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
Franny
Was delicious, I did cook the chicken in the bacon grease before baking, also increased the temp to 400 and cooked for about 40 minutes I like my chicken to fall off the bone and crispy skin, plus thighs were large, absolutely loved it! Super simple! I could’ve doubled that delicious sauce.
Julia
So glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for such a wonderful comment!
Vanessa
Really great recipe. Lots of flavor and so simple to make. Browning the chicken in the pan first made this really great crust for the mushroom sauce. I will definitely be making this again!
Julia
Vanessa, I am so happy to hear that! Glad you liked this recipe!
Lenora
the recipe is delicious but I can't figure out how you're coming to the nutritional breakdown. My calculations, with the cream and the vegetable oil puts it closer to 1000 calories. Even calculating using boneless skinless chicken breast comes out more than 609 calories per serving. What am I missing? How did you calculate these numbers?
Julia
My site uses a program that calculates the calories based on the ingredients list.
Amanda
Lenora, did you put how many servings the recipe has? That could of definitely inflated the calories, if you're not dividing it by 4. I used my own nutritional calculation program and it came out extremely close to what is in the post.
Ray Wilkinson
Going to try this recipe. Can we use chicken breast as well?
Julia
You can use chicken breasts. Watch the cooking time and check the chicken for doneness regularly. Chicken breasts usually cook faster than chicken thighs.
Chrystal
Can you use dried thyme instead my market is out.
Julia
You can use dried thyme, but do try this recipe with fresh thyme, as well! I love this recipe the best with fresh thyme!
Ashley Mccarthy
My family loves it!
Julia
So happy to hear that!
Angela
Made this yesterday, very easy and delicious.
Julia
Thank you!
Tiffany
I made this and tweaked it a bit. I only had boneless skinless chicken thighs, so I just fried them up in some olive oil. The mushroom sauce, I added 1T of full fat cream cheese, I also added sautéed half dried tomatos in Italian seasoning and olive oil. Then threw in a bunch of baby spinach! This was delicious!!!!
Julia
Wow, you made some delicious changes! Love the idea of adding cream cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and spinach!
Lisa
Hi there, quick question...I read the Nutrition Facts, is one serving one piece of chicken? Tim planning on making this dish soon, it looks delicious!
Julia
Yes, one serving is one chicken thigh. Enjoy!
MJ
Nice and easy recipe! Made with boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Will make again but add chopped onion and a bit of acid - either dry white wine or lemon juice. Also reduce the cream sauce more. But very enjoyable and super flavor to effort ratio! ☺️
Dayna
This sounds great! Do you have a recommendation for a dairy-free substitute for the heavy cream? I’ve been using cashew milk for other recipes and the sauce of course is thinner but the flavor usually stays. Just thought I’d ask if you have a better recommendation.
Brittany
I made this it was amazing, I added some Marsala cooking wine to mine!!! And Onion
Julia
Marsala wine and onions are both delicious additions! I am glad you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂
Cindy Ingram
I absolutely loved this recipe, so did my kids. The only change I made was avocado oil instead of vegetable oil (vegetable oil isn’t Keto friendly ).
I can’t wait to make it again 🙂
Julia
Cindy, thank you for stopping by and leaving your comment! So glad you and your kids liked the recipe. Great idea to use avocado oil!
Tyler
This was pretty average. Way too much cream unless you want to cook it down for 20 minutes.
Janer
Love this recipe! But I double the sauce. So delicious
Julia
So glad you enjoyed it! I like more sauce too!