Recipes for chicken thighs

If your family isn't a fan of whole thighs, you probably want to try chopping them up into much smaller pieces.

One of my personal favorites is Thai Basil Chicken - linking to Food Wishes because I'm generally a fan of Chef John though I can't say that I follow this specific recipe.

SOUP

Cook chicken in pot, remove when mostly done. Using the same pot to keep the brown bits, throw in some chopped onion, carrot, and celery. Cook a bit until onion is translucent, and toss in some chopped or pressed garlic. Once that's fragrant, pour in stock. Put in herbs and bring to a simmer, then add chicken again.

Simmer at least half an hour, and from here you have a really basic chicken soup once you shred the chicken. Add noodles, cream, barley, whatever. It's all good. Salt and pepper to taste.

Approx ratio should be about:

• 1 large carrot & onion
• 2 large celery celery stalks
• 3 cloves garlic (or a tbsp garlic powder)
• 4 chicken thighs
• 1 cup stock
• 1 tbsp herbs (whatever you like, thyme is great)

Good luck

You can put them into any recipe that calls for cubed chicken breast. I actually prefer thighs to breasts in most cases since they tend to be more moist and tender.

A couple dishes off the top of my head that I can think of where thighs really shine are General Tso's Chicken (thighs coated with a egg and corn starch batter, then bake or fry and add the sauce), and Thai Curry dishes. But any dish that you're braising the chicken will work especially well.

For tacos: Can't go wrong with marinading in chipotle adobo, cooking, and then slicing/cubing your desired size. We do this probably once a month and eat burrito bowls all week long.

If you're worried about texture, throw 'em in a slow cooker. Then you can make pulled chicken sandwiches, tacos, or whatever. Hell, throw 'em in a soup or stew.

One time we marinaded in ginger and oyster sauce and sliced them real thin and made chicken banh mi. That was delicious.

I think that's all I've got.

This isn't a quick weeknight recipe, but Chicken Tagine with Olives and Preserved Lemons works great with chicken thighs. The chicken comes out incredibly tender from the lemon acidity, and there's not that much prep work.

I have a goto recipe for Filipino Chicken Adobo using thighs that is pretty straightforward and is essentially stewing the chicken in vinegar and soy sauce so it gets pretty tender and is falling off the bone.

You could try brining them. That will make then softer and more moist, as well as seasoning them for even more flavour. Simply soak in very well salted water (salty like the sea is a good saltiness to aim for) for at least a few hours, drain and cook. If you look online for recipes you'll find people adding all sorts to their brines but I've never noticed aromatics making any difference. Acid can have an effect, so experimenting with some vinegar in the brine is probably worth a shot.

As far as technique, if you cook thighs to the same temp as breasts they are not as pleasant. Cook them a little longer. Off the top of my head, maybe a temp of 170-180F rather than 150-160 for breasts. And recipes where they are chopped/shredded can mask the texture a bit (or maybe just complement the texture better)

Here is a recipe I like a lot https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017161-oven-roasted-chicken-shawarma?smid=ck-recipe-android-share

I'm new to making them, but here's what I've been doing:

• 2 of them frozen on a 1/4 sheet pan
• spray with oil, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder
• bake for 350 for like 40 min, or until the inside is cooked to 155
• place on cutting board, chop into small cubes
• toss with sauce either in a bowl, or in a frying pan to blacken (in the case of bbq sauce i like a lil char)
• eat

The following is a quick and dirty approach to boneless skinless thighs I whipped up some time ago:

Recipe

Ingredients:

• 6-10 Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
• 1 Pinch of salt/MSG
• 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tbsp honey
• 4 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tbsp dried onion flakes
• 1 tbsp ground black pepper

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425F
• Line large baking dish with foil
• Dump chicken thighs into foil-lined dish
• Dump spices on top of chicken
• Mix until coating chicken fairly evenly
• Spread thighs out evenly in dish, don't stack them on top of each other
• Put in oven, bake for 45 minutes

I'm also partial to soaking them for a few hours in a marinade of dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, ginger and a healthy amount of heat (usually powdered cayenne, but sometimes diced scotch bonnets). It's a simple combination but I've always enjoyed the outcome. I only ever cook breasts if I'm stuffing them, or making something like Chef John's Champagne Chicken: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFkTV6VLwuU

Easiest, best recipe I have. Preheat oven to 190 C or 375F. Olive oil in a pyrex. Rub the chicken thighs in it to coat each side and then put them in the pyrex facing up. Sprinkle on salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, lots of thyme, maybe some fresh rosemary (diced) if you have it. Whack it in for an hour and walk away.

To fancy it up throw a few carrots/potatos in as well, and if you're really fancying it up, boil the potatoes first. Enjoy

Something I'd cook with chicken thighs back in college were baked chicken thighs with onions and bell peppers.

You'd need:

• 4-6 chicken thighs
• 3 bell peppers
• 1 large onion

Cut everything into strips, season, cover with oil, bake at 375 for 20 minutes or so.

The main variable here is what you'd season the chicken with. For a fajita type thing I'd season the chicken with salt, pepper, chili power, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, cayenne pepper. For a tandoori chicken type thing, I'd buy a box of tandoori chicken masala and mix the masala with the yogurt before slathering it on the chicken.

Sorry I don't have any amounts for the seasoning mixes as I'd just mix them together by eye.

The best way to use them is to put them into something where their texture is welcome and appreciated. I'd particularly recommend richly flavored stews or curries thick with veggies.

If you get thighs skin-on you can "oven-fry" them and they turn out pretty good and crispy; that might be all you need. It dries it out a little, which might make the texture more palatable for your family. Just make sure the skins are very dry before you cook it, turn them halfway through the bake, and it will turn out fine.

While it's not really soup weather (at least in the norther hemisphere) we make a version of this soup with thighs. You just boil them in the broth then remove, add the other ingredients and chop up the chicken while they cook. Add chicken and tortellini at the end.

Also these garlic chicken thighs in white wine have been a huge hit.

We use chicken thighs in our White Chicken Chili. I use Carol Shelby's white Chicken Chili Kit and then add a bunch of other stuff to it - chopped onions, bell peppers, cannellini beans, canned corn, diced tomatoes, and other yummy chili vegetables.

Skillet Chicken al Pastor is a new favorite at my house. I like to marinate the chicken for at least an hour before cooking. As long as I don't forget to do that, the meal is quite quick to make.

I know you're looking for recipes that aren't full thighs, but I'm going to include one recipe anyway. My spouse also isn't a fan of the texture of full thighs, but even he is a fan of this Harissa Grilled Chicken Recipe. I grill some veggies along with the chicken and serve over rice.

Kenji's instapot chicken chile verde

Cooked this tonight and really enjoyed it. Not too spicy and the crunch makes the skin super tasty!
https://butteryourbiscuit.com/chili-crunch-chicken-thighs/

Here's my recipe for jerk chicken fricasseé:

6 - 8 servings (with rice n peas)

• 900g/ 2lbs skinless, boneless chicken thighs

Marinade

• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 spring onions, sliced
• 1½ tbsp ground allspice
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp ginger (preferably fresh and grated but dried will do)
• 1/2 tsp coarse ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3-4 cloves garlic, grated or crushed
• 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes

Other things
400ml good quality chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1 - 3 scotch bonnet peppers, whole (depends how spicy you want it)
1 tbsp neutral oil (e.g. vegetable)

Combine all the marinade ingredients, coat chicken thighs well and leave to marinate for at least 6 hours but preferably overnight.

Add oil to a sauté pan over medium/ high heat. Wipe as much marinade off of the chicken as possible but don't discard it. Brown the chicken in batches and set aside (it shouldn't be fully cooked at this point).

Once all the chicken is browned, deglaze the pan with a little bit of chicken stock and scrape up all the nice crispy bits. Add all the chicken thighs back to the pan, along with the bay leaf and any scotch bonnets. Add your remaining stock to the marinade bowl, swirling to pick everything up and add that in too, topping up with water if needed. The chicken shouldn't be totally submerged, but the liquid should come up to about ¾ of the way.

Bring to a simmer, turn the heat down to low, cover the pan and continue to cook for 20 - 30 minutes, or until chicken can easily be cut with the side of a spoon. Every 10 minutes or so, turn over the chicken pieces to make sure they cook evenly and check for tenderness. If you want it extra spicy, break up the scotch bonnet peppers, otherwise gently pull them out about halfway through cooking.

Once the chicken is tender, remove it from the pan and turn the heat up to high to reduce the liquid a bit into a sauce/ gravy. If it becomes too thick/ salty, just thin it out a little again with more water. Serve with rice n peas and a nice bit of salad.

Maybe the texture is the quality of thighs you bought. Did you buy frozen thighs with a brine injection? Both freezing and brine injections can mess with the texture. I haven’t had frozen thighs in awhile but I recall them being significantly tougher and kind of mealy.

I recommend air chilled and avoiding chicken with brine injections altogether.

My super-simple very quick delish recipe: cut them in pieces, maybe walnut size or whatever you fancy, toss them in Soy Vey Hawaiian Teriyaki sauce, and cook them like that in a pan over heat. Takes maybe fifteen or twenty minutes. I think any teriyaki sauce would work. My mouth is watering at the thought (dammit, I'm not well rn and too sick to eat.)

https://japan.recipetineats.com/japanese-fried-chicken-karaage-chicken/

A little more work, but this turns out just like in a restaurant.

Unlike white meat, chicken thighs are very difficult to overcook. They're good anywhere from 180F to hitting 250F in the instant pot. I usually cook them in a crockpot or a baking sheet.

If you enjoy cooking, try making a big batch of any braising meat with just salt and pepper. Turn that into different meals throughout the week.