the bottom of the post if you’re feeling confident.

How to Make Baked Ranch Potatoes

First things first, these potatoes are too legit. The spicy baked chicken thighs are great, don’t get me wrong. But it’s hard to beat crispy potatoes!

The recipe calls for baby gold potatoes like my air fryer Greek potatoes, but you could use Yukon gold or even a blend of gold and red potatoes like I used in my crispy parmesan air fryer potatoes. I went with wedges, but you could go with diced or just about any variation you want.

And yup, the ranch potatoes are great on their own. They’d be a great pairing with recipes like my Instant Pot barbecue chicken or crispy chicken bites tacos.

And if you wanted to make them on their own in the air fryer, I’d use my air fryer potato wedges as a guide—air fry the potato wedges in 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil for 15-20 minutes at 400ºF then toss in another 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of ranch seasoning before air frying another 5 minutes or so.

How to Make Spicy Baked Chicken Thighs

The spice blend here is very similar to the one I used in my Nashville Hot air fryer chicken nuggets recipe. There’s a bit more spice since the higher fat content in the chicken thighs can carry it, and you’ll have a little runoff during baking. One tip I give in the recipe card’s notes section is to spoon some of the juices over the top of the chicken thighs during baking. Do it!

I’ve also included notes for baking everything together on one large baking sheet.

Side note: If you like this combo of baked chicken and potatoes combo and want more flavor options, check out my air fryer chicken nuggets guide. You’ll find 6 additional seasoning blends to try!

Can I use chicken breast?

Totally. Though you may need to extend the cook time by a few minutes since chicken breast tends to be a bit thicker than boneless skinless chicken thighs. Or you could always pound out the chicken breast to an even thickness like I mentioned in my buttermilk pan fried chicken breast recipe.

Can I use an air fryer?

If you’re familiar with my recipes, you know I love air frying. If you’re curious about air frying your chicken and potatoes, you could use a wire rack to air fry the chicken on top of the potatoes and finishing the potatoes on their own. Or you could start the potatoes on their own and add the chicken in later like in my sweet chili air fryer chicken and brussels sprouts.

Serving Your Baked Chicken Thighs and Potatoes

I mentioned the spice blend resembles that of my Nashville Hot nuggets, so bread and butter pickles are never a bad move with that flavor profile. If you wanted a dipping sauce, you could go with something like ranch or make a lower fat Greek yogurt ranch like in my spicy buttermilk baked chicken tenderloins recipe.

• 1/2 C Fat Free Greek Yogurt
• 2 Tbsp Milk of Your Choice
• 1 Tbsp Ranch Seasoning

That should be everything you need to know. Enjoy your baked chicken thighs and potatoes! If you have a recipe question I missed, leave a comment below.

4.85 from 20 votes

Servings: 5 Servings

Spicy Baked Chicken Thighs and Ranch Potatoes

By Mason Woodruff

Juicy, tender chicken thighs baked with crispy ranch potato wedges.

Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 40 minutes mins

Total: 50 minutes mins

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Ingredients

For the Potatoes

• ▢ 1 1/2 lb 675g Baby Gold Potatoes, cut into wedges
• ▢ 1 Tbsp 16g Olive Oil
• ▢ 1 1/2 Tbsp Ranch Seasoning

For the Chicken Thighs

• ▢ 5 Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs, 24 oz total
• ▢ 1 Tbsp 16g Olive Oil
• ▢ 1 Tbsp 12g Swerve Brown
• ▢ 2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
• ▢ 2 tsp Smoked Paprika
• ▢ 1 tsp Chili Powder
• ▢ 1 tsp Kosher Salt
• ▢ 1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• ▢ 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

Instructions 

• Preheat an oven to 400ºF while you cut the potatoes and toss them in the olive oil and ranch seasoning. Transfer to a baking sheet and pop them in the oven on the center rack while you prep the chicken.
• Pat the chicken thighs dry with a paper towel and place in a large bowl. Coat with a tablespoon of olive oil before adding the remaining spices. Use a rubber spatula to evenly coat the chicken in the spice blend.
• Place the chicken thighs directly on a separate rimmed baking sheet* and bake on the bottom rack of your oven for 18-20 minutes or until 165ºF. Remove the chicken from the oven. Set aside.
• Use your oven’s broil function for 5-10 minutes if you want extra crispy potatoes. You can also stir the potatoes in the baking sheet for evenly crisp potatoes.

Notes

*If you have a large baking sheet, you could bake the potatoes and chicken together. Start with the potatoes spread out on a large baking sheet and push them to one side when you add the chicken. You can remove the chicken and pop the potatoes back under the broiler at the end.

Chicken Tip: For extra diggity, spoon some of the rendered fat/juices over the chicken thighs a couple times during baking.

Each serving has 7 WW SmartPoints (blue).

Nutrition

Serving: 1Chicken Thigh and 1/5th of the Potatoes, Calories: 375kcal, Carbohydrates: 25g, Protein: 28g, Fat: 15g

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