Easy Crispy Chicken Thighs (Carnivore on a Budget)

by | Oct 12, 2026 | Recipes | 0 comments

I am so excited to share this one because it is hands down the most requested meal in my house, and it costs next to nothing. We’re talking crispy chicken thighs, bone-in and skin-on, for $1.28 a pound at Sam’s Club, antibiotic-free. My inspiration came from a video by Laura Spath, a long-term carnivore who found her weight creeping back up when she went too low-fat. Her husband (who had lost the same weight with zero trouble) told her flat out: she needed more animal fat. That’s what sent her back to skin-on thighs, and it’s exactly why I love this recipe for our family of four.

Why Bone-In, Skin-On Thighs Make the Best Crispy Chicken Thighs

I always go bone-in and skin-on for one simple reason: that’s where the collagen is. If you can swing organic chicken on a carnivore budget, go for it, but my goal is always skin-on and bone-on first. Antibiotic-free at $1.28 a pound from Sam’s Club means our family can eat carnivore without blowing the grocery budget, and the skin crisps up better than anything you’d get from a deep fryer.

Ingredients for Crispy Chicken Thighs

This is about as simple as it gets:

  • Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (I usually do 19-20 at once for a family of four, plus leftovers for lunches)
  • Redmond Real Salt or Baja Gold salt
  • Organic black pepper

How to Make Crispy Chicken Thighs in the Air Fryer

  1. Pat the chicken completely dry. This is the real secret to crispy skin, so don’t skip it.
  2. Season both sides generously with salt and pepper.
  3. Air fry (or bake in an air-fry oven) at 450°F for about 30 minutes, flipping once partway through so both sides get color.
  4. Finish skin-side up for another 5-10 minutes until the skin is deeply crisp, then let rest a minute before serving.

Tips for Extra-Crispy Skin

Dry the skin thoroughly before it ever hits the salt. Don’t overcrowd the basket or sheet pan since this is an air-fry method and the air needs room to move. I check mine around the 18-20 minute mark since thigh size varies, and if you have two shelves in an air-fry oven, you can cook the whole batch at once and just rotate for even crisping.

Here’s the part that sells it every time: roughly 20 thighs for about eight dollars. My daughter Rachel eats the skin first, every single time, because to her that’s dessert. My husband gets his own stash of these, wrapped up as a surprise, for lunch at work. If you give these crispy chicken thighs a try, come tell us about it in our Facebook mentoring group (about 1,600 of us in there now) — the link is on our homepage. The healing really is in the fat and the meat. Nourished is what we are.

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