Meat is typically the center piece of most traditional cooking. Having insight or understanding of the meat’s structure and composition can help one cooking it, to make the most of the cut.
Meat has three types of tissue: muscle, fat, and connective tissue or ligaments.
Let’s Talk Poultry
Chicken is the second most consumed meat in the world. It has leaner meat than most other types of poultry, like goose or duck.
Chicken thighs are a favorite cut of dark meat poultry for those who love to cook, due to the thighs flavor and tenderness.
Because dark meat contains more tendons, chicken thighs are a tough cut, though at 126 degrees, the connective tissues soften and break down.
Because they contain more fat than white meat, they are more tender and juicy.
The abundance of connective tissue not only makes them flavorful, but also forgiving of longer cooking times unlike breast meat, which tends to dry out quickly.
Is Chicken Thigh Meat Healthy To Eat
Some chicken parts contain fat. The organ meats contain the most fat, followed by the thigh and leg meat, and then the breast meat.
Chicken thighs as we all know is brown meat, and so is the fat.
Brown fat is a type of fat that stores energy in a small space. It creates heat and burns calories.
Most of the fat in chicken thighs are unsaturated, making it a healthier cut of meat over other fatty options.
And your body needs a certain intake of fat every day in order to create energy.
Nutritional Value Of Thigh Meat
Thigh meat contains more vitamins and a full spectrum of minerals. The vitamins include most of the B-vitamins, with vitamin – A and E, and folate as well.
The serving of chicken thigh meat provides you with 30% of the daily value (DV) for niacin, 15% of the DV for phosphorus, vitamin B-6 and zinc and 10% of the DV for riboflavin.
You need niacin, riboflavin and vitamin B-6 for turning the food you eat into energy and phosphorus and zinc for forming DNA.
On average, bone-in chicken thighs are about 6 ounces each, with about 3 to 4 ounces of edible meat.
Chicken thighs are an excellent source of protein. One serving of thigh meat, about 3 to 4 ounces contains around 14 grams of protein.
One medium chicken thigh with skin contains about 140 calories and 9 grams of fat. Where as, a skinless thigh contains 90 calories and 4 grams of fat.
Chicken skin can add delicious flavor and texture, though it can add fat and calories to the otherwise lean meat.
If you prefer your thigh with the bone in, but rather not eat the skin do to your concern about calories and fat, that’s okay.
You can reduce the calories and fat by removing the cooked skin before serving the meat.
A 2014 study by a Canadian research study group found that organic free-range chickens were lower in fat compared to caged chickens.
However, when the skin was removed there was no difference in fat content.
Chicken Skin Contains Large Amounts of Glycine
Collagen is good for the health of our skin. Our body produces collagen through the synthesis of amino acids.
The primary (non-essential) amino acid involved in Collagen synthesis is called glycine.
The most concentrated sources of glycine include meat cuts from near the bone, skin, and connective tissues of chicken meat.
Chicken thighs, including the skin, is one of the very best dietary sources of glycine. Per 100 grams of chicken thigh, there is a supply of approximately 1137 mg of glycine.
Chicken thighs with skin are an excellent choice for adding flavor and nutrition to the meal. The skin helps keep the chicken moist and juicy.
But if you prefer to avoid eating the skin on chicken thighs that’s ok. At least cook them with the skin on and remove the skin only after cooking because the nutrients in the skin are retained in the dish during cooking, and you will get all the good things this cut of meat has to offer.
Why Chicken Thighs Are Dark Meat
Chicken thighs have dark meat due to high amounts of myoglobin, a consequence of being active muscles.
Myoglobin is the substance responsible for the way chicken thighs taste as well.
How Many Thighs Per Serving
When your cooking dinner, you always hope you make enough.
With chicken thighs, the meat on the bone can vary in weight.
The average package of four chicken thighs will weigh approximately 1 1/2 pounds .
One chicken thigh will yield about 3 to 4 ounces of meat, without skin or bone. Therefore, count on big eaters having two thighs.
And for lighter meat eaters, including children, usually one chicken thigh per person should be enough.
Chicken thighs are easier to cook. Even if they reach an internal temperature of 180 degrees, they’ll still be juicy.
Left over thigh meat when warmed is still juicy and tender.
According to Taste Asian Food – Asian chef’s prefer chicken thigh over breast meat and they say that chicken thigh meat is the most common cut of chicken used in Asian recipes because the meat is juicier and more tender than chicken breast meat.
So on your next trip to the market, get a package of chicken thighs and give yourself a head start on dinner, as this versatile cut of meat is flavor-packed and delicious.
Read more here about chicken breasts: Enhance Your Chicken Breasts With These Simple Maneuvers
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- Rosso Pesto (Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto)
- Dandelion Greens With A Lemon Yogurt Coriander Dressing
- Cooking With Cumin
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