Chicken thigh is very versatile and can be used to make a wealth of dishes
Chicken thigh although still lean has more fat in it than chicken breast so lends itself to longer cooking. Unless you really need to for the recipe you are cooking it’s best to keep the bone and skin on while cooking. This helps to retain moisture and add flavour. If you don’t like the skin you can just take it off at the end. If you were doing something such as a chicken stew where you wanted shredded chicken I would cook it whole in the stew then when it’s cooked take it out the casserole, take it off the bone, shred it and put it back in.
The two ways we can think of cooking chicken would be in a sauce such as a casserole or stew or dry such as marinaded like jerk chicken.
The first way, in a casserole, you can do in two ways depending on how much time you have. The first way is literally throw all your ingredients into your casserole dish and cook in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour. You could either serve the chicken thighs as they are or before serving remove the chicken thighs, remove the skin, shred off the bone and add the meat back to the casserole. The second and better way is to brown off the chicken thighs for about 10 minutes in the pan first which improves the flavour. You can then remove the chicken, cook the vegetables in the chicken fat (add more oil if needed) which injects some flavour into the veg then add everything including the chicken back into the casserole dish and cook in the oven.
The second way of cooking chicken thighs would be to oven cook or BBQ. You could go super simple and just put a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper onto the skin and place onto a tray bake of veg and potatoes and roast in the oven. A marinade adds an injection of flavour to the chicken and something like a Jerk marinade would be perfect. If you are marinading them put the chicken covered in the marinade in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight if you can before cooking.
Once you are ready to cook it you need to take the chicken out of the fridge and let it come up to room temperature. It’s important to do this because if its too cold it will take longer for the middle to cook.
The key thing we need to keep in mind with cooking chicken in this way is we want to skin to crisp up nicely otherwise you end up with a soggy unappetising mess! If you are cooking in the oven you want to make sure the chicken thighs are placed into the oven skin side up. For an extra boost of crispness I like to cook them in a frying pan skin side down for 10 minutes first before putting them in the oven. If you are using a BBQ then I would start with the chicken skin side down as you are using direct heat and this will crisp the skin up first.
Using both of these methods there is so many dishes you can make; chicken casseroles, stews, tray bakes, chinese chicken or jerk chicken are to name but a few!
Chicken unlike other meats needs to be cooked all the way through to ensure it is safe to eat. The best way to make sure it is cooked would be to use a thermometer but if you don’t have one of these then you’ll need to cut the chicken to make sure there is no pink left in the middle.
Although I’ve insisted we keep the bone and skin on the chicken there are some occasions where I’d use boneless, skinless chicken. For example if I’m making chicken and mushroom pie, once the pastry is on it would be difficult to remove the skin and bone so I’d do the recipe using boneless.
My Perfect Way to Cook Chicken Thigh in the Oven
- Marinade your chicken and place in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. (Simply season and put some olive oil on the skin if you don’t have time to marinade)
- When you are ready to cook take the chicken out the fridge and let it come up to room temperature
- Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees
- Optional for a crispier skin – cook the chicken skin side down in a frying pan for 10 minutes
- Place the chicken into a roasting tray along with any other ingredients you are cooking with it.
- Cook the chicken in the oven until the middle is no longer pink. This should take approx 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Rest the chicken for a few minutes before serving
My Perfect Way to Cook Chicken Thighs on the BBQ
- Marinade your chicken and place in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. (If simple season and put some olive oil on the skin if you don’t have time to marinade)
- When you are ready to cook take the chicken out the fridge and let it come up to room temperature
- Put the chicken on the BBQ skin side down
- Cook the chicken until the middle is no longer pink.
- Rest the chicken for a few minutes before serving