Why we cook with chicken thighs more than chicken breasts

This versatile, flavor-packed dark meat is worth another look.

Key Points

• Chicken thighs are a flavorful, versatile, and forgiving protein that can elevate your weekly meals with ease.
• Thanks to their higher fat content and connective tissue, chicken thighs stay juicy and tender, even with longer cooking times.
• Chicken thighs work well with quick-cook methods like grilling or slow-cook techniques like braising, making them incredibly adaptable.

Chicken breasts are the default choice for many home cooks, but it’s time to reconsider chicken thighs. While breasts are valued for their mild flavor and being a good source of lean protein, thighs are much more versatile. Their high fat content and overall structure not only give them a richer flavor and more tender texture, but this also means they are nearly impossible to overcook. When you need a low-stress protein that requires little supervision as you get the rest of the meal ready, chicken thighs are the answer. 

Meet Our Expert

Laura Manzano, recipe developer, food stylist, and personal chef

Related: How Roasting Is Different From Baking—and Why It Matters

Why Chicken Thighs Taste Better

Unlike white meat chicken, dark poultry meat often has a richer flavor and remains juicy even after longer cooking times. This all comes down to basic structural differences—in short, dark meat has higher amounts of fat and connective tissue than white meat. This makes chicken thighs one of the most versatile cuts of meat around. They do just as well with quick-cook methods like grilling and pan-searing as they do with slow-cook techniques like braising.

While the much leaner white meat of a chicken breast runs the risk of drying out quickly with any of these cooking methods, you don’t have to worry about chicken thighs. The fat and connective tissue protect them from losing moisture, which means they are hard to overcook. Even if you use them in a sheet-pan dinner that you lose track of, they can withstand quite a few panicked minutes before you realize you forgot to set a timer. 

Tips

If you’re still worried about overcooking chicken thighs, use an instant-read thermometer. Restaurant chefs and skilled home cooks rely on them. 

Why They Win on Price

Chicken thighs were noticeably cheaper than breasts, but surging popularity and rising demand mean the price of thighs has risen in the past few years. Still, they remain the less expensive option. For maximum savings, consider using bone-in, skin-on thighs rather than boneless, skinless ones. The labor that’s required to remove the skin and bones from the meat raises prices, so if you’re comfortable doing it yourself or have recipes that use bone-in thighs, this is a great option. 

Using Bone-in, Skin-on Thighs

There are also plenty of reasons to keep the bones and skins intact. Laura Manzano, recipe developer, food stylist, and personal chef, says that animal bones are often overlooked. “They necessitate a longer cooking time, but bones in any piece of meat help retain serious moisture and flavor.” She notes that she rarely buys boneless, skinless chicken thighs, since she is happy to do the work of taking out the bones and skin (if needed) herself. The reward is an addition to her freezer-safe bag of ingredients that will soon be turned into chicken stock. 

While not everyone’s cup of tea, the skin is perhaps the most flavorful part of the thigh, and it’s especially delicious when crisped under the broiler. Manzano also likes to slowly render the skin to make schmaltz. When roasting, grilling, or air-frying, crispy skin can happen naturally. If you’re cooking with moist heat (think braising or simmering in a slow-cooker), promote crispy skin by lifting the thighs from the liquid and patting the skins dry with a paper towel, then pop them under the broiler for about 3 minutes, until the skin crisps, bubbles, and turns golden brown.

The Best Ways to Use Chicken Thighs

It’s hard to think of a bad way to cook chicken thighs, says Manzano. “There aren’t any cooking methods that I wouldn’t recommend, but there are important considerations to make depending on whether your thighs are boneless and skinless or bone-in with skin.” Without the skin, the chicken meat needs protection from high heat, like searing or deep-frying; otherwise, it might get tough or stringy on the surface while still being raw inside. A quick fix for this is a light dusting of flour, cornstarch, or batter on the surface before the meat hits the high heat. 

Other quick-cook methods include roasting and grilling. These can be done with or without the bone and skin, but the skin is a guaranteed flavor-booster. If possible, cook them with hearty vegetables like potatoes or crusty slices of bread underneath so the juices can naturally flavor the potatoes or bread. 

Poaching and steaming are great opportunities to let an interesting sauce or topping take the spotlight, Manzano says—not to mention, you can incorporate spices and aromatics into the poaching liquid itself. Similarly, braising, while a longer process than poaching, can have a similar effect and produce tender meat for things like soups and curries. 

The slow cooker is a great tool for chicken thighs—just place all the ingredients into the bowl and set the slow cooker. You’re guaranteed to have a flavorful entrée with little to no effort on your part.

Common Myths About Chicken Thighs

They are unhealthy: Nutritionally speaking, chicken breasts do tend to be healthier than thighs, but dark meat still has a lot going for it. According to the USDA National Chicken Council, skinless dark meat contains 179 calories per 3.5-ounce serving, compared to 165 calories in white meat. Thigh meat also contains slightly less protein (roughly 25 grams compared to 31) and more fat (10 grams compared to almost 4 for white meat). However, dark meat typically contains higher levels of vitamins B6 and B12 and packs in minerals such as iron (breasts contain much lower levels) and zinc. 

They are difficult to cook: Quite the opposite! They can seem intimidating if you’ve never cooked them before, but many cooks actually find them much easier to work with since they are so much more forgiving.

Read the original article on Martha Stewart