Chicken thighs 101???

Candiceena

Candiceena

Cathlete
Hi girls, I am a bull in the china shop when it comes to anything relating to kitchens and cooking. I want to start making some good stuff though, and have heard good things about chicken. I do not like white meat, and chicken breasts really do not sit well with me (literally) but I've heard chicken thighs are a little fattier/darker cut of meat. So, pretend I buy some chicken thighs...take them home, put them in the freezer, and now they're all frozen and I decide "hey, lets make some chicken thighs to go w/ our salad!" ... What do I do? How do I defrost them? Season? Marinate? Cook? I have an oven and also a very small George Forman. I have a grill too but prefer to use the GF or oven if possible but I do not want to sacrifice taste (bad taste from my cooking efforts in the past has lead me to shy away from cooking at all!)

Any tips are much appreciated!! It's hard to find the absolute basics of cooking anywhere :/
 
Thaw the thighs in the fridge the day before you want to use them. Bake them or grill them with some good olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and rosemary. Serve for dinner, or let them cool and use for lunch the next day over salad.

You can add any seasoning to chicken and bake or grill. You can even brush them with salad dressing that is in your fridge. You really cannot screw them up!

Lisa
 
I love chicken thighs with balsamic vinegar.

Salt and pepper the chicken....saute until done....remove from pan.

Slice as many onions as you like...saute until soft.

Add a big splash of balsamic vinegar and some beef, chicken, or veg stock to the pan and let cook down a bit.

Pop the chicken back in the pan...maybe add a little thyme...stir and serve.
 
My family loves this BBQ recipe. It was my mother-in-laws recipe, it may not be "low cal" but it is really good.
I remove the skin, place thighs in shallow pan, cook at 350 for 45"- 1 hour, covered with foil. Drain all the grease, place a liberal amount of BBQ sauce on the thighs and cook uncovered for another 30" or until done to your likings.
BBQ sauce:
1 bottle (3 1/2c-28 oz) ketchup.
1/3 c. brown sugar, I use the splenda brown sugar so I use 2 TBPS of this
2 TBPS worcestershire sauce
1 TBSP minced onions
1/4 tsp garlic powder
chipotle hot sauce or any hot sauce to your likings.
 
Mmmm. Buttermilk

Yeah, know it sounds weird, but this makes the best chicken thighs (and yes, is low fat!)

Yank the skin off your thawed chicken pieces (for some reason I can find skinless/boneless, but have a hard time finding skinless, bone-in). Place them in a dish. Sprinkle some dried thyme on them. Take buttermilk (low fat) and pour over the chicken. Lift up the pieces to make sure they are getting all that lovely goodness. Cover them up, stick them in the fridge over night.

When you are ready to oven bake them, take some corn flakes and make them smaller with a rolling pin in a bag (just don't pulverize :)). Add some parmesan cheese to the flakes. Take your chicken out, shake off a little buttermilk, and squish them into the flakes/parmesan. Messy? Yeah you know it. Wash up good when done.

Throw them on a baking sheet, bake at 350 until they are done. Use your meat thermometer.

Wonderful, moist, chicken that is 'faux fried'....

Sometimes I get real daring and just use parmesan cheese and it is wonderfully moist, too.
 
This is from the Make It Paleo cookbook. It's delicious, hard to mess up, easy ... even my kids love it.

4 bone in, skin on thighs

In a small bowl mix:
1 T. olive oil (calls for Red Palm Oil but I use Olive)
1/2 t. smoked paprika
1/2 t. cumin
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. cayenne

Pour in a Ziploc bag with the thighs to coat. Put the thighs on a broiler pan and cook at 425 for 40 - 45 minutes.
 
Google Braised Chicken Thighs for tons of recipes. I love braising chicken thighs in my dutch ovens. I tend to cook chicken thighs bone-in, skin on and then I pull the skin off before eating to save a lot of fat/calories.

Also google baked "fried" chicken. Our family is in LOVE with this. We use a recipe similar to the one listed above.

Chicken thighs are easy to do in a crock pot, too. Just toss them in with salt, pepper, and whatever seasonings/sauces and let them go on low for 6-8 hours. The meat will be falling off the bone. Homemade sauces are generally healthier than store bought because you can control the sugar, salt, and eliminate the preservatives & fake stuff.

Good luck!
 
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