Crispy Smoked Paprika Chicken Recipe | foodiecrush.com (2024)

Juicy baked chicken thighs get a crispy skin thanks to a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkling of paprika spiced salt that takes just 5 minutes to prepare.

Some cooks seem like they wereborn with a wooden spoon in hand. But food blogger Mary Younkin’s cooking skills didn’t bloom until after marriage.

“When I was a newlywed, I couldn’t cook,” she admits. “I don’t say that lightly either, I really and truly was clueless in the kitchen beyond things that could be cooked from boxes and bags and sauces in jars. The only cookbooks I had at the time used a lot of ready made ingredients and I swear that everything wound up tasting the same,” she explains.

At that time, Mary wasn’t the only cook in the kitchen. “If we wanted a nice made from scratch dinner at home, my husband Sean was sure to be the one cooking it. I could bake and create pretty amazing desserts, but main dishes, side dishes, anything creative at all? That just wasn’t happening,” she concedes.

Until she began dreaming up recipes and started a food blog.

In 2011, Mary started her blog,Barefeet in the Kitchenas a way to chronicle her new territory in the kitchen. Her blogis one to turn to for quick, easy, healthy recipes that come together in minutes and never let home cooks and their familiesdown.

Over the summer, Marypublished her first cookbook, The Weeknight Dinner Cookbook: Family-Friendly Recipes for Everyday Home Cooking. It’s a testament to her kitchen mantra — simple, fast, and flavorful.

The cookbook is conveniently divided into chapters by the recipes’ cook time and effort level (15-25 minute meals, 30-45 minute meals, 5-10 minutes prep, slow cooker meals, etc.), and features several gluten-free recipes.

Mary has aweakness for lightning-fast meals, and her book reflects that. Recipes like herSweet Chipotle Chicken Bites are a family favorite, as well as herSheet Pan Chicken with Green Beans and Potatoes(a recipe from the “5 minute prep” chapter).

And as for the desserts? “The Lemon Lover’s Pound Cake still thrills me every time I make it,” she says.

“Now that cooking is something I enjoy,I wanted to write a cookbook full of foods that tasted incredible, but were easy enough for a home cook to make on a busy night,” Mary says.

“Ourfavorite go-to weeknight meals are dishes likePan Fried Italian Chicken Thighsand Pulled Pork BBQ Sundaes— at least one of those recipes lands on our table every month.”

And now, myList of 10 Q’s for Mary’sA’s

1. Describe your recipesin 3 words:

Scratch made simple.

2. If you could be one blogger other than yourself, who would you be?

If I could borrow some skills from a friend for a little while, I’d love to step intoRebecca’sshoes (Foodie with Family), for her mad bread and cheese making skills.

3. Which 3 blogs do you follow/are obsessed with/can’t live a day without?

There are countless food blogs that I adore, I can’t even begin to narrow it down to just a few. (I did try!) However, Sacred Ground Sticky Floorsis truly inspired writing from Jami Amerine. Every time I see one of Jami’s posts in my email, I know that my day just received a breath of fresh air.

4. What is the one kitchen tool you could never give up?

A great chef’s knife. Decent knives will make or break your work in the kitchen. I worked for years with lousy knives and now? A wicked sharp and comfortable knife is priceless.

5. What dish are you obsessed with mastering that you just can’t get quite right?

Feel free to laugh, but my nemesis is pizza.

6. What did you have for dinner last night?

Mexican Pulled Pork stuffed into tacos with Skillet Street Corn on the side (both recipes from the cookbook, both made by my 12 year-old son this time).

7. What’s one secret talent outside of the kitchen nobody knows aboutyou?

I’m a ridiculously fast reader. Last time I tested the speed, (maybe in college?) I was reading somewhere around a thousand words a minute. Sometimes it’s handy, more often than not, it’s a bummer when I am loving a new book and then it’s finished in just a few hours. This is why I adore the public library and it’s also why I very rarely purchase a book. If I bought copies of all the books I read? Well, let’s just say the grocery budget would need to shrink to balance it all out.

8. You’re happiest when cooking/eating:

Massive garden salads with carnitas, avocado, and Fritos piled on top, followed by an ice cream cone.

9. The one secret to your success is?

BUTTER :)

10.How does being a mom help inform the things you create for your blog and the recipes in your book?

The ability to laugh at kitchen mistakes and failures, clean up the mess, and try again. In addition to that, I always have a stash of chocolate and ice cream to balance out the less than perfect meals.

Thank you Maryfor being our foodie crush and congratulations on your new cookbook. Now, let’s dive into the recipe.

Smoked Paprika Chicken Recipe with Barefeet In the Kitchen

There’s really not anything a busy home cook wishes for more than to have a few staple recipes logged for simple, nutritious, weeknight eats.

This garlicky spiced chicken thigh dinner recipe is exactly that, and a big part of my meal planning strategy for an easier, healthier dinner option.

With minimal ingredients that are pretty much always on hand, thisrecipe for Mary’s Crispy Garlic Paprika Chicken comes together injust about 5 minutes and then lets the oven do all of the work.

There wasn’t much to switch up from Mary’soriginal recipe, except to maybe add a little smoke.My husband is a huge fan of the depth of flavor smoked paprika provides so I substituted it where Mary calls for regular paprika. You can certainly use either to your liking.

The key to a crispy baked chicken is using skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs that have been drizzled with a bit of olive oil and seasoned with the simple blend of herbs straight from your spice cabinet.

Cooking the chicken elevated on a wire rack allows the oven’s hot air to circulate all around the chicken and for the fat to render from the skin so the thighs don’tcook and stew in their own juices. The result is a crispy crust on all sides.

I doubled the amount of spice mixture to sprinkle a little extra on the chicken and also flavor a separate roasting of broccoli and red onion for the side for one more layer of garlicky, smoked paprika flavor.

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me onInstagramwith #foodiecrusheats.

Visit Maryand her blog atBarefeet in the Kitchen.