Chicken Thigh Nutrition Facts, Calories and Protein

The thigh is the upper part of the chicken's leg. Leg muscles work to support and move the bird, and they contain more myoglobin, the protein that gives the meat its darker color, than the breast does. Thigh meat also carries more fat between the muscle fibers, which is why it stays juicy through longer cooking.

Thighs are sold bone-in with skin, boneless and skinless, or as whole legs with the drumstick attached. Whichever you buy, the record on this page describes only the cooked meat.

Skin: USDA's separate record for roasted thigh meat with the skin has nearly twice the fat per 100 g of the meat-only record used here, and more calories. The "1 thigh with skin" weight in the serving list (137 g) is scaled with these same meat-only values, so it does not add the fat of the skin itself. If you eat the skin, expect more fat and calories than this page shows.

Raw vs cooked: roasting drives out water, so a thigh weighs less after cooking than before. The same protein and fat end up in fewer grams, which is why cooked thigh has more calories per 100 g than raw thigh. Breaded or batter-fried thighs add carbohydrate and absorb frying oil, so their numbers are very different from plain roasted meat.

Because thigh meat tolerates heat without drying out, cooks pick it for methods that would toughen breast meat:

• Braising and stewing: curries, chicken cacciatore and stews, where thighs simmer in sauce.
• Roasting and sheet-pan dinners: bone-in thighs with crisp skin, roasted alongside potatoes or vegetables.
• Grilling: boneless thighs for kebabs, skewers and charred taco filling.
• Shredding: slow-cooked thighs pulled apart for tacos, rice bowls and soups.

• Chicken curry. Thigh pieces simmered with onion, garlic, tomato and spices. Onion · Garlic · Tomato
• Teriyaki chicken. Boneless thighs glazed with a soy sauce, sugar or honey and garlic sauce. Soy Sauce · Honey · Garlic
• Chicken and rice. Thighs browned and then cooked in the same pot with rice and broth. White Rice · Onion
• Chicken tacos. Grilled or shredded thigh meat in tortillas with avocado and onion. Avocado · Onion
• Fried chicken. Bone-in thighs coated in seasoned flour, often after an egg or buttermilk dip. All-Purpose Flour · Egg
• Chicken stew. Thighs with potatoes, carrots and onion in a thickened broth. Potato · Carrot · Onion

Match the weight you enter to the state of the meat. These values are for cooked meat without skin or bone, so weigh the thigh meat after cooking and trimming, or, if you weigh raw thighs, use a raw chicken record instead and account for cooking loss in the finished product. Bone-in thighs need the bone subtracted, since only the edible meat counts. Enter the weights in the label generator, or build the whole dish in the recipe nutrition calculator. Your serving size should follow the FDA reference amount for your product type in the RACC lookup.