Skinless boneless chicken thighs?

Francl27
Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I bought some for the first time this week end, opened the package today... It looks like it's mostly fat, and I could get maybe one or two inch cubes of lean meat out of each thigh... Is that normal? I mean, I know that chicken thighs have more fat, but sheesh. Yuck, I just couldn't bring myself to even bother cooking them, so I tossed them all. I hate wasting money but I'm not eating that either.... I don't really get it because the nutrition information says it's just 30 more calories per ounce than chicken breasts!

I'm sticking to chicken breast from now on!

Replies

  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,839 Member
    If they had big blobs of fat, that's because the butcher or processor cut them so you'd end up buying the fat.
  • fit2bhealthe
    fit2bhealthe Posts: 11 Member
    I just recently added skinless boneless chicken thighs to my diet as I am currently doing Keto. I buy mine from Trader Joe's - organic and agree sometimes it's a little fatty. But the way I make it - rub it with olive oil, spices and oven roast it - it tastes delicious. It's some getting used to but good to have a little variety.
  • nicsflyingcircus
    nicsflyingcircus Posts: 2,860 Member
    I buy chicken thighs at Publix or Kroger and never had it like that. So not the norm.
  • mellyboo17
    mellyboo17 Posts: 33 Member
    That definitely does not sound normal, especially with all that fat on it. I like to buy chicken thighs with bone and skin and cut it up myself.
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
    I buy them with the skin on and bake them whole -- once they're cooked you can pull the meat off the bone and add it to whatever if you want to use them like you would a boneless skinless breast. All of the visible fat renders out during cooking (can be used to make gravy) and the skin pulls off in one (delicious!) piece so it's easy to discard if you don't want it.

    It might be worth trying them again if they go on sale -- they're usually much cheaper because everyone buys the breasts these days so it might be worth giving them a second chance. Affordable groceries are always nice.
  • janine2355
    janine2355 Posts: 628 Member
    I just stick to chicken breast usually
  • williams969
    williams969 Posts: 2,528 Member
    That doesn't sound right at all. I get boneless skinless thighs from Wal-Mart. Sure, there's a little bit of fat that I trim (or not, depending). But it's never more than, say, a few gram's worth to toss.

    I definitely think the butcher was taking a little "liberty" on leaving too much fat. Or an extra fatty batch of chickens? IDK, I wouldn't give up on thighs--they're delish! I always added oil to my chicken breasts, none with thighs, so it's a wash, fat content wise for me.
  • paomiamifl
    paomiamifl Posts: 61 Member
    Hubby and I cook all our chicken (thighs, breast, legs, etc) in the nuwave oven. BEST INVESTMENT EVER! Seriously, it drips all the fat away and sometimes, even "lean" cuts of chicken have more fat than we can imagine!
    What I've learned: oven, nuwave, etc...cook on a rack so the meat is never sitting in it's own juice (which is oftentimes, mostly fat). Cook long enough to allow meat to drip the fat off
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    Might sound gross...but fish them out and bring them back. They shouldn't be ridiculously fatty, and should generally look like chicken breast in regards to fat content. Sounds like they tried to rip you off.
  • husseycd
    husseycd Posts: 814 Member
    I can't say I've ever had that problem. I usually get mine from aldi. I can barely stand chicken breast, but I eat a ton of thighs. They taste soooo much better.
  • husseycd
    husseycd Posts: 814 Member
    Btw, why is everyone so scared of fat? I get if it's covered, but a little fat is not only good for you, it's essential to your diet. Unless you have a gallbladder problem of something...
  • redraidergirl2009
    redraidergirl2009 Posts: 2,560 Member
    That's part of why I became vegetarian. Fat on meat grossed me out to no end even getting the "leanest" cuts
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    Btw, why is everyone so scared of fat? I get if it's covered, but a little fat is not only good for you, it's essential to your diet. Unless you have a gallbladder problem of something...

    There's nothing wrong with fat...but when you're buying a cut of meat that comes packaged as mostly fat when it should be a quarter of that, there's something wrong there.
  • corgicake
    corgicake Posts: 846 Member
    Sounds like someone's fattening up their profit margins. Get the bone-in kind. They're cheaper and pretty easy to strip of the unwanted parts once you get the hang of it. Pull the skin, then run a lengthwise cut along each bone plus circle around next to the joints. If I had to guess a time figure, I'd guess about twenty minutes for a ten pound bag... and that's padding the time pretty good.
  • FindingAmy77
    FindingAmy77 Posts: 1,268 Member
    if I buy these, I always use my kitchen sheers to trim off all of the fat before cooking. chicken thighs may not be as low cal or healthy as the breasts but they are cheaper and pack more taste in them.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,222 Member
    What has happened is the butcher kept the surrounding fat, mostly from the back and included it in the weight, a trick to get the consumer to pay for a waste product, because the back is pretty much useless. I'm pretty sure the thigh meat was there, you just got to grossed out........
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    No, that's not normal. Try Trader Joes, they are awesome and hormone free.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Ok thanks... Typically we buy the bone in kind, we just wanted a change this time, lesson learned. I swear I have the worst luck when it comes to packaged meat!
  • cw106
    cw106 Posts: 952 Member
    I buy them with the skin on and bake them whole -- once they're cooked you can pull the meat off the bone and add it to whatever if you want to use them like you would a boneless skinless breast. All of the visible fat renders out during cooking (can be used to make gravy) and the skin pulls off in one (delicious!) piece so it's easy to discard if you don't want it.

    It might be worth trying them again if they go on sale -- they're usually much cheaper because everyone buys the breasts these days so it might be worth giving them a second chance. Affordable groceries are always nice.
    i picked some up on sale the other night, scanned them with reader appnd came up as 170 cals per thigh!!!


    way too high vs breast imo.
  • Butrovich
    Butrovich Posts: 410 Member
    Have never had any problem with excess fat on boneless chicken thighs. I prefer the dark meat over chicken breasts, so I tend to buy a lot when I go to the Commissary.
  • nicsflyingcircus
    nicsflyingcircus Posts: 2,860 Member
    Have never had any problem with excess fat on boneless chicken thighs. I prefer the dark meat over chicken breasts, so I tend to buy a lot when I go to the Commissary.

    For flavor, dark meat > white meat, no doubt. I like the fat, don't like that the protein is a little lower than breasts.

    Now I want chicken legs! lol

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