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Dinner · 1 hr

Roast Chicken with Grapes & Thyme

I put the grapes under the chicken because they cook in the dripping and collapse into something between a relish and a pan sauce. By the time the skin is lacquered, the fruit has done the work of a stock, a sweetener and a thickener at once.

NVWords by Nora Vance · 18 September 2026
Roasted chicken thighs with blistered grapes and thyme in a copper pan

Total time

1 hr

Serves

4

Level

Easy

Reading

6 min

01

The Recipe

Ingredients

  • 8 bone-in chicken thighs, skin on
  • 500g red seedless grapes
  • 3 tbsp honey butter, melted
  • 6 sprigs thyme
  • 2 shallots, thickly sliced
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • Salt and coarsely ground black pepper

Serves 4 · 1 hr in total

Method

  1. 01

    Heat the oven to 425°F/220°C. Pat the thighs bone-dry and salt them generously — ten minutes ahead is better than none.

  2. 02

    Toss the grapes, shallots and thyme with a little oil and scatter them over a heavy tray or copper pan.

  3. 03

    Nestle the thighs skin-side up on top of the fruit and brush all over with the honey butter.

  4. 04

    Roast 40–45 minutes until the skin is lacquered, the grapes have collapsed into jam and the juices run clear.

  5. 05

    Tip the vinegar into the hot pan, scrape the brown bits loose with a spoon, and pour it all over the chicken.

A note from the kitchen

Dry skin is the only thing standing between you and a crisp. Paper towels, then salt, then leave it alone.

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