Keto Chicken Thigh Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Are chicken thighs better than breast on keto? ›

Chicken thighs (with the skin on) are perfect for when you're on the ketogenic diet. The meat is a little richer and fattier than breast meat, plus keeping the skin on ups the fat count.

The best side dishes to serve with chicken thighs are green beans, French fries, Spanish rice, carrots and potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, onion rings, cannellini beans, roasted Brussels sprouts, couscous salad, buttermilk biscuits, creamed spinach, quinoa, roasted beet salad, cornbread, and grilled zucchini.

The chicken breast is lean and has the most protein by weight, making it ideal for people who want to lose weight, maintain muscle mass and improve recovery. Fattier cuts like the thigh, drumstick and wings have more calories, which make them better for people wanting to build muscle or gain weight.

One skinless, boneless, cooked chicken thigh (116 g) contains : Calories: 208. Protein: 28.8 g. Carbs: 0 g.

Any chef I know prefers the thighs because they have a higher fat content which helps prevent them from drying out and becoming sandpaper in your mouth. Thighs are much more versatile.

Don't Cover the Chicken.

When baking chicken thighs with the skin on, you're trying to achieve crispy chicken thighs in the oven. Therefore, leaving them uncovered ensures a crispy skin that turns perfectly golden.

One chicken thigh will yield about 3 ounces of meat (without skin or bone), so for big meat eaters, count on two thighs per person. For kids and lighter eaters, one chicken thigh per person should be enough.

Cook the Thighs, Respectfully

Start by generously seasoning the meat with salt and searing the outside of the thigh (yes, the skin) in a cast-iron skillet with some oil.

The cooking methods that are ideal for boneless skinless thighs are grilling, roasting, and slow cooking.

If you get impatient and heat up your chicken thighs by cranking the temperature all the way up, your chicken will be too dry, which is the last thing you want. Instead, you want to keep your chicken thighs slowly cooking on a low temperature, thus allowing the meat to marinate in its juices and gradually tenderize.

Should you flip chicken thighs when cooking? ›

Once hot, add the chicken thighs skin side down and allow them to cook for 8 minutes undisturbed. No need to move the chicken around, just let them do their thing and get nice and crusty.

Safely cooked poultry can vary in color from white to pink to tan. All poultry should reach a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F (73.9°C) as measured with a food thermometer. For whole poultry, check the internal temperature in the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast.

Spread out in a single layer in the roasting tray, and bake for 40 minutes in the preheated oven until golden. Lovely served with a rocket salad dressed with some lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil, and a nice glass of white wine.

For meat lovers, the best news is → both white meat and dark meat are perfectly fine to eat when following a keto diet. However, note that the best type of chicken to use is definitely chicken breast as it is the leanest cut.

There are slight variances in everything from macronutrients, like fat and protein, to micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals. If lower calorie foods are preferable to you, chicken breasts are the way to go because thighs contain over 30% more calories (per Calories Info).

Approximately, a 3-ounce skinless chicken breast can provide 140 calories, 3 grams of fat and 1 gram of saturated fat. On the other side, the same amount of chicken thighs will give you 3 times the amount of fat and 170 calories. When we talk about the flavour, chicken thighs are a clear winner!

Chicken breasts definitely differ from chicken thighs as far as nutrition: three ounces of skinless chicken breast meat contains approximately 140 calories and a gram of saturated fat, while three ounces of skinless chicken thigh meat is roughly 30 more calories and two more grams of saturated fat.