How to Trim the Fat From Chicken Thighs

Step 1

Get a cutting board and your kitchen sheers.

Step 2

Trim the obvious flaps of fat hanging off the chicken. I always start here and this is where most of the big pieces of fat come from.

Step 3

Cut any remaining strips of fat from around the edges. These strips of fat are sometimes hiding under the top layer of chicken skin. Lift the skin slightly around the edges and you will see the fat. You may need to skim the scissors across the surface of the chicken to get that fat off.

Step 4

For the underside of the chicken thighs, look for the obvious fat you can see and dig down a little with your scissors with a nose diving motion. These are often hidden pockets of fat. Whenever you see fat, do an exploratory nose dive to see how deep it goes. With the underside, hold the fat on top with one hand and trim the fat from below with the other. (my video show this well).

Step 5

There is a small triangle of fat that can run deep so look out for this. Nose dive your scissors into the triangle of fat. It might look small, but there is often a huge amount of fat below the surface as well.

Step 6

After all the thighs are trimmed, do a onceover to see if you missed anything.

Step 7

This same method works for boneless, skinless chicken thighs too. All that fat is still on the underside and should be removed before cooking.

Step 8

Once you’ve practiced this technique a few times, it should take about 45 seconds to a minute per chicken thigh to get all the fat out.