# What is your favourite chicken part? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [October 26, 2020, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979 "2020-10-26T22:15:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979/21 "2020-10-27T01:59:47Z")
In general terms thighs, legs in a pinch. Wings are a delicacy, as are livers and to a lesser degree gizzards. Necks and backs are good but a lot of work for the meat, breasts are too dry and need serious help to make them palatable, even those who posted here saying breasts are first also mention how much flavoring they need, those are just chicken haters and want something chicken that has no flavor to flavor how they want so they can clim they like chicken, but whatever floats their boats. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979/22 "2020-10-27T02:32:37Z")
I loved chicken wings long before they migrated _out of Buffalo._ We just called them therapod limbs back then. When Mom made baked chicken, I always reached for the wings and nobody fought me for them. They are still my go-to chicken part today, though I spice them up quite a bit now. I use thighs for most of my chicken recipes (chicken stew & dumplings, curried chicken, etc.). Can’t beat that flavor and moistness. But, when I go to KFC or Bojangles, I like me some fried breasts. I always buy bone-in chicken. Boneless chicken farms disgust me. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979/23 "2020-10-27T02:42:55Z")
Ima be that guy: the oyster. But I’m not really that guy, because I just learned that what I’ve called the oyster isn’t: instead, it’s the leftover butt. There’s two little nubbins of meat on a roast chicken just below the cavity, and they snip off really easily, and they’re super fatty and delicious, each one about the size of a marble. My kids always try to be in the kitchen when I take the roast chicken out of the oven, so they can get one of these nubbins. Now that I know better, I’m looking for the actual oysters next time. Of the real cuts, I prefer drumsticks when I’m dining out, but at home, roast breast meat is actually really tasty and is a great conduit for hot sauce. I’ll generally take a slice of that and a slice of thigh. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979/24 "2020-10-27T02:49:25Z")
I use chicken for tacos, sandwiches, pasta sauces, and soups. I also make excellent Italian sausage and pepperoni substitutes to use on pizza since chicken doesn’t usually make my gout flare up. Any way you’d use pork or beef, I use chicken. My favorite? Thighs. Thighs are the prime rib of chicken in my opinion. Legs are good, but they just don’t have the meat a thigh has. Don’t get me wrong, I like breasts and wings just fine too. I buy whole chickens when they are on sale and aren’t “enhanced” by salt solutions. I portion up the pieces, vacuum seal them, and freeze them. The real bargain is when leg quarters go on sale. Ten pound bags of leg quarters go on sale regularly for 49-69 cents per pound hereabouts. I separate the legs from the thighs. I bone and skin the thighs and freeze them. The legs I boil and then freeze the meat. All the bones and skins go into a pressure cooker and get turned into broth for chicken and noodle and soup. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979/25 "2020-10-27T02:59:08Z")
I use my pressure cooker to cook meat whenever I can. Can’t beat the speed, flavor and drop-off-the-bone tenderness. I’ve been tempted to pressure cook chicken in oil, like KFC, but I don’t have the guts. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979/26 "2020-10-27T03:42:03Z")
Drummies. In whatever hot sauce or oyster sauce is available. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979/27 "2020-10-27T03:42:38Z")
If the answers isn’t thighs, you’re wrong, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979/28 "2020-10-27T04:06:55Z")
Generally thighs. Those are the cuts I buy the most often. But I will use breast or breast tenderloins for some very quick stir fry type of things. I kind of think of them as the tofu of chicken: they don’t really have all that much flavor but they absorb flavors. I also love legs and wings, but I don’t cook those as much. For fried chicken, I think legs/drumsticks are actually my favorite. And wings, of course. But for most cooking, it’s thighs most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979/29 "2020-10-27T04:28:43Z")
Breast. Thighs a distant second. Drums if I have to to be polite. Wings are useless. Main preference is to stew the entire chicken, though, and debone, then make soup! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979/30 "2020-10-27T09:23:04Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > I like a good Pope’s Nose but just like with a neck they’re too small on chickens. I like turkey tails a lot more just due to the size. When my brother and I were kids, we used to fight over the turkey tail. One Thanksgiving a woman who was a guest promptly stole the tail, then ate everything else, leaving the tail on her plate. I have no idea who this woman was, but I hate her to this very day. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979/31 "2020-10-27T12:10:07Z")
Breast. I love deboned skinless chicken/turkey breast. The part people complain about being too dry and devoid of taste. Mmmmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979/32 "2020-10-27T12:16:44Z")
No love for the crispy skin off a roast chicken? And that goes 10x for a poulet roti in France. j ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979/33 "2020-10-27T12:34:54Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > There’s two little nubbins of meat on a roast chicken just below the cavity, and they snip off really easily, and they’re super fatty and delicious, each one about the size of a marble. Those should be on thigh cuts, if you’re looking for more of ‘em. I usually sneak a few I’m grilling a big mess of thighs. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979/34 "2020-10-27T12:53:46Z")
Like almost everyone else, thighs. My latest is to marinate them in Walkerswood Jerk seasoning for 24 hrs (thanks to another thread on the SD) and toss them on the new pellet smoker - delicious! ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979/35 "2020-10-27T13:01:38Z")
Thighs?!!! Eeeeeeeeeewwww! 🤢 WINGS!! 😀 ---
**Author:** ![albino\_manatee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/albino_manatee/32/2_2.png) [@albino\_manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/albino_manatee)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979/36 "2020-10-27T13:48:12Z")
hearts 'n kidneys 'n gizzards. aside from these … definitely the darkest parts of the foul _(legs, thighs, etc.)_ … turkey is even better. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979/37 "2020-10-27T13:50:11Z")
I like fried gizzards and lizards, but don’t get them often enough. I’m pleasantly surprised no picked the ‘nugget’ or the ‘finger’ yet. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979/38 "2020-10-27T14:15:43Z")
There was a time not long ago when I loved every part of the chicken. Less and less in recent years as it’s been largely ruined through overproduction and related factory farming methods. To me the texture and flavor has become akin to eating a nerf ball. Even using the entire bird to make chicken soup is a pointless exercise. That said, while chicken breast is the least flavorful to start, I can pack a ton of flavor into it through various cooking methods and recipes. My favorite of all remains the pounded and breaded chicken schnitzel. Though I rarely bother. Dry rubbed and ‘well done’ wings are pretty much all the chicken I’ll eat anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979/39 "2020-10-27T14:33:55Z")
Can’t stand dark meat. Juicy bird meat? No thanks. Breast meat, cooked until dry, nicely marinated before or sauced after. Wings are ok, if sauced nice and spicy. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979/40 "2020-10-27T15:05:55Z")
Drumsticks. Definitely my favorite part of the chicken. But I won’t refuse any other chicken parts, done properly it’s all good. I just happen to like drumsticks best. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-chicken-part/923979.md?page=3)