Recipes for chicken thighs that satisfy

These dishes bring out the bountiful flavor of this cut

There’s a longstanding debate when it comes to chicken: breasts or thighs, light or dark? We know white meat has less fat and fewer calories, but it also has less flavor pizazz.

A hundred grams of skinless, roasted chicken thigh, about 31/2 ounces, contains 209 calories and has 10.9 grams of fat. Compare that with the same amount of skinless, roasted chicken breast at 165 calories and 3.57 grams of fat. In terms of saturated fat, that amount of thigh meat contains 2 grams more than the breast, 3 grams instead of 1.

Nutritional profiles don’t tell the whole story. Chicken thighs are moister and offer a richer, more distinct taste. Because dark meat is more satisfying flavorwise, I categorize it as one of those eat-asmaller-portion-but-enjoy-it-more ingredients. Plus, when it comes to my food budget, it’s hard to ignore that thighs are a much bigger bargain than breasts.

Here are delicious ways to prepare chicken thighs, suitable for a Sunday afternoon. One is from chef, restaurateur and TV personality Marcus Samuelsson. His incredible fried chicken thighs are imbued with tasty Asian flavors. The thighs are fully cooked before frying. They simmer in a coconut milk mixture before being coated with panko and quickly fried in hot peanut oil. The result is moist, delicious chicken thighs that are perfectly cooked from top to bottom.

Chef Bill Bracken’s delectable chicken thighs are pan-roasted and supplemented with loads of fresh

vegetables. The last-minute addition of capers and fresh lemon juice adds a just-right spark.

Bracken founded the California-based Bracken’s Kitchen in 2013 after leaving his long-held executive chef position at Fashion Island Hotel Newport Beach (then the Island Hotel), where he perfected this recipe. Bracken’s Kitchen is a community feeding program aimed at helping those in need, using a food recovery program and providing culinary training.

Chef Jacques Pepin, PBS TV host and cookbook author, has developed a slick technique for making sure bone-in chicken thighs cook thoroughly, creating to-the-bone doneness in a short amount of time. Before the bird is cooked, he trims excess fat from the sides of the thighs (I do this with clean scissors) and then cuts about a 1/2 inch deep on either side of the thigh bone. Easy. The thighs start skin-down in a cold, dry skillet, a technique used when cooking duck breasts. It’s a method that creates beautifully browned skin that is super crisp. Pepin’s quick pan sauce teams diced fresh mushrooms with onion and garlic, chives and white wine. Enjoy.