I think that like most people do anymore, we eat a lot of chicken. I mean, unless you’re wealthy and also completely unconcerned about your arteries turning into cement, you can’t afford much besides chicken and also don’t want THAT much of the excess fat and calories that go along with most types of red meat. Mind you, if it wouldn’t kill me and we won the lottery, I would eat a medium rare ribeye or a juicy lamb chop every single night… then gnaw on the bones and burp loudly for good measure.

But until that lottery win happens and I can hire an in house cardiologist, we eat chicken. Lots and lots of chicken. Until I feel like I am growing feathers and want to say “Cluck you, chicken!”

So I keep looking for new ways to prepare it. Especially ways to prepare the dark meat because as much as I love the boneless skinless breasts, it takes a 3 pound bag to feed my husband, two teenage boys, a three year old who loves his “chickies” and myself…assuming they leave me any. So I sneak dark meat in there, listen to my husband gripe as he eats it, gnaws at the bone and burps loudly for good measure.

The other day when I made the lemon marmalade, I already knew we were having chicken thighs for dinner. I had no idea what to do with them until I ended up with about 3/4 of a cup extra marmalade. See, you can’t can less than full jars when canning because that leaves room for air thus creating a great breeding environment for bacteria. I shudder when I come across photos of things people have canned that have WAY too much head space. But that’s another subject…

So I saw the extra marmalade when I was putting the chicken in a baking pan, still not sure what I was going to do. My mind went into “Hmmmmm” mode (it does this often…usually with frightening results) so I played. Not with the chicken you sickos! Though come to think of it, there WAS the time I danced with a whole chicken across the kitchen. But he liked it! I swear! It was consensual!

What I came up with was pretty darn tasty if I do say so myself. My dark meat hating husband ate two LARGE thighs himself as well as both Zach and Jordan eating two and Joshie polishing off one by himself. They had a beautifully browned crisp skin due to the caramelizing of the sugar in the marmalade. The flavor was sweet, salty, buttery… plain old delicious. And this was so simple. Just toss the chicken in the pan, throw some spices, pour on the sauce and cook.

Buttery Lemon Marmalade & Soy Chicken

• 3 pounds bone in, skin on chicken thighs (I would NOT use boneless skinless meat in this. You would end up with overcooked meat before it browned or cooked meat with no crispness, depending on how long you cooked it.)
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 3/4 cup lemon marmalade (I’m sure it would work fine with orange marmalade too)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• garlic powder
• onion powder

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a 13×9 inch pan with foil…. unless you LIKE cleaning sticky pans. Then feel free to not line it 😛
2. Put the chicken pieces in the pan and sprinkle with garlic powder and onion powder.
3. In a large measuring cup, microwave the butter, soy sauce, lemon juice and marmalade until the butter is melted. Stir well to combine.
4. Pour butter mixture over the chicken pieces, making sure to spoon some on any skin that doesn’t get any. Scoop all the pieces of peel out of the measuring cup and throw those on there too 😛
5. Bake at 350 until chicken reaches an internal temp of 165 or until when you poke it with a knife, the juices are clear.
6. I served this with Spanish rice. Next time I will be serving it with plain rice because the sauce is beyond delicious!