Raise your hand if you love an easy weeknight meal to feed your family? (ALL HANDS UP!) After a long day of teaching, the last thing I want to do is come home and slave away in the kitchen for hours at a time. I wanted to give you guys 6 easy ways to use chicken thighs for simple weeknight (or weekend) dinners! Some of these you can throw in the Instant Pot or slow cooker in the morning or even make them the day before! I hope this helps keep the dinner stress away! 

Side note: I like using boneless, skinless chicken thighs because they're cheaper than chicken breasts and I find them to be tastier and juicier. You can always use chicken breasts, wings, etc. in place of thighs in any of these recipe ideas!

Baked Chicken Thighs with Roasted Veggies

This recipe is SO versatile and absolutely scrumptious! I used veggies I had on hand (or you can get a veggie mix in the produce section.)

Here's how I make it:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Coat all of the veggies in olive oil and Mrs. Dash salt-free garlic and herb seasoning before laying them out on a pan.
• Season the boneless, skinless chicken thighs with salt, pepper, and the same Mrs. Dash garlic and herb seasoning. 
• Place the chicken randomly on the veggies and pop them in the oven for about 30-45 minutes.
• Serve them with a side of Hericot Verts (french green beans) and mushrooms sautéed in ghee or another vegetable of your choice!

Instant Pot BBQ Chicken

Y'all I love my Instant Pot. It is the greatest invention and it provides such ease to home cooks! If you find yourself in a pinch and maybe you forgot to set out frozen meat to thaw, throw it in the Instant Pot and amaze yourself! 

Here's how I make it:

• Place 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the Instant Pot/slow cooker. Again, they can be frozen!
• Cover with Tessemae's BBQ sauce (or any sauce of your choice)
• Add chopped onions (optional) and anything else you might like in your BBQ.
• Set instant pot to poultry (20 minutes) or you can even set it to slow cooker for a longer period of time.
• Serve with a side of rice, veggies, or on a bun! The options are endless!

Dairy Free Chicken Alfredo with Zoodles

My husband I and don't tolerate dairy well, especially heavy cream. BUT, I love alfredo sauce. It was a staple in for me in high school and in college and I wanted to replicate the delicious memories I have of eating alfredo with my best friend. This recipe is a newer one to me but I recently made it and my husband and I were literally licking our bowls clean! This cashew alfredo sauce recipe is amazingly creamy and delicious. I got the recipe from this website. followed the recipe to the tee and it turned out great. 

Here's how I make it:

• Follow the recipe for the alfredo sauce above and set aside.
• Spiralize 7 zucchini. If you want leftovers, spiralize some more!
• Lay spiralized zucchini out on a towel-lined pan and sprinkled a little bit of salt on them. The salt helps to pull the moisture out of the zucchini. You can always squeeze the excess water out.
• Cut 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs into bite-size (1-inch) pieces and sprinkled them with salt and pepper.
• Heat 2-4 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet and carefully throw chicken in. 
• Sauté chicken until cooked through and browned.
• In a separate pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil olive.
• Carefully throw in spiralized zucchini and sauté zoodles until tender.
• Once zoodles are cooked, place a good portion in a bowl, top with chicken and cashew alfredo sauce and enjoy!

Instant Pot Chicken Tacos

Another Instant Pot delight! This is a great recipe to pop in the Instant Pot/slow cooker before work or right when you get home!

Here's how I make it:

• Put 4 defrosted boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the Instant Pot or slow cooker.
• Season both sides of the chicken with cumin, Mrs. Dash salt-free extra spicy seasoning, white pepper, red pepper flakes, and a little bit of salt. 
• Add one can of green chiles and 1 chopped red bell pepper to the Instant Pot or slow cooker.
• Set the Instant Pot/slow cooker on slow cook for 8 hours.
• After 8 hours, pull the chicken out to shred it (it was so tender that it really just falls apart) and then added it back to the Instant Pot and mix all the juices and softened peppers together. 
• I made paleo/whole30 tortillas to serve them with (1 cup almond flour, 1 cup tapioca flour, 1 cup water, mix together and pour individually in a pan for about 1 minute on each side. Then pop all the tortillas in the oven for 15 minutes for them to get crispy and browned.)
• You could also use your own tortillas or lettuce leaves as wraps!

One Skillet Chicken and Butternut Squash with Bacon

This is easily my favorite chicken thigh recipe! I just love how the flavors meld together and it's so filling! I got this recipe from Eat Your Beets and I am SO glad I found this! 

Here's how I make it:

• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
• In a cast iron skillet, cook 4 (or more!) pieces of bacon until desired crispiness. Then pull bacon out and set it aside. Once the bacon has cooled, chop it into pieces. 
• Place butternut squash (I use pre-cut butternut squash, because ain't nobody got time to peel and cut a butternut squash on a weeknight!) in the pan with the bacon grease! 
• Saute butternut squash until slightly browned and tender, then pull it out and set it aside. 
• Season 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs with salt and pepper on both sides and then place them in your cast iron skillet.
• Cook chicken for about 1-2 minutes per side or until they start to brown.
• Add butternut squash back to cast iron skillet along with the chopped bacon. 
• Put your cast iron skillet in the oven for about 20-25 minutes. 
• Serve with another side of veggies or by itself and you're all set!

Buffalo Chicken Salad

An amazingly light and easy Instant Pot recipe for dinner (or even lunch!)

Here's how I make it:

• Place 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the Instant Pot/slow cooker.
• Cover with Tessemae's Mild Buffalo sauce (or any buffalo/hot sauce of your choice!) 
• Set Instant Pot to poultry (20 minutes) or you can even set it to slow cooker for a longer period of time.
• Pull chicken out after cooking to drain and shred. 
• Serve a heaping portion over a large bed of lettuce and chopped veggies of your choice with Tessemae's Creamy Ranch as dressing! 

 These are a few of my favorite chicken thigh recipes! I hope you've enjoyed reading how I use chicken thighs as easy weeknight meals! Don't forget to subscribe to stay up to date with new posts! 

With love,

Emily