A surprisingly tasty chicken thigh recipe.

I’m not fond of dark meat, but this recipe worked out pretty well:

  • Get out a cast iron skillet or dutch oven. Put in enough oil to cover: set the burner to medium and let it heat up, uncovered.
  • Take your chicken.  Salt and pepper both sides liberally.
  • When the oil is hot enough that water droplets pop and sizzle, drop in the chicken, skin down.
  • Go away for 15 minutes.
  • Flip the chicken.
  • Go away for 15 minutes.
  • Check the chicken; if cooked, serve it.

Dead easy.

9 thoughts on “A surprisingly tasty chicken thigh recipe.”

  1. What oil do you think is best: olive, vegetable, canola, etc.?

    Any other spices you think might work with this?

    1. I’m a fan of rosemary, curry and/or ginger when grilling[because fire.] not sure how well that’d do in direct cast-iron though.

    2. Olive oil has a relatively low “smoke point”, IIRC .. get it too hot and all you taste is burnt olives.
      .
      I’d use coconut oil, it has a high smoke point, is commonly available, and doesn’t seem to set off Mrs. Cat’s joint inflammation the way canola oil does.
      .
      As for spices, use what you like – but because fried, plan on using more than you think you should..
      .
      Mew

      2. I’d second the coconut oil. It gives the chicken a nice golden brown delicious color and flavor. Also lard is a good choice too and nowhere near as expensive. I deep fry chicken wings in lard and it turns the skin into deep brown, crispy cracklin’s. But if you had to use a highly refined seed based oil I’d go with Canola as it has less propensity to pick up free radicals. Save the expensive extra virgin olive oil for salad dressing or sauces. You can pan fry with ‘Light’ olive oil though.

  3. I find that, particularly for the dark chicken meat, soaking the raw chicken in a brine overnight vastly improves the flavor. I use a gallon of water and mix in 1/3 cup of kosher salt and 1/3 cup of sugar. I’ve got a pot that when you put a gallon of water in it and a whole chicken that the water just comes up to the top and completely covers the chicken. Then, I put the lid on, clear out a spot on a shelf in the fridge, and let it soak over night. The next day you’ll see the water turn bloody red from the brine pulling all the blood fluids out of the meat (it’s all about osmosis and stuff). You won’t even really be able to call the dark meat, dark anymore because it’ll be nearly as white as the breast meat. Plus it comes out much juicier after you cook it. I have one of those Ronco rotisserie machines and cook whole chickens all the time.

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