Jerk Chicken Thighs

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These Jerk Chicken Thighs use a jerk dry rub with spices imported from Jamaica to get authentic flavor in under 30 minutes. After crisping the chicken in my air fryer, I top them with a three-ingredient sweet and spicy sauce.

Why Make Jerk Chicken Thighs

• Simple ingredients: this easy recipe includes a Jamaican jerk seasoning that I get online. That saves me so much time in trying to make a jerk marinade and removes the worry of trying to find things like scotch bonnet peppers since they’re already included.
• Easy: these jerk chicken thighs come together in about 30 minutes. Even though I use an air fryer, these can be baked in the oven or cooked stove-top in a cast iron skillet.

Ingredients Needed

Here’s what you need to know about the ingredients in this dry rub jerk chicken thighs recipe to make it successfully:

Jerk Chicken

• Chicken Thighs: I’m using raw boneless and skinless chicken thighs. You can use bone-in chicken thighs like I do in Baked Cajun Chicken Thighs but the cook time will be a few minutes longer.
• Spicy Jamaican Jerk Dry Rub: I’m using my favorite premade jerk seasoning from The Jerk Man. I love this mix because the ingredients come straight from Jamaica and the recipe tastes authentic.
• Avocado oil: this is a neutral tasting oil that helps the spices stick to the meat and assists with crisping.

Sweet & Tangy Sauce

This sauce is optional, but I enjoy topping my chicken with it since it brings out the flavors in the dry rub.

• Sriracha: I use this because it’s creamy and includes things like garlic, but any hot sauce that you enjoy would also work
• Honey: any would work
• Lime Juice from a freshly squeezed lime or from a bottle

How To Make Jerk Chicken Thighs

Here are the key steps in making this dish:

1. Mix the chicken: Add the chicken, spices, and avocado oil to a large bowl. Use tongs and mix to incorporate. 
2. Air fry the chicken thighs: Add the chicken to your air fryer basket in a single layer. Air fry at 400 degrees for 22-25 minutes. Flip the meat halfway through.
3. Make the sauce: Whisk the sweet & spicy sauce ingredients in a large bow. 
4. Toss the chicken in the sauce

Recipe Tips & FAQs

• Preheat your air fryer: this allows your chicken to start cooking immediately, which is key for crispier chicken thighs
• Sauce optional: I enjoy the sweet & spicy sauce, especially when I use this meat to make jerk chicken sandwiches and jerk chicken wraps, but you can skip it if you just want jerk spiced chicken
• Use the meat for meal prep: at least once a week, I use leftover jerk chicken as the main protein in a salad or salad kit

Recipes to Serve with Jerk Chicken Thighs

I made an entire post with jerk chicken side dishes from across the web. But, here are some dishes from this site that would pair well with these:

• Bowtie Pasta Salad Recipe
• Slow Cooker Baked Beans with Canned Beans