Do you mean skinless thighs?

We only use thighs. Bone-in with skin. The occasional full roaster. But thighs work so well in one of our favorite braised dishes based on Adobo.

If straight from the grocery and thawed, put it in the freezer for and hour or two. Much easier to quickly pull off the partially frozen skin as it will be the part that freezes first...the flesh will have not had much time to freeze at all in an hour. I don't mind a little bit of remaining fat. It tends to melt off in cooking and adds flavor. I do it all in an empty sink with my zip-lock bag for marinating ready and waiting, in a bowl, add marinade and into the fridge.

Minimal clean-up. Nothing in the way of a good scrup-up of sink and surround.

This would also work for cutting of the minimal fatty bits if you just mean that part. After removing the skin i might have some larger fat flaps, (sounds lovely) . Kitchen scissors will snip that off quick, again, if partially frozen.

It's a time vs money proposition, and we fall on the time side re: chicken thighs. Boneless, skinless thighs are just too pricey! It doesn't take too much time to properly remove skin and that side fat flap sleevendog mentioned (though, I just cut that sliver off with a knife). And that internal chunk of fat on the underside, between the bone and edge? The chicken should be cold enough such that the fat (once exposed...still fairly solid) can be scraped out with the tip of a knife easily.

And besides the above good tips, be sure that your knife is sharp. Tasks like this are impossible with dull knives. (As are other prep chores.)

Once one opens boneless thighs, there seems to be oodles of fat, way too much for high cholesterol cooks. We use sharp kitchen shears instead of a knife, but will certainly chill well next time. Thanks for help.

Robert, Just curious. Now that you've taught us how to remove the fat from the thighs, what is this recipe that uses them?

So I have to cook with rooster and don't get very much fat at all on ours since they aren't meat birds, but I do leave some fat on when I cook. I would trim anything that seems excessive but unless you are on a restricted fat diet, I wouldn't worry about some fat, it adds to the flavor.

Haha! Good one.

But kitchen shears, no matter how sharp, are no substitute for a sharp knife.

OT, but I must say: been cooking from scratch for decades and have never had the need for kitchen shears (and neither did my mom, so maybe a non-habit handed down from her). Plus, just can't get beyond the thought of chicken/raw meat juices getting into the hinges and not being easily sterilized (or do shears come apart for cleaning?).

I've never used shears either but we do have good butcher knives. I don't usually de-bone mine though. We had to slow cook or brine rooster so the bone just adds to the flavor anyway. They are usually 17 weeks old or more by the time it's time to go and they free range so they are naturally more tough from running around.

This is what I do with chicken thighs. Seems to work well.

1. I made a special knife to remove fat. Basically a tea spoon with sharpened edges that I attached with a handle. It works well to scrape off fat globs.

2. After the chicken is marinated, The chicken is sous vided at 145F.

3. Then it goes into the freezer for about 20 minuites.

4. Then into the convection oven at 390F.

Crispy skin, juicy meat and not much fat.

dcarch

dcarch - ah technically that would be the whole leg not just the thigh. ;) That does look all pretty. Do you actually do that for meals or was that special for us? Feel free to come and cook for me anytime.

littlemonkeys3, dcarch does actually cook like that regularly, LOL.

javiwa, my kitchen shears come apart and I put them into the dishwasher, so washing them isn't an issue, but I still use a knife to remove excess fat and skin.

Annie

Thighs are certainly the tastiest part. I skin, bone and cut the fat off with a knife. i use them in curries, stir fries, casseroles, anything. Jucy.

My favorite recipe for bone in thighs is chicken and dumplins. So good. My cooking of course never looks like dcarch's. It just wouldn't be appreciate in this house full of testosterone.

I only cook thighs or wings and literally hundreds of them a year.

For thighs, it's best to prep them when they're not quite defrosted. Stick a finger under the skin and pull it off. Then, with a sharp knife, trim all the visible fat. I never take out the bone; not worth the effort and the meat just doesn't cook as well.

For wings, I just cut off the tip end and leave the rest intact. If you cut the small drummer apart from the rest of the wing, it's more work to cook, but easier to eat.

Final prep is usually a dry rub from here: Boca Boys dry rubs. If I use a wet marinade, I either start with apple juice or a bottle of either Cholula sauce or Tiger sauce.

I've always liked thighs, the drumstick not-so-much, but if I see a good price on whole legs, I'll buy them. I couldn't convince hubby that thighs are tasty, he prefers boneless breasts. I started making more dishes with thighs and now he loves them. I just wish they were cheaper; they're the same price as boneless breasts.

Littlemonkeys, as Annie said, Dcharch's food looks like all the time. He's a plating machine!

l pinkmountain - love your humor!
Suzi - the recipe is called Chicken Luau and has chicken thighs, 1c crushed pineapple, 1/3c catsup, 1/3c vinegar, 2T soy sauce, 1/2c brown sugar, 2 onions (or onion powder), 1t ground ginger or to taste @350 for an hour or until done. Obviously amounts can be adjusted to taste.

I use my scissors because all can be prepped in the sink. They come apart and go right into the dishwasher. Used also to cut the packaging. My coop uses sealed packaging similar to a food-saver. (not the saran on foam trays).

This way i don't need to pull out the cutting board we use for meats, then have to wash that as well.

If you are roasting, on a tray off the bottom of your sheet pan, thigh fats are like butter and will melt off. Unlike steak fats that tend to hold on. I like to braise mine bone-in, so the small amounts of fat melt into the remaining liquids and become part of the veg sauce. Bone-in adds flavor and holds each piece together. Good cold and easily comes off the bone next day for chicken salad.

Bone-in thighs are also much cheaper. But i have uses for the 'waste'.

All this discussion remonds me of Jacques Pepin's heavenly chicken thighs cooked with no added fat. If you haven't tried this recipe, it's a treat, with or without the mushrooms.

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/08/jacques-pepin-crusty-chicken-with-mushrooms-white-wine-sauce-recipe.html

FWIW, I've never had any trouble pulling off skin & fat from thighs w/ just my fingers...

Oh, and don't take off the skin and fat for the Pepin recipe.

Grainlady that's right. Calculate the price per serving, vs the price per lb.

Boneless breasts are all eating, with no waste.

I got the nicest bone-in, skin-on thighs, very plump, and they were $1.88/lb. Usually there isn't much meat once all of the skin is removed, these were incredible.

His tip of cutting the meat either side of the thigh bone so that the chicken lies flat in the pan is a great tip.

I'm making that Pepin recipe tonight. Can't wait for dinner!

We had a whole rooster last night. I had to slow cook it since it's so lean but had it on rice paper wraps with noodles, basil and peppers, mushroom and onion and peanut butter hosin sauce.I thought about taking a picture for you guys. I should next time so you can see when I say no fat, I really mean no fat. That's the difference in a quickly growing meat breed and one that has to grow out for a longer period. My ducks on the other hand, that would blow your mind, so much fat but if you render it down OMG the best in baking.

Just curious....how old is your quick growing meat breed? I've read so much over the years and will have a chicken flock soon....5year plan. (not soon enough)

I will so use the Pepin method. Those two slits by the bone will make an already good dish better.

sleevendog I don't have meat breeds. I was saying in reference to store chicken. We usually butcher them at about 17 weeks, but mine are NOT meat breeds, they are Easter Eggers (mixed breeding) so they are all over the map. Some guys we've done at 15 weeks if they are super aggressive. Those guys are bigger earlier and their testes are usually HUGE. We've done roosters at 2 though and wine brine and slow cooking they are not tough at all.

We now have a rooster that is part Easter egger part barred rock and he's really big, we'll be using him to divide off a small flock of "meat" and the other 2 guys will be my egg guys. Just haven't figure out a way to easily do that since the birds free range during the day.

We thought about getting some meat chickens but since it's just for us we do it this way since they do eat way less than meat breeds. That way we don't have to pocket loss for the roosters because you can't sell them around here. For our ducks we use Pekins which are excellent for meat and surprisingly eggs. I just starting incubating a Muscovy/ Pekin cross so I may end up changing things up a big. I'd recommend either doing separate meat and egg breeds for your chickens to have both or get one that is dual purpose, less eggs than layer, less meat than meat breed, but a nice healthy balance if you want them for both.

What the heck, how did it type "wine brine" above. LOL I swear I typed "with a brine". WIne brine would be good though.

Fascinating. Love your approach. The ducks i ordered for thanksgiving were Pekin. (Ordered extra paws and necks for stock.)

(i'm getting very odd 'auto-correct' spellings, lol.) Can be handy when typing fast but i should turn it off.

What are paws? I embarrassingly ask as I should probably know what that is consider we raise them. LOL The necks are the best part and you get way more meat than on chicken necks.

My oldest son likes to "fix" my computer and make it operate more smoothly (according to him). Now it has an auto correct on here, which is nice and all but a tad annoying. It always underlines or automatically corrects my Canadian spelling words. I think the wine brine was my error though. Maybe it's time to pick up some more wine. ;) We still haven't tried coq au vin.

I cooked and plated Pepin's recipe perfectly! Astounded at the amount of fat that cooked out! Unfortunately, DH has a really bad cold and his taster is off, but he loved it just the same. For him, should his cold continue, I might do a little dice of a fresh jalapeno, and hit the hash with Tequila instead of wine. Just a little twist for someone who's taster is off.

You can use just the technique Pepin uses, without making the sauce; the chicken thigh loses most of its fat, comes out crisp and tasty, and you can see in the skillet how much fat has been rendered. It's also a great way to try out spice combinations; my go-to seasoning for chicken thighs is Penzeys' Arizona Dreaming, but you can use anything you want. (Their Berbere seasoning does well with chicken also.) When I don't have anything ready to cook, I'll often stop by the supermarket on the way home from work and pick up a 5 lb. value pack of thighs (with bone and skin), and season them up and have them cooked in under 30 minutes. A 14" nonstick skillet (such as the Bakers & Chefs one from Sams Club) will just barely hold a 5# value pack of chicken thighs. (You'd need to find something to act as a cover, of course) Quick way to cook a lot of 'fried' chicken for hungry mouths.

Crispy Chicken Thighs

This is more a technique than a recipe. You get crispy ‘fried’ chicken without a
batter and with much less fat than regular fried chicken. Quick, extremely easy, and very tasty. From a food-science-geek standpoint, what
you’re doing is rendering the fat out of the skin, and the skin side of the
thigh fries in that fat, while the flesh side is steamed in the covered skillet
by the vapors liberated in the cooking process.

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs, skin on
salt
black pepper

Procedure

1. Set the chicken thighs
skin-side down on a cutting board. Cut a ½ inch deep slash on either side of
the thigh bone, parallel to the bone and about ½ inch away from the bone (this
helps the thigh to flatten out somewhat). Season the thighs on both sides with
salt and pepper.

2. Place the chicken thighs skin-side down on an unheated non-stick
skillet. Only then turn the heat to high. When the chicken starts to sizzle,
turn heat to medium and move the thighs around to make sure they aren't
sticking to the skillet. Cover the skillet and cook for 16 to 18
minutes. Check the chicken occasionally to make sure it isn’t sticking. If the
skin is browning too much after 10 minutes, then turn the heat to low. If
after 18 minutes the flesh side doesn’t look quite done, flip the thighs and
fry them flesh side down for a minute or two, uncovered. When done, serve.

I'm a thigh master (read into it what you will). It's my favorite part of the chicken.

I use them in my Lemon Garlic Chicken, and in Cuban Arroz con Pollo, among other things.
Sometimes, I'll use kitchen shears to cut excess fat. Other times, I remove the fat with the aid of a paper towel.

Sol

Last week I used kitchen shears and it was so easy and quick. My new approach.

Thigh lovers. Nice to see so many. No idea why i was a breast lover for years, (read into it what you will) ...no more these days.

-littlemonkeys, lol. I've been using paws for years for stock. Clip the 'nails' for the collagen...Feets. The toes. But the entire leg with the "feets". We call them 'paws' in NY. My butcher does anyway.

Growing up, we were accustomed to eating just about every part of the chicken (to grainlady's point) -- from the feet all the way to the head (which was used for decorative purposes on special occasions)....skin, fat -- all of it. Fast forward a generation: I'd still serve up an entire roast chicken (sans the head!), but found my son would perform surgery on every single thigh, meticulously pulling aside remaining fat pockets and veins.

sleevendog: As much as thighs are my hands down favorite (whether chicken or turkey), we couldn't live without breast: marinated so many different ways and grilled, then leftovers making for the most amazing sandwiches!

sleevendog I feel like I should have clued into that. Now I am feeling pretty dumb. We save our feet (call them feet here) from most of the ones we do up. I don't always though. I've never even clipped the nails, just wash them really well.

Kid through young adult years I hated the dark meat of chicken. Now that is my favorite.

We also like thigh meat best, on chickens and on turkeys.

Having grown up on a farm and now growing our beef, chicken, pork and garden, I have always been taught to use the entire animal and I still do. It's disrespectful to the animal which gives its life to nourish you to do otherwise.

So I render lard from the pork, make stock from chicken backs, necks and feet, more stock from beef bones, have the hocks of pigs smoked and cook them with greens or in beans. We use it all. Grandma used to tell me that every part of a pig can be used except the squeal, LOL.

When we slaughter chickens I use large kitchen shears to take out the back bones, leaving two intact chicken halves. Those are perfect for the grill, so some get left whole, some get halved and others are cut into pieces for frying.

I have mentioned that if everyone who eats chicken had to pluck one, just once, we'd have a lot of people give up chicken, LOL.

Annie

Here's a video from Cookin' Cheap showing Laban Johnson removing chicken skin:

Using the entire animal would definitely be the thing in an ideal world where chickens would have 6 thighs to compensate for absence of breast, and eggs would be yolk-only!