Is Chicken Breast the King of Healthy?
Anytime someone says they are going on a diet or starting to eat healthy somewhere on that grocery list you'll see boneless skinless chicken breast. It's one of the top choices because it's low in calories and fat but high in muscle-building protein. I've eaten my share of chicken breast but it's not my go-to part of the chicken that I consume daily.
Costco is the store I load up on healthy ingredients for the week. So when I go there I'm buying all the staples like Meat, Vegetables, Rice, and Eggs. As I'm walking down the chicken aisle I see chicken breast and walk right on by to the Boneless Chicken Thighs.
To me, boneless chicken thighs are everything chicken breasts aren't. They are juicy and have a natural flavor that the chicken breast cant claim. One of the reasons for that flavor is that chicken thighs have more fat than breasts but when you do a comparison it's not that big of a deal.
Boneless Thighs versus Breasts
4 ounce serving | Breast | Thigh |
Calories | 110 Calories | 130 Calories |
Protein | 24 Grams | 22 Grams |
Fat | 1 Gram | 4.5 Grams |
The difference is so small but for me the taste difference is big. So now that we have the right chicken for this recipe let's put it together.
Baked Panko Encrusted Boneless Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
3 Eggs
1/2cup of milk
A box of your favorite flavor of panko bread crumbs. Kikkoman's is my go-to panko.
3 pouches of Costco boneless chicken thighs. That's half the package they sell it in. Usually, it's about 4ish pounds.
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 and line the cookie sheets with parchment paper. I use parchment because it's nonstick and easy to clean up when I'm done.
Mix your eggs and milk together in one bowl and then another bowl fill with panko. You are basically creating a little assembly line.
Take each piece of chicken and dip it into the egg wash shaking off the excess and then dip it into the panko until evenly coated. Place on parchment paper.
Put both pans in the oven. Cook for 40 mins or until crispy and flip halfway through.
Your Protein Prep is Complete
Pretty simple to make and I usually couple that with some kind of rice and roasted vegetables. This is not some Pinterest beautiful recipe here but it tastes good and is affordable. This is a good option whether you want to lose weight or pack on some muscle. All you have to do is increase/decrease portions depending on your goals. I probably eat some variation of this 2-3 times a day. Chicken is a great muscle-building protein but don't be so quick to grab Chicken breast. Try the thighs next time and you'll never go back to the dry bland breast!