Chicken – How to cook boneless chicken thighs

chickenfryingmeatsaucesteak

I can cook beef steak and chicken breasts pretty good, but boneless chicken thighs is where I have some issues.

First it is uneven in width, making it hard to properly cook the insides without overcooking the outside.

Second I do not know how to work the chicken skin. By the time the chicken is properly cooked, the skin is scorched – not crispy.

Third is that I do not know what kind of liquid goes well if I want to deglaze the pan. I am looking for a tangy, savory sweet gravy but I do not know what kind of ingredients will get me there (just basic deglaze knowledge).

I hope you guys can provide some guidance as to how to nail boneless chicken thighs and solve these problems I am having because YouTube and Google have not been my friends today.

EDIT: I have noticed some confusion about what is a chicken steak, so here: enter image description here

EDIT V2: Using what the comments have taught me, I have changed from "chicken steak" to "boneless chicken thighs". I will keep the picture to avoid further confusion.

Best Answer

Regarding width: the chicken breast needs to be flattened. Here's a video of a home cook doing it to give you an idea. I don't use the hammer, I smack it with the bottom of a skillet. When I worked in a restaurant, the Chef had me flatten chicken with a smack from the side of a heavy cleaver.

Regarding the skin: I like to brown in a 50/50 olive oil and butter. Get it hot, then add the chicken skin down. Cook it, nudge it gently with tongs on occasion, when the chicken moves freely with a nudge, the skin is crisped, and you can turn it over.

Deglazing: I like a 50/50 mix of white wine and chicken broth. Shallots is are ideal, but I usually end up with onion.