Do you eat the skin on your chicken???

healthybabs

Pardon me while I pick my jaw up off the floor. I am making chicken thighs on the grill for supper tonight. Decided to marinate them in some fresh lemon, fresh lime, lots of garlic, paprika, italian seasoning, and 1 tbsp of olive oil. So I whipped up the marinate and before I dumped it into the bag with the chicken I said, "Hey dumb *kitten*, cut off all that fat. Getting back on track starts today!!". So took out the shears and snipped off the skin. It looked like a huge amount so I weighed it. Holy Crap Batman!!!

4 Chicken Thighs worth of fat = 6 oz which is 170 g. There are 9 calories in a gram of fat so 170 x 9 = 1530 !!!!!! If I had eaten that fat on my chicken I would have added 1530 extra grams to my calorie intake today without even blinking. OK, so some of it drips off while on the grill but REALLY, still off the charts!!!

So, the next time you think about having the skin, remember this. If you doubt it, cut it off and weigh it and see for yourself!!

warmachinejt

yeaa, this is why i only eat chicken breast with no skin :P

plarcade

I don't eat it, but I think it's gross anyway, unless very crispy

mmapags

How do you account for the fact that most of the fat in the skin is rendered off when you grill it? Why lose all that flavor? The difference can be not that sustantial depending on coooking method.

healthybabs

How do you account for the fact that most of the fat in the skin is rendered off when you grill it? Why lose all that flavor? The difference can be not that sustantial depending on coooking method.

Next time I will grill it with the skin on, then remove and weigh it and let you know the difference. As far as the flavor,....I bump that up with all the garlic and lemon juice in the marinade. Would rather get the flavor that way rather than from all of the fat alone.

theNurseNancy

Cook it with the skin on, then cut it off before eating. You risk your chicken being drier and blander by cutting it off prior.

healthybabs

So the chicken turned out great. It was not dry and had a ton of flavor....don't forget I did marinate it! Feel so much better for not eating that skin...that awakening just totally grossed me out!

Sidesteal

Depends on how good it's cooked. If it's crispy then absolutely I'm eatin that bish....

ninerbuff

I'd worry about eating 4 chicken thighs at one sitting more than cutting the skin off.

A.C.E. Certified Personal & Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

sweet110

But the skin is yummy. And the gristle is too. Nom, nom, nom.

I rarely eat chicken, because I find factory farmed chicken tastes like styrofoam unless fried, and free range chicken really expensive. But when I do eat it, I eat it all. Every delicious bite.

taziarj

Instead of thighs, which are much higher in calories, try a split bone in breast with the skin. We have been doing this about once a week and is great. Usually marinade it overnight with either a rub or wet marinade. It turns out great and much better than chicken thighs as the meat itself is much leaner.

tigersword

I'd worry about eating 4 chicken thighs at one sitting more than cutting the skin off.

A.C.E. Certified Personal & Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

This.

Also, skin is not 100% fat. Those numbers are very much inaccurate. Plus, the fat renders out when cooked.

vettle

depends on how I'm cooking the chicken. roasting I usually take it off so that all the flavours get right into the meat. If I'm making shake and bake, then you need the skin!

graceland64

ewwwwwe no i cant stand the skin on the chicken i have always cooked with breast meat no skin.......unless its chicken treat lol which is an extreme rare occasion lol :laugh:

taunto

It depends. Most indian cooking you can take out the skin and it only makes it better that way. However, if I'm bbq'ing or rotesseri'ing(is that even a word?) then yes, I'm keeping the skin and eating it too.

MisterTEZ

chicken skin isn't all fat, it has a calorific count of 4 per gram when cooked
even so 170 grams of skin counts for 680 calories

tsh0ck

Why would I not eat the tastiest part of a food?

susannamarie

Why would I not eat the tastiest part of a food?

nom nom nom.

I'd rather eat fewer pieces of chicken and have them be yummier.

sfoxy219

No i don't.

spynoodle

I'm Asian. Of course I eat it!

Natihilator

I rarely eat any other part of a chicken other than (skinless) chicken breast, so when I do have a wing or a drumstick or a thigh, if it's cooked all nommy then I'm eating it. And 1500+ calories for the skin of 4 average-sized chicken thighs sounds way, way off.

meshashesha2012

Depends on how good it's cooked. If it's crispy then absolutely I'm eatin that bish....

this.

the only time i dont eat is if it's baked sine it looks all slimy

Rikki007s

Always eat the skin. Then again I don't eat chicken that often.

saragato

I've never liked the skin, especially grilled or barbecued because, and pardon this, it felt like I was peeling off and chewing a condom. (and no I have no idea what chewing one feels like)

But yeah, even when I bought the boneless, skinless thighs it would take forever to trim all the fat off and in the end wasn't worth it even though I prefer dark meat. The breasts have less fat and get a little more moist if you cook them in a bit of chicken stock so they have juice to soak up. I had to start doing that after one night I bit in to a small piece at dinner and broke off a part of a wisdom tooth. But in all fairness said tooth already was hollow on one side and is basically waiting for the day it can just rot right out of my head.

MariaMariaM

I don't eat the skin and never had (since I was a little girl, it grosses me out, not sure why because it smell wonderful when it is cooking)

Elizabeth_C34

I'd worry about eating 4 chicken thighs at one sitting more than cutting the skin off.

A.C.E. Certified Personal & Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

This.

Also, skin is not 100% fat. Those numbers are very much inaccurate. Plus, the fat renders out when cooked.

DING.

I always eat the skin on my chicken thighs and drumsticks. It's so much better. Most of the fat does drain out even if you bake it if you do it in an elevated drip pan. Grilling is even easier to drain fat.

healthybabs

I'd worry about eating 4 chicken thighs at one sitting more than cutting the skin off.

A.C.E. Certified Personal & Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Actually, I reread what I typed after reading your entry and I guess it sounds like I ate all 4 of them, sorry... two were for me and two for my husband. My point about this was just the visual of the amount of fat I cut off of them and then I decided to calculate the fat gram/calories. It simply hightened my awareness where I previously would not have given it a second thought.

weathergirl320

you are gonna think im weird but the skin is the best part!!!!!!!!!!! i loooooooooove chicken skin!!!!!! and turkey skin!!!!!!!!!! i take everyones skin at thanksgiving at eat it. i can literally eat an entire chickens skin or turkey. its so flavorful! and cripsy! and yummy!!!