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Chicken Thighs with Creamy Bacon Mushroom Thyme Sauce - this is one of the best chicken thigh recipes I ever made. Easy, delicious, and perfect for bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs! This is KETO friendly, high-fat, low-carb, gluten free chicken recipe.
Chicken thighs are baked to perfection and then complemented with flavorful creamy mushroom and bacon sauce with lots of fresh thyme. Pure comfort food - chicken dark meat is always delicious in a creamy sauce!
What makes this chicken recipe KETO friendly
- This meal contains high amount of fat from heavy creamy, chicken thighs, and bacon. All these ingredients have high fat, low sugar content.
- Mushrooms are extremely low-carb and a great way to add flavor to keto recipe.
- This recipe contains foods that are high in protein but low in carb, such as chicken thighs.
Fresh thyme is key in this recipe. I used about 5 sprigs of snipped fresh thyme, and also a couple of sprigs more for garnish, on top of chicken thighs and mushrooms:
How to cook bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs:
Start by browning the chicken thighs in a large skillet, then bake them in the oven, for about 20 minutes until completely cooked through.
How to make Creamy Bacon Mushroom Thyme Sauce:
In the mean time, while the chicken thighs bake, start making the sauce by cooking the mushrooms and combining them with the chopped cooked bacon:
Add the cream and snipped fresh thyme to bacon and mushrooms, and make the delicious sauce:
Spoon the sauce over the cooked chicken thighs, and your dinner is ready!
Other KETO friendly chicken recipes
Broccoli Bacon Cheddar Chicken Bake
Bacon Cream Cheese Cheddar Chicken
KETO friendly pork recipes
Bacon and Mushroom Smothered Pork Chops
Low Carb Creamy Pork Chops in Parmesan Sauce
Chicken Thighs with Creamy Bacon Mushroom Thyme Sauce
Ingredients
Chicken thighs
- 4 chicken thighs , skin-on, bone-in
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- salt and pepper
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning dried thyme, oregano
Mushroom sauce
- 6 oz white mushrooms
- 5 slices bacon cooked, chopped
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 5 sprigs fresh thyme
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Season both sides of chicken thighs generously with salt and pepper and Italian herb seasoning mix (usually a combination of dried thyme, oregano and other herbs). Heat vegetable oil on medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add chicken thighs skin-side down. Cook for about 5 minutes, on the skin side until nicely browned.
- Transfer chicken thighs, skin side up, to the foil-lined baking sheet and bake at 350 F for about 20 minutes or until chicken thighs are completely cooked through and no longer pink in the center.
- In the mean time, make the mushrooms sauce:
- Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add sliced mushrooms (without salting - to ensure the mushrooms get caramelized) and cook on medium heat for about 3 minutes flipping once.
- Add chopped cooked bacon to the skillet.
- Add heavy creamy, ⅛ teaspoon salt and snipped fresh thyme, bring to boil, stir, immediately reduce to simmer and simmer for about 2 minutes on very low heat for flavors to blend and sauce to reduce a bit. Taste and add more salt if needed.
- When chicken is done baking and chicken thighs are completely cooked through, add cooked chicken thighs to the skillet and spoon the sauce and the mushrooms on top of chicken thighs.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
What I have been cooking in my kitchen:
3 Years Ago: Chicken Penne Pasta and Mushrooms with Vodka Sauce
4 Years Ago: Creamy Chicken Mushroom Pasta with Basil and Garlic
5 Years Ago: Banana Walnut Bread
So delicious! Even my 4 year old approved, he is hesitant to try new things, but the bacon sold him:) Who knew that putting these few things together would make such a wonderful sauce! Will definitely make it again!
Just had this for dinner. It may be one of the best things I've ever made! So delicious. Served it with riced cauliflower. Amazing. A++++. Thank you!
Thank you, Sharilyn! People who comment (you!) come up with the best side dish ideas ever! Rice cauliflower sounds delicious!
Do you think you could make the sauce and chicken ahead and then assemble?
You could - but I would be very careful to reheat the sauce - do it on the stove top only (not in microwave), and be ready to add extra liquid (milk or half and half) to water down the thickened (after being refrigerated) sauce.
I cooked this two nights ago - and had the chicken we didn't eat then - for lunch today - cold - and super delicious. I think I made this almost exactly as the recipe specified, with just the addition of a little rice bran oil while cooking the bacon. Omg, omg, so delicious. When I got home this afternoon a I got accusednof having eaten the leftovers (actually, totally true). Thus is a great recipe. The only thing that isn't true is anything to do with "crispyness". Yup, so much tastiness, but, no crispy skin. Then again, I think many others have made the same point. Plus, who the heck cares - I preferred the soft skin subsequent to basting. Maybe the chef could tell us whether or not to cook in over with lid on the Le Creuset? I put lid on- an loved how moist and tender this came out.
Thank you! No, the skin on the chicken thighs would not be crispy once you spoon the cream sauce on top. 🙂 I baked the chicken thighs on a foil-lined baking sheet, so I obviously did not use any lid. But, you could bake these in the pan with the lid on (oven-safe) and these will come out just as great!
I doubled this and used boneless, skinless thighs. I peeled off ten pieces of bacon and cut the whole thing into thin strips and then tossed them in the dutch oven and cooked until they were done. I strained the bacon pieces with a sieve and poured the remaining grease into a liquid measuring cup so I could use the bacon grease to brown the chicken and cook the mushrooms instead of using vegetable oil. This was amazing! My whole family loved it, I shared it on Facebook and will definitely make again. Thank you for this recipe!
Thank you, Danyel! I am glad you liked it! I am starting to really like boneless, skinless thighs, and your version of this recipe sounds so delicious! Will have to try this again with boneless skinless chicken thighs.
This turned out great! Served it with mashed potatoes to sop up that delicious sauce! Only slight change I made was to sauté shallots along with the mushrooms. Thanks for the recipe; I'll be making it again!
Rachel - thank you! So happy you liked it! What a great idea to serve this with mashed potatoes. And sauteed shallots sounds super delicious too!
I made this and OOOOOMG IS IT AMAZING!!!!!! I added garlic salt to mine and a little extra cream ... I also let it boil twice and then summer for about 5 to let everything marinate ... PHENOMENAL!!!!
Carley - so glad you liked it! Love garlic! I bet garlic salt gave a nice extra flavor!
This...was...delicious! I made a Rosemary focaccia bread with it to get every last drop of creamy goodness. Next time I think I will toss some fresh fettuccini in the sauce, but it would be good over mashed red potatoes or wild rice too. (Can you tell I need something to soak up all that good sauce!)
The Chicken texture & color is beautiful! Its Saucy & tempting.
I made this over the weekend and it was sooooo good!! It actually looked like your photos, too! Chicken thighs are just so very delicious.
Do you think boneless skinless thighs would work as well?
I used boneless skinless (that's what I get for sending my husband to the store at the last minute) and it was really good. I'm sure it's even better with the skin though.
Yes, boneless, skinless chicken thighs will work too - I've been cooking them a lot lately. You can skip the baking step completely, as the boneless, skinless chicken thighs are thinner and you can just cook them on the stove top until cooked through, and then make the sauce and add them back.
Julia, if the recipe tasted as good as your photographs, this would be the most pinned recipe on Pinterest! Congratulations on mastering photography, wish I could too. And your chicken preparation was an excellent presentation. But I am pinning for recipes, and it looks pretty good too. Thanks for sharing and I will be making this soon.
Thank you for your super sweet comment! 🙂
Looks so creamy! Saved it to Pinterest!
Ooh this looks delicious! I happen to have all of the ingredients on hand too! 🙂 I'll definitely be making this dish this week!
Thank you for the nice recipe.