Grilled Lemon Pepper Chicken Thighs

Lemon Pepper Chicken Thighs are so incredibly juicy, tender and healthy they will quickly become a family favorite! 

🍋 Meal Preparation

To make the lemon pepper seasoning, you will need dried lemons peels. You can buy them at your local grocery store in the spice section or you can easily make your own in no time! 

Step One: Wash lemons. I like to scrub them to make sure all excess chemical residue is off and tend to try to get organic for this reason, if available. 

Step Two: Use a vegetable peeler or a paring knife and peel away the skin onto a sheet pan that is lined with parchment paper. Spread out the lemon peels evenly so they aren’t bunched up in areas or they will be hard to dry. 

Step Three: Using the oven is the fastest method and you can dry these at 200 degrees for about 20-30 minutes. You know they are done when they SNAP easily. Alternatively, you can use a dehydrator that is turned on to 95 degrees for 8-10 hours. Again, make sure they SNAP when you try to break them. 

Store in an airtight container. 

Step Four: Grind whole peppercorns in a Mini Food Processor. 

Step Five: Combine dried lemon peel, ground peppercorns and kosher salt into a bowl and mix thoroughly. 

Note: This recipe makes about ½ of a cup Lemon Pepper Seasoning depending on how finely you grind your lemon and pepper. 

Store Bought vs Homemade Lemon Pepper Seasoning 

I was asked why I would make lemon pepper seasoning when I could just run to the store to buy my own. True. I get that, but look at the ingredients on the back of the jars. I was not happy to see that many included ingredients that I didn’t want to serve my family.

One of the popular store-bought varieties includes Calcium Stearate, Silicon Dioxide, and Calcium Silicate, and FD&C Yellow 5 Lake. So, I had never heard of some of these additives and looked them up. It turns out that Yellow 5 is made from coal tar! Yeah, that is not being served in this house.  

My homemade lemon pepper seasoning has three easy ingredients. It smells incredibly fresh and once you get a taste of it, it’s hard to go back to prepackaged varieties. Once you taste this, it will blow your socks off! 

Now, if you only have the option to buy a jarred lemon pepper seasoning – by all means, buy it and make this chicken. Just at some point, try making your own and taste the difference! 

🔥 Grilling Instructions

Step One: Rub bone in/skin on chicken thighs with olive oil.  Sprinkle the lemon pepper dry rub on the thighs. I ended up using almost two tablespoons. 

Step Two: Grill chicken at 350 degrees for eight minutes on each side. I kept grilling until the internal temperature reached 165 degrees. 

🍴 Substitutions

You can use lemon pepper seasoning on:

• Chicken breasts 
• Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs 
• Whole Turkey 
• Cornish Hen 
• Turkey Legs 
• Turkey Breast 
• Asparagus 
• Brussels Sprouts 
• Grilled Carrots 

🍽️ Stovetop Instructions

You can cook these indoors on a cast iron skillet with no problem.

Step One: Heat up the cast iron skillet to medium to medium high heat. Allow it to heat up for 5-6 minutes before placing the chicken on the hot skillet. You want that initial sear to lock in the juices.

Step Two: Cook the chicken in the skillet for about eight minutes per side side. Once you turn it over, turn the skillet down to low to allow it to finish cooking until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. This is critical for cooking the bone in chicken as it takes more time to cook. 

🧑‍🍳 Baking Instructions

You can cook these in the oven as well with great results! 

Step One: Heat oven up to 400 degrees and place chicken thighs on a cast iron skillet. 

Step Two: Place in the oven and cook for 25-30 minutes or until the juices run clear and the internal temperature is 165 degrees. 

💡 Recipe Tips

Meal prepping these is simple! Make the lemon pepper seasoning ahead of time. That’s it. This is the only thing that takes time for this recipe. The rest is sprinkle, sprinkle and you’re putting them on the grill. 

If you make the Lemon Pepper Seasoning ahead of time, you will have enough for 3-4 batches of chicken thighs so you won’t have to make this every time. 

Related Rub Recipe

Java Rub – This is such an easy and fun rub to use on just about any beef dish you have! It is so delicious and we no longer have to buy the ones from the specialty store to get the same taste.