10 Creative Ways To Upgrade Chicken Thighs

When it comes to whipping up cost-effective, delicious meals for the whole family, few ingredients check the boxes as efficiently as chicken thighs. Not only are they perfect for grilling, pan-roasting, or even getting your butcher to turn into ground meat, but they contain significantly more flavor than their breast counterparts. Best of all, the high fat content makes them much more forgiving than chicken breasts if you're worried about the possibility of overcooking your meat.

All of those factors are why thighs are always a good cut of chicken to buy, but what about the actual preparation? Making a rub out of a simple combination of spices and oil and then tossing it in the oven at around 400 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the right temperature for perfect chicken thighs, will almost always yield delicious results. But for those looking to expand their dinner table offerings, the possibilities are nearly endless when it comes to cuisine, technique, and texture enhancements. Follow below for a list of how to spice up your chicken dinners in ways that will leave the whole family speechless.

We all have our favorite marinades of choice, but there are ways to load your chicken up with flavor and tender, fall-off-the-bone texture without doing all of that legwork. Braising your chicken for around 40 minutes in a spiced, flavorful liquid can give the thighs a powerful punch, as well as maximum juiciness, once they get to the plate.

The key to an effective braise is to sear your chicken first, creating a beautiful, caramelized skin, before partially covering it in your liquid of choice and slow cooking it until it's ready to melt in your mouth. You can use any number of liquids for the second step: white wine, chicken broth, or soy sauce can all be effective, depending on your desired cuisine. Cider-braised chicken will impart a light sweetness and the taste of autumn, while a classic Fourth of July beer braise can be the star of any summer cookout. Both light and dark beers are effective for braises, though darker ales can risk overpowering the chicken's flavor at times.

Brine might be a word most commonly associated with fried chicken, especially chicken wings, but it's just as impactful when cooking up some chicken thighs. There are two different styles of brining: a dry brine and wet brine, both of which have their place when cooking chicken, but for our purposes, let's focus on wet brines.

This technique involves submerging your chicken in a water bath of salt, spices, sugar if that's your preference, and desired aromatics, and letting the solution rest in the fridge for roughly one hour per pound of meat. This is one of the more effective ways to infuse every bite of the bird with maximum flavor and hydration. If you're using this chicken thigh seasoning hack, just make sure to pat the meat down after brining and before cooking to avoid keeping all that salt in there. Season the thighs with whatever non-salt spices you desire and cook them until they reach a slightly higher internal temperature — about 175 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal for thighs, and the moisture you've added from the brine will prevent it from drying out.

Everyone loves a good plate of fried chicken. There's nothing like feeling the crunch as your teeth break the surface in that first bite and sink into the juicy meat below. But frying chicken at home can be so much work — after all, who has the time and energy to worry about oil disposal or cleaning up a splattered stovetop?

Luckily, we live in the golden age of technology, and the ability to construct a low-hassle, slightly healthier fried chicken dinner is easier than it has ever been. The air fryer is a perfect vehicle to fry up some tender chicken in around 20 minutes without having to worry about dealing with oil, both on the food itself and when it comes to clean-up. You can also oven bake a chicken dish that guests would never guess isn't fried, cooking it longer than you'd expect in order to create a beautifully crunchy skin without the meat becoming dried out internally.

As much fun as it is to stand over a grill, hearing the meat sizzle as you dutifully cook it, sometimes you just need to throw some food together and go back to whatever it is that you need to do. When that's the case, it pays to know how to utilize your kitchen implements in order to free yourself up to prepare side dishes or simply get some other work around the house done.

Whether you're making chicken thighs like a poultry-based pot roast, whipping up a medium-effort chicken cacciatore, or slow cooking a deliciously tender, fall-apart tikka masala, mastering the art of going low and slow is a game changer when it comes to making the best possible chicken thighs. This process allows the naturally-occurring fat to render into the meat, infusing it with its own flavor even as the other ingredients and sauces you added permeate every inch of it. Just don't forget the crucial step of searing the meat before slow cooking. This allows the skin to caramelize and impact the overall taste of the dish while also preventing the chicken from becoming overly soft and mushy.

Okay, so technically this could fall in the previously-listed category, but it's a specific and underutilized enough trick as to be worth its own focus. Everyone knows you can use your rice cooker for rice (it's kind of in the name), and believe it or not, you can use a rice cooker to bake a cake as well. But did you know you can also use it to create a one-pot chicken dish?

Whether making the basic but deceptively nuanced Hainanese chicken and rice, a simplified arroz con pollo, or an umami-packed chicken and mushroom dish, adding chicken thighs to a rice cooker allows you to expand your offerings while simplifying your workload — especially if you're cooking for two. Just add your rice and water or chicken stock as you normally would, layer in some aromatics, and lay the chicken on top. Once the cooking cycle is complete, let it sit for 10 minutes with the lid up and then test the internal temperature of the meat.

We often think of chicken thighs as a standalone menu item, but you don't just have to have the same grilled thighs every time. Becoming proficient at whipping up a soup or stew can help you expand the weekly rotation in more ways than you'd expect.

You can cook soup with chicken thighs right in the slow cooker or rice cooker, allowing the comforting ingredients to come together with minimal hassle, and, in the case of the rice cooker, less time than you might otherwise need. When it comes to cuisine, there's always the classic chicken and dumplings or rosemary chicken and potato stew, but don't neglect internationally renowned dishes like a slow-simmered caldo de pollo or the always-popular Ethiopian doro wat (which carries the added benefit of allowing you to choose your preferred spice level). Soups are also perfect for reusing leftover chicken thighs to create an entirely new meal, so don't be afraid to get creative!

What is it about meat being cut or shaved off a spit that makes it look, taste, and smell so extra-appealing? While you might not have a rotating gyro-master in your house, you can create a respectable facsimile of the process at home with just a few simple kitchen items: tin foil, an onion, a couple skewers, and some deliciously marinated boneless chicken thighs.

That quartet is all you need to cook up shawarma or Turkish kabobs in yogurt sauce. Cut the onion in half, anchor the skewers in the onion, and layer the meat on the skewers. You can place this upright in the oven or grill on high heat, or else you can add the second half of the onion to the top and cook it horizontally in the grill — just make sure to turn it regularly. The same process is perfect for DIY chicken al pastor, especially if you layer pineapple slices in between the chicken thighs. Put the result in a bowl with rice and veggies or find the appropriate sandwich vehicle, whether a pita, a tortilla, or bread to make a torta.

Speaking of which, don't forget to look to the East when deciding what kind of sandwich you're in the mood for. While you might not want to go through all the trouble of double-frying up some Korean fried chicken, there are a multitude of Asian and Asian-fusion sandwiches that can be made with ingredients you probably already have at home.

A teriyaki chicken sandwich with quick-pickled red cabbage slaw and a sriracha mayo is sure to be a hit at any cookout, but the possibilities don't end there. Grilled garlic and lemongrass-marinated chicken thighs can be a star protein for a banh mi as easily as they can be for a vermicelli bowl, and you can use a food processor to make ground chicken for a Chinese chicken burger. You can also slow cook chicken in adobo for Filipino-inspired sandwiches that pack a wallop in the flavor department.

Braising and brining aren't the only ways to add major moisture to maximize mouthfeel. By now, it's an open secret that coating a chicken thigh in mayonnaise before cooking helps lock in the juices as it cooks, recirculating it into the meat and making each bite divinely hydrated, but there are plenty of other ways to achieve similar results.

Two fantastic ways to add moisture to your chicken thighs are to use a butter bath or an injector. Injecting with a marinade of choice is a time-honored technique in the barbecue community to get flavor running all the way through the meat. You can use a similar solution as laid out in the brining section, but you can also try injecting a soda like Coke or Dr. Pepper for added sweetness and caramelization. Using a butter bath for chicken imparts major, restaurant-quality richness, by continuously basting the meat with an herbaceous butter mixture. Adding some mustard to the butter can take things from great to gourmet quickly.

The key to any truly delicious recipe is layering flavors in the proper order and ratio. One note too often forgotten is sweetness, which can enhance and complement the savory chicken in beautiful ways.

There are lots of ways to do this with whatever ingredients are seasonal or easily accessible. Adding stone fruit, such as peaches or plums, to the roasting pan along with seasoned chicken thighs yields a beautifully-balanced and complex result, especially with the addition of a hit of balsamic vinegar to get some acidity. Similarly, chile powder mixing with a sweetener isn't something reserved for Mexican chocolate. Brown sugar and your chile powder of choice — berbere is a favorite — creates a multifaceted dish while taking some of the sting out of the heat of the pepper. Maple, black pepper, and soy sauce creates an Asian-inspired combination to write home about. Did you know that grapes and chicken go together like peanut butter and jelly? Now you do, and if any guests give you a skeptical eye, that will change as soon as they take their first bite.