How’s that for an oxymoron?
Chicken Thighs
One of my most favorite Best Bite Quotes (yes I have more than one) is Kate saying, “I can tell you right now that I’m a breast girl and Sara prefers thighs” haha, still makes me giggle.
I do like thighs, but only for certain recipes, and in those recipes thighs produce significantly better results. I use boneless skinless breasts for most every day cooking, but in some things, you gotta try thighs. One thing I know however, is that there are a lot of people out there that are scared of chicken thighs. And I don’t blame you, they sometimes look…icky. But once you know what to buy, and how to use them, it will give you a whole new range with your chicken meals. Be bold, try a thigh.
Thighs work better for some dishes for several reasons. The meat on the thigh has a little more fat than the breast, and therefore more flavor. Because they have more natural flavor, it takes less work for you to make them taste good. They’re also perfect for grilling because they’re much juicier than breasts, which can easily dry out on the grill. It’s actually pretty hard to overcook a thigh on the bbq. If you’ve done it, congrats.
A few tips:
1. Buy boneless, skinless thighs. You don’t want the ones with the big slab of fatty skin on the top. Those are the gross scary kind. I was going to post a picture here, but it’s just icky.
2. Even the skinless thighs will have some excess fat on them. Use a pair of kitchen shears, or clean scissors to trim it off. It’s extra easy to trim if it’s partially frozen still. Then you’re just left with a nice piece of meat.
3. I actually really like the frozen ones you buy in the bulk bags from Costco, Tyson brand I think. They have a lot of meat on them, and very little fat to trim off.
Try out chicken thighs in these recipes:
Spicy Honey Chicken
Asian BBQ Chicken
Old Fashioned BBQ Chicken
Ditto what casey said above. I also have the cookbook so I looked up the rice there. Thanks!
Hey, just wanted to let you know that I got to this page by clicking the link for lime-cilantro rice with pineapple on the page for Asian BBQ Chicken. That’s our fav dinner, and I was checking to make sure I had it all on hand. Just an FYI in case you want to fix that link! 🙂
Remove the skin using paper towels. Just grab the skin and pull it off. Impossible with with fingers only! Then do some trimming, if necessary like Sara says. I always like to grill chicken with the bone in. More flavor I think and a handy handle! Asian Chicken tomorrow night, oh wait, taco night at cafe Rio, chicken Wed. night. Ha
No worries Michele! Just trim off as much of the fat as you can (a clean pair of scissors works great) and grill on the bone. It will taste awesome!
Oh man…I'm making your Asian BBQ chicken tonight (and grilled pizza tomorrow). I hate using thighs, but bought them today anyway….BEFORE reading this post. I have yucky bone thighs WITH Skin…what will I do?
ITA, some recipes demand thigh meat, and BBQ is one of them!