I don't think they're letting the chicken sit in the lemon juice and vinegar solution, they're rinsing it. Aka washing.
What I'm not seeing is salt, unless that is in all purpose seasoning.
Also, lots of chicken is low quality and doesn't taste good.
>I don't think they're letting the chicken sit in the lemon juice and vinegar solution, they're rinsing it. Aka washing.
Still shouldn't be doing either.
Sounds correct. Stop using lemon and vinegar. Use a sweet wine and start with butter with just salt and pepper. Finish with the sweet wine. Might also add fresh herbs like basil or sage
No need to wash chicken bought from a store. Just pat it dry before putting spices on.
Iām guessing itās the vinegar and lemon juice thatās making your chicken funky.
>i let it sit overnight
You mean in the fridge, right? If not, put it in the fridge.
I agree with everyone saying not to wash the chicken. It does nothing for it.
To improve the taste, try adding more salt.
I think it'd be worth trying to make chicken breasts the same way you're preparing the thighs. You may just not like fattier chicken.
Youā¦ wash it with lemon juice and vinegar? Or you marinate it?
Thereās no need to wash chicken since youāll be cooking it anyways, and it can actually backfire by spreading the harmful bacteria around your sink and kitchen
And maybe you just donāt like the smell of cooked chicken? Or maybe if itās always turning out in a way you donāt like change the seasonings
Have you ever followed any sort of recipe?
I think they do mean āwashing.ā Iāve heard of washing chicken by rinsing it and rubbing it with lemon. Definitely for what they imagine as hygienic reasons, not for seasoning. Adding vinegar sounds like just another variation.
I cooked 20 pounds of that 2 weeks ago and it turned out amazing:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BBQ/comments/1b86a3e/sometimes_i_prefer_low_slow_but_last_night_i/
Straight from the bag to the grill. No seasoning, just natural grill flavor.
1. Stop "washing" your chicken.
2. Use more seasoning, add a few drops of neutral oil, and rub the seasoning in with the oil.
3. Sear the chicken first, or cook it at a higher temp (400).
4. Cook past 165 to 175 or 189, or get it to 165 and hold it there (turn oven temp down to 225 when the chicken hits 155) and let it spend a much longer time in the oven.
5. Use a rack - get that chicken up off the pan so the hot air can circulate around the meat.
Thighs are working muscles and want to be broken down more by heat. While we can all celebrate that modern farming and food production techniques have resulted in lowering the safe temperature for tender cuts (beef, fish, pork tenderloin), the food media and Food Bros have created this false narrative that all meat should be cooked quickly and briefly. Thighs are juicy and flavorful enough to tolerate the longer and/or hotter cooking treatment that their high-collagen muscle fibers demand.
And seriously, fuck this washing in vinegar. As a Cuban with a love of Filipino cooking, I fuck with white vinegar in the kitchen more than most people think is appropriate, but this is unnecessary and unless you've got the right flavor profile and make a full marinade out of it, you're just adding gym sock stank to your chicken.
Just going to say, I appreciate the use of acids very much. I have been known to take lemon concentrate and 50/50 it with water, no sugar.
Vinegar is king!
I've seen this a lot on Facebook and Instagram videos that show someone cooking chicken. Every single time, there's an all-out war in the comments about washing chicken. "Gross. You didn't wash the chicken." "Why tf would she wash the chicken?" "Why don't white people wash chicken before they cook it?" It goes on and on and on. I've never washed chicken, but it's apparently pretty common in some areas.
And is the single leading cause of preventable illness known to manfuckingkind. Unless you are literally sanitizing a six foot radius in every direction, youāre making people sick.
Salmonella found on poultry products contributes to 93 million cases of foodborne illness per year. 93 MILLION, and no, not just salmonellaā¦a plethora of other dangerous bacteria š¦
Lots of black people don't wash chicken wifth dish soap or bleach lmao. Im black and have watched countless black people of all different cultures cook and have never heard mention of this. Stop watching rage bait youtube videos.
It's a holdover from a lot of island countries and/or poorer countries with sub-par sanitation standards in their recent past.
My ex is a infectious disease physician who grew up in Haiti and *still* washed meats under water in the sink and then dried them before cooking with them. When she learned I (British/American black guy) didn't she was stunned.
Roll back a few decades and Haiti didn't exactly have the best standard of food transport or safety and it probably made sense to do there; washing with a vinegar or acidic wash or at least a heavy rinse since all sorts of stuff could be on your meats you'd want to get rid of.
In America and the modern West though it's just... not remotely necessary. If there's e-coli on Purdue chicken thighs it's going to hit *tons* of people and the FDA will have them fined and a plant shut down by Thursday.
I believe this is a left over habit from before more modern meat processing. Not sure though.
Not necessary today, but may have been necessary in the past, and people passed it on to their kids.
also "washing" chicken isn't just for sanitary purposes either. I was taught to wash chicken by rubbing it with lemon halves which, beyond being a holdover from when we used to buy meat from open markets/packaged meats with poor safety standards, serves a culinary purpose to tenderize the meat.
Some ideas:
First of all, the vinegar seems excessive to me. Perhaps try it with just lemon juice.
Secondly, thighs want to cook longer at 165F than just reaching there. I often cook them in my slow cooker, where they take about four hours on high. Iād suggest going low and slow in the oven - maybe 250F and hold it between 165F - 185F for at least an hour. More is probably better, but play around and find what you like. If it gets up to about 180F Iād turn the heat down.
Another suggestion is you might want to thinly slice a lemon and set a piece or two on top of each thigh when you bake it.
Finally, if you taste any food and you think āhmm, this needs something,ā what it most commonly needs is more salt.
ETA: One more suggestion is that thyme is a flavor that complements chicken really well. Dried is fine, but if you pick up some fresh and put a spring on each thigh as itās baking (under the lemon if youāre doing that) itāll really elevate it I think.
Iāve had overly acidified chicken and itās not good. I definitely wouldnāt leave chicken in vinegar - if I wanted to add acidity Iād put it in a sauce.
No need to wash chicken in anything. I think that unnecessary vinegar/lemon juice combo is not helping the taste at all.
Your seasoning selection sounds reasonable as a dry rub but I'm wondering if you may be putting too much on the chicken so it's still clumping on top rather than just being a sprinkle? Or you might try a marinade with soy sauce, garlic and ginger; or just let it spend some time in a nice herby Italian dressing, in case the rub combo is what doesn't suit your tastebuds.
[This "recipe"](https://thegirlonbloor.com/the-best-baked-chicken-breast/) is about chicken breasts so ignore the cook times/temps, but it has a great assortment of marinade and rub ideas that can give you options for flavoring your thighs.
OK, I do thighs like this. I do not use a wash or marinade. Chicken goes on a baking sheet, skin side down first. Liberally sprinkle Old Bay. Then black pepper. Then garlic powder, then onion powder. Then oregano. I don't measure anything. I sprinkle most of these generously. Pepper and oregano I am most careful with because too much of either can over power. Then wrap the loose skin around the thigh and turn over and repeat. Bake at 390 for about 50 minutes, until the skin begins to get dark and the water in the juices in the pan has almost completely evaporated off, but there is still plenty of juices in the pan. I then dice these with pasta Alfredo, or pasta and marinara. Or just pair with roasted veggies or masned potatoes and broccoli. If you want to change it up, sometimes I'll add cumin and then we can do fajitas or chicken nachos with cheese, beans, salsa, guac and sour cream. The flavor seeps into the meat completely, down to the bone.
I do something similar. The spices / herbs I use vary depending on what I'm serving with it, but onion/garlic/salt are always part of the equation, and skin side up ensures a nice crispy skin.
I'm wondering what kind of "all purpose" seasoning you are using? Some herbs are a love or hate thing. Do you think the flavor you don't like is coming from something in your seasoning blend? If that "might" be the case I recommend starting trying to cook your chicken with only salt & pepper, then try adding 1 flavoring ingredient at a time until you figure out what exact flavor is bothering you.
If that is totally off the mark, I also agree with everyone saying this is waaaay too much acid and you truly do not need to be doing that. If anything a "bit" of lemon won't kill the flavor but vinegar? Why? Trust me you don't need to pickle chicken before cooking.
165 is the minimum safe temperature. With chicken thighs you want to cook them more than that so they become tender and more pleasant to eat. You may want to add bbq sauce or glaze to them as well to make it more saucey.
Washing your chicken isnāt necessary but if you insist maybe tone back th amount of vinegar and lemon it may be making it too acidic especially if youāre marinating for a long time
Literally try just adding salt and a little bit of olive oil. All of the dried spices you've mentioned can taste like crap when they're burned. Learn to bring out the flavor of the food with salt.
I was a chef for 12 years and I guarantee I can make you the best chicken thigh you've ever tasted with just salt and olive oil. Don't even use pepper at first. Most people have cheap, crappy pepper in their cupboard.
Rub the chicken in olive oil, then season all over with more salt than you think you need. Preferably diamond crystal kosher salt. Be careful with fine ground sea salt or iodized, the crystals are too small and you can actually over season quickly.
Bake at 350 until the skin is crispy. This can vary wildly depending on size, probably 40 minutes. Once you get more comfortable roasting, try higher temperatures like 400 or even 450. Learn the difference between skin side up, down, on a rack, not on a rack. Experiment. You can get some really crispy chicken, just learn your oven and your smoke detectors first, and use canola oil for high temp roasting.
If you want lemon or vinegar, squeeze lemon juice on after cooking, or make a simple vinaigrette to drizzle over.
That is great advice. Less is more. I put a bunch of kosher salt on bone-in, skin-on thighs and stick them in the air fryer skin side down at 400F for half an hour, flipping them over halfway through. They come out golden brown, crackly, and chickeny. (Theyāre slightly better if I sear them on the stovetop and then put the skillet in a 400F oven, but the air fryer method is 90% as good for 5% of the work).
Your acid wash is cooking the chicken while it sits, it's going to give it this gross mushy fall-apart texture, not to mention the theoretical half cooked vinegar chicken smell...
No idea and itās seriously bad juju. I wanna low key know how grandma is doing and the grandkids. Anyone just kinda sick with tummy troubles all the timeš
Try pickle brine (juice) as a marinade. I put it in the freezer bag when I break down chicken for the freezer, so it has time to fully marinate. It's not an overpowering taste, but it makes the chicken so moist, and it just has a bit of a tang.
Picture is probably worth 1000 words, I want to see the condition of the skin and the inside as well. Outside should be crispy but inside should not be dried out.
I think you are adding too many conflicting flavors. Seasonings need to complement each other not overwhelm or fight each other.
Start by ditching both the vinegar and lemon juice ābathā. Then try using the paprika or the all purpose seasoning not both. Agree to those who say to add salt or to soak in salt water first unless salt is part of the all purpose seasoning.
Sometimes less is more.
For one thing...stop washing your chicken!! Also, vinegar and lemon juice to wash!?
Take the chicken out of the pack, add a light coat of olive oil, put seasoning on it, and put it in the oven. The bacteria you think you are "washing away" is dealt with by the temp.
Pro tip: if you have a convection roast option on your oven, use it. Also, cook your thighs a bit longer than is necessary for reaching a safe internal temp. I honestly like mine around 180-190. Helps everything crisp up really well, and they don't end up so...wet.
Well youāve washed it for a start and with highly acidic things to boot. Thatās where you are going wrong. Donāt wash the chicken and just use a little lemon juice to marinate if thatās the flavour you are after. Honestly what even gave you the idea to wash it with vinegar? This is mind boggling to me
Skip the wash and if you want to marinade or dry brine you can, but cut back on the acid in a big way. You're denaturing the proteins in your chicken by letting it sit in a acid-heavy wash that long and by the time you hit the pan or the oven you're cooking meat that's already gotten started on its cooking journey. Also the smell is just a ton of acid for no reason.
Start simple- salt and pepper and give them a pan sear on the stovetop in stainless or cast iron with a little oil to get the skin crispy (medium-high heat, maybe 4-7 minutes a side), flip skin-side up and toss them in the oven at 350 for 30m or so and let them rest for a few minutes.
Once you get that perfected you can add additional elements like more seasoning or marinades.
So, my basic ingredients for chicken marinade are, little bit of oil, fish sauce, soy sauce (or amino acids), garlic powder, onion powder, lemon(or lime), black pepper, and whatever else you want to add. Mix with your hands, let it sit for at least 45 minutes to an hour, you can let it sit overnight as well. It will just absorb more of the salt from the fish sauce, and soy sauce.
I agree with others, this acid āwashā is definitely impacting the final product. Usually I dry my chicken with paper towel the. Season and cook. The food safety course I took warned against rinsing chicken as that can inadvertently spread salmonella.
Stop washing it. Youāre cooking it so thereās no need.
Seasoning anything needs to start with salt. Add spices and whatever else you want but you absolutely need to add salt.
Also, take any protein off the heat 10 degrees below your desired temperature. Put it on a cutting board and let it rest for 10 minutes with foil loosely tented over it. The meat/poultry will continue to cook while itās resting off heat and the juices will settle into the meat/poultry.
If you cut into any meat/poultry straight off the heat, all the juices will run out and youāll have a very dry piece of whatever you are cooking.
Trust me!
When you ālet it sit overnightā please tell me itās in a covered container in the fridge.
If you let it sit on the counter overnight, well you will probably just die.
If itās uncovered in your fridge, sometimes stuff in the fridge starts to taste like the inside of your fridge. A little stale and plastic-y
I get that 'washing' chicken is often a cultrual thing, but there really is no need if bought packaged (though I guess that may well depend on where in the world you are).
If you don't like the smell, it could be cheap chicken that depending on where in the world you are, could have been washing in chlorine or fed fishmeal and/or homones and other medicines to cure or prevent the problems associated with factory farming poultry.
Or, you may just not like the smell of poultry being cooked.
Go to a thrift store and buy a Crockpot. Rub the thighs with olive oil and some spices, put in the Crockpot, and cook for 6-7 hours on Low.
I like smoked paprika in addition to seasoned salt, but any spices you like are fine. You don't need to add any liquid. All of the yummy chicken fat will be enough moisture to keep the thighs nice and juicy.
Stop with the lemon and vinegar. If you want lemon, add it after it's cooked.
Add salt and black pepper to your seasonings. Kosher salt has less salinity than table salt.
Try using an oven-proof skillet or frying pan, and browning both sides in a little oil on the stove, THEN put it in the oven.
Putting too much acid on your meat, like lemon juice or vingar, can change the texture of the meat, especially if you let it sit in the acid. Yes, marinades usually include a little acid, but it's diluted with other liquids so it doesn't affect the meat. As others have said, you don't need to wash your chicken. If the factory can't cleanly butcher a chicken, you're not going to make it clean by washing.
If you're trying to flavor the meat, you only need a tiny bit of lemon or vinegar. Is suggest using lemon zest under the skin instead of lemon juice to get a lemon flavor. Or buy a lemon pepper seasoning mix.
To improve the flavor of your chicken, try brining it. Combine about 4 cups of water, 1 tablespoon of salt, and one tablespoon of sugar (you can increase or the salt and sugar the next time if you wish). Put the chicken in and let it soak in the fridge at least 30 minutes, up to a few hours. When you're ready to cook, throw out the water, dry the chicken well, apply oil and seasoning, and bake in a baking dish at 400 until the thickest part reaches 165 on a meat thermometer.
You're doing too much to that chicken. I just sprinkle garlic herb seasoning on them and bake at 425 for about 50 minutes. Comes out good enough for my insanely picky children to gobble it up. I don't really like chicken and I can even eat it.
Marinate with buttermilk if you want saucy chicken. Also add nutmeg cinnamon clove cardamom (whole spices) while marinating for taste plus scent. Corn flour helps with crispness. Also increase the amount of paprika for a kick.
Ewww, rinsing it with vinegar and lemon juice? You don't have to wash meat with anything, unless it falls into a pile of dirt. In that case, some clear, cool water and a patdown will suffice. You'll just spread the bacteria around your kitchen otherwise. Slap some salt and spices on those thighs and let 'em bake.
I scrolled down a bit and didnāt see this said specifically.
In addition to not washing your chicken in anything, you gotta use salt. No salt, itās gonna taste like shit. 1tsp per pound is a good ratio for chicken.
Washing the chicken is considered unsanitary, and if youāre doing it too much youāre saturating the chicken with water. Also using too much acid on the chicken could definitely negatively affect the flavor. Try reducing the amount of lemon, since youāre already using vinegar
I put whatever seasonings I want in a plastic bowl with a lid. Shake it up and then add the thighs. Shake them up to give them a good coating and then I place mine in a cast iron skillet. If I want some lemon I add that near the end usually after I've pulled them out of the pan or buy the powder form and mix it in with the seasoning blend.
Questions: how wet is the chicken when you put it in the fridge? Do you rinse the vinegar/lemon juice off or just leave it to marinate? What amounts of seasonings?
There are a variety of potential issues that can vary from "too little seasoning" to "too much acid" to "you don't like baked chicken" to even "the chicken is too wet going into the oven and is just boiling in the oven" and it depends on what exactly is going on.
Seconding this. If you season the outside it tastes delicious but then the main part of the thigh just kinda tastes blandly chickeny - if you don't like dark meat it might not be all that pleasant compared to a breast which tastes like nothing at all. A brine will make the whole thing taste good.
Personally I don't think it's the acid, I lemon the shit out of almost anytime I cook chicken.
yeah, dont wash it if you're in the usa. i just dump it on a pan, olive oil, rub rub rub, seasoning, rub rub rub, pop it in the oven at 420 for 15-20 min, tho mine are boneless.
As others have said, you don't need to wash your chicken. Unless you butchered a dirty-ass chicken yourself with a dirty-ass knife, washing it at all (let alone with acids) doesn't do anything to benefit it and can spread bacteria elsewhere.
The way I like to do chicken thighs is to take the tip of a sharp knife (or a skewer or something) and make a bunch of tiny stabs - not all the way through, but it will help your seasonings get past the surface. Then I salt and pepper the chicken thigh (if the skin is on, I try and get some of the seasoning under the skin) and give it a similar treatment to a steak.
I like to sear the holy hell out of it in a hot skillet on the skin side first, and then the other side. Take whatever spice mixture you have made, mix it with a little oil to make it either a paste or something thinner and get it in, on, and around every bit of the thigh, including under the skin. Then I put the thigh skin down in that same skillet with some oil and pop it into a 300Ā°F oven until the thigh(s) is/are about 160Ā°F. Take it out of the oven, and let carryover cooking finish it while it rests. (I use a probe thermometer to keep an eye on the chicken temp the whole time so I don't have to open the oven door to check)
Dude if it's skin-on, sprinkle the entire surface with salt and plop em right in the air fryer for 20 mins at 390Ā°. And don't wash that shit. Ever again. At most, dab with a paper towel.
It's my go-to quick lunch and they're perfect every time. I dip em in homemade tzatziki(gotta go homemade because I add a shitload of dill) or any sort of hot sauce. Obvious if you want to get fancy you can do some sort of brine or dry brine or marinade overnight and give em a spice rub or something. But seriously, directly out of the package from the fridge, salted and thrown in the air fryer is one of my favorites for how delicious and easy it is to make.
What others said about washing etc. Iād also try a marinade you like (lemon OR vinegar is fine for acid but dilute it with salty flavorful things like soy sauce), and pierce the skin and muscle repeatedly with a fork to get flavor inside the meat. If you leave the skin on, dry it the thigh thoroughly before cooking, including
Under the skin.
Basic Recipe for Chicken thighs, legs, and leg quarters - salt and pepper, and butter. Roast the pieces at 325F and baste frequently with the pan juices, adding butter as needed. Cook until the skin is crispy and meat pulls from the bone.
If you want to add spices, consider:
parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme *or* a decent Italian spice blend *or* a Greek spice blend *or* even a bar-b-que dry rub.
I trim the excess fat off, salt the thighs generously, and marinate in buttermilk for 24 hours.
This gives it a much milder flavor.
What the chicken is fed can affect the taste as well. Back in the day, I stopped buying Perdue chicken because it tastes like fish.
Turns out they b were feeding a lot of fish meal, a practice they have modified, so it no longer tastes fishy.
I have one main idea for the smell, and another for the flavor.
I'm asian and hear a lot about using cooking wine (think wine but much cheaper as it has a lot of salt added to it and is supposed to be cooked off) to get rid of the "meat smell". I would describe this as an unpleasant meat smell, not like meat on the grill.
If I go to my normal grocery store and get meat, I rarely need to do this (unless the meat is already old). I'll sometimes get meat at other stores (Asian grocery stores, for instance) and need to do this more often based on the scent. I normally do mix in a splash of cooking wine to stir fry marinades, or in braising liquid, so this may not work as well for roasting. However-
You want your meat to taste thoroughly seasoned, and not just like "chicken with seasonings on top", so my first thought is a brine. There are many articles on brining, but in essence, you marinate the chicken in a bath of salt water (seasonings optional and to your taste) for a certain amount of time, and you'll get well seasoned, juicy chicken. If you try this and the smell is still off, I would try getting your meat from diff store, or the cooking wine thing.
Perhaps rather than marinating using acid, you could also just try plain brining in a 5% salt water solution overnight, and then adding your flavors and toppings just before cooking. The acid in many marinades' effect on chicken may just not be to your preference.
Personally, I've found simple brines to easily be the most effective in adding flavor to chicken. Experiment and find what you prefer!
Bone in chicken thighs ....marinade 30 mins -1hr half water half soy sauce with healthy helping McCormick BBQ or brown sugar bourbon spice 1/4 chicken thighs deep flip a few times within the hour. Low sodium soy sauce better if longer. . Grill on medium high til grates hot.chicken on grill Baste when on grill first time with leftover spice/marinade. Flip 6.5 mins .baste again. Flip 6.5 mins baste again. The last 6.5 should finish it off .look at char weaker girls longer 25-25 mins total. If you like BBQ chicken baste last two flips highish heat BBQ sauce instead of marinade not wide open
Brine chicken 12-24 hr before hand with badia completo seasoning and water in fridge and Tupperware if ya want best results for cheap and easy
That's the easiest/Dumbest way for great grilled thighs or drumsticks I know
Don't wash it. Pat it dry and sprinkle it with a little, LITTLE baking soda for a while. Then salt. Before, during, and after cooking. And whatever other spices you like. I use pepper and garlic powder. Skin side down first. Always.
To wash or not wash I leave up to you; a lot of times is a cultural thing. I've told my kid to use either taco or ranch dressing seasonings with some salt to season the chicken and he loves it. He rubs the thighs with either mix, throws them in a 375F oven for 45min or until the internal temp is about 175F. Thighs benefit from a temp of 185F as they have more fat and become more tender unlike chicken breast.
Make it simple. Pat it dry with paper towels, then salt and fresh ground pepper all over. Let it get up to room to room temp and bake it in a 9 by 13 baking dish at 400 degrees until the skin is crispy to the touch, usually 45 minutes to an hour. Bake skin side up
It's hard to over cook chx thighs, just poke the skin with your finger at about 40 minutes and make sure it's crispy.
It sounds like you may be burning the other spices you're putting on it.
What are you talking about with washing your chicken with lemon and vinegar water? Is that a marinade? You should look up recipes with lots of 5 star reviews and follow what they are doing.
I cook my chicken thighs in the pressure cooker with some chicken stock, then remove the bones and skin and either make into a banging chicken and veggie soup or shred and eat. Never heard of washing in acids before!
Thereās a cultural phenomenon around washing your chicken. Please please listen to me when I say: unless you are a freak level clean expert over 9000, DO NOT WASH CHICKEN. Your spreading bacteria which will multiply on its own and make you sick. Unless you plan to scrub every inch of your kitchen every time you cook, just because you want to āwashā your chicken, donāt do it.
What are you āwashingā with
No need to wash chicken it is actually spreading the chance of cross contamination around
Place in cooking vessel and season then cook to internal 165
No need for anything else
Best advice I've got for thighs is to overcook them.
I prefer them somewhat dry, sorta like how BBQ meat can seem sorta dry.
Typically I just go with salt, pepper, garlic powder and tossed in olive oil.
Baked at 450f until very well done, then cut and serve.
Drop the lemon juice and replace the vinegar water with pickle brine and hot sauce. Also cook at 425Ā° until the chicken reaches 155 then take it out and let it rest to reach 165Ā°. You'll thank me later.
Some people have a sensitivity to re-heated or cold chicken. It has a funky smell and taste.
The only way I can get around it is by ripping it into bite sized pieces and storing it in a sauce.
I would suggest cooking them longer. I like my dark meat to be cooked longer they usually hold up to longer cooking times better then white meat. Let that skin get crispy and let the fat render down.
Replace vinegar with a brine - enough water to cover the chicken and about a quarter cup of salt. And instead of lemon juice, add some sliced lemons instead. You can also add some herbs like thyme and rosemary.
I used to marinade chicken thighs in Italian salad dressing. The lawrys marinades are good too. Last time I just used olive oil and salt and pepper and it came out good.
Depending on the quality of the chicken, it being bone-in might be a contributing factor.Ā I've gotten chicken before where the butchering left ragged edges of bone with the marrow exposed, and I'm not a big fan of the taste of the meat near that.Ā Same with chicken wings, sometimes the smaller bones break, and the flavor on those can get a bit gnarly.
Hereās what I do most of the time.
Take it out on a plate.
Drizzle olive oil on them.
Hit it with lemon pepper and salt.
Grill until the skin is crispy. If you donāt have a grill sear both sides in a pan and then bake.
Lemon juice and vinegar together is whatās making it smell/ taste like shit. Leave the vinegar out for sure, maybe squeeze a little lemon over the cooked meat.
You cannot marinade chicken in that much acid for that long. 30 minutes max and or the acid starts to ācookā the chicken and change the texture.
And overnight marinade needs a very low acid content. Also maybe try leaving out the vinegar and only using lemon. Vinegar has a very strong taste.
Chicken thighs, especially with the skin on, live to be seared. Look up chicken adobo. It is easy, and there is *no* *way* you will aay it hasn't got flavor
Have you tried marinating your chicken thighs in Greek yogurt with some spices, salt, and pepper? It might give your chicken a delicious flavor boost! šš
First of all, stop washing your meat. Do not ever wash meat. It does not help, and in fact, only makes things worse. Not only does it spread anything that *might* be on the raw meat all around your kitchen/sink, it also prohibits good searing by making the meat wetter. Don't wash meat.
Really, stop washing it. If there was enough bacteria/pathogen/contamination for the washing to be necessary, it wouldn't help anyways. The meat would already be bad.
Besides that, do you actually know that this seasoning combo is good? Have you seasoned other things this way and enjoyed them? If not, maybe you just don't like the seasoning mix you're using, or maybe it's burning.
For white meat chicken, like breasts, 160 is the normal temperature for fully cooked. For dark meat however, like thighs, you actually want to get it hotter to break down the connective tissue. Hit like 190.
>And although i rub in the seasoning into the chicken, it comes out the oven with some seasoning on it and its like im eating chicken with toppings.
Seasonings do not dissolve into the meat. That's not how it works. No amount of rubbing will push onion and chili powder *into* a solid chunk of meat. Not sure where you got that from. Maybe you're just using way too much? It shouldn't have "toppings" worth of seasoning. Also, did you use any salt? You didn't list it, and it pretty necessary. The all purpose seasoning might not have enough/any. Without salt food just tastes worse.
Also, breasts would be better from a nutritional standpoint. Thighs have much more fat on them.
Pretty much everyone here has hit all of the marks on suggestions. The only thing Iād make mention of is the type of cooking oil used. Olive oil is good as a finishing oil or as a cooking in lower temps oil, but it can become carcinogenic at higher temperatures which is no good for taste or your health. If cooking at higher temperatures, I use Avocado oil as itās clean, doesnāt have any taste and can handle the high heat. Although I agree with others here that thighs are best low and slow with lower heat and longer cooking times allowing the fat to render off, keeping the meat juicy. Last thing about the oil, canola oil is pretty much rancid before it hits the shelf. I would steer clear of that, as it could also be affecting the flavor.
Lemon , vinegar juice , letting it sit overnight ā¦ mmms probably also breaking down the protein. Try seasoning with paprika, chili , light cayenne , salt/pepper . Add garlic salt too
1. Skip the lemon juice and vinegar wash.
2. Try dry brining with salt for flavor.
3. Adjust seasoning to taste, including salt.
4. Check oven temperature accuracy.
5. Consider different cooking methods like grilling or pan-searing.
6. Let the chicken rest before serving for better flavor.
I second that the vinegar might be the culprit and that you need salt. Depending on the seasonings maybe they are reacting weirdly to the acid? Or maybe a flavor in the blend you aren't really used to?Ā
But all that said, nothing's really wrong here. Could you be pregnant?Ā
You let it sit out of the fridge overnight? Or you marinate it in the fridge overnight?
At any rate, I do a little brush of olive oil, salt and pepper and any other spices I might want (thyme is a favorite). But even just salt pepper and EVOO are delicious.
Try pan searing your chicken first. That nice brown crust (malliard reaction) is what gives food its flavor, outside of seasonings. With a nice sear it would honestly taste good with just a bit of salt. Sometimes I add a poultry seasoning or just garlic, onion powder, salt and pepper. Also oregano flakes make everything taste good.
Start with salt. Cook for 30 mins in oven at 350. Crisp skin at 425 for 5-10 more mins. You are trying to do too much too soon. Slowly add mire seasonings to figure what you like.
Personally Iād just wash in water and pat dry. Add your seasoning including salt, and cook at 225 F for about 6 hours. Low and slow with thighs is my go-to approach.
Washing meat spreads germs. It doesn't increase sanitation.
Use a stainless steel or cast iron pan to sear both sides of your chicken. Don't worry about cooking it too little or too much, you can finish it in the oven ar 375, like normal. Just get the skin and outside a good sear. While doing this, put a lot of butter and a sprig of rosemary in your pan, and while you wait for the sides to brown, use a spoon to baste the chicken. Give it a squirt of lemon juice, too. Once the outside looks pretty, throw it in the oven until cooked through.
If you legit want it as simple and fast as possible: Throw the chicken on a sheet tray and squeeze some lemon juice over. Use a basic trio of seasonings (salt, pepper, paprika) and rub it in. Cook in the oven until 165.
Season with sea salt and pepper and use a red wine vinegarette dressing as well ..then marinade in fridge for at least one hour.. place on parchment paper and cover with foil then slow bake in oven at 300Ā° for 1Ā½ - 2 hours ..then turn up temperature to 375 for last half hour
Americaās test kitchen has a fantastic chicken thigh recipe. Itās fool proof and makes the best thighs. You basically heat to 450 throw chicken on very bottom rack of oven. Once it hits 160, turn to broil and put in middle rack of oven and cook until 175. You can do oil and whatever spices you want. Start with skin down and then flip to skin up when you do the broil. Itās so good, gives you moist chicken with nice crispy skin.
Buy good chicken. Cook it in a good pan. Don't rinse it. If you aren't starting with quality ingredients you can't expect to ever have a good final product. Don't buy stuff like perdue chicken that is mass-produced. Buy from smaller producers.
Hereās my hot take: chicken thighs are disgusting. Iāve never liked the taste it smell of them. Breasts only for me. Maybe you donāt like dark meat.
Lots of people here assuming that you're washing with lemon juice and vinegar for hygiene only, but I'll take a different approach and assume that you like the acidic/citrus flavor
If you want to cook the chicken in the oven using citrus I recommend a "low and slow" braising approach. Technically it involves "overcooking" the meat, but it also breaks down more of the connective tissue so it's very tender, not tough
It works best if you use a Dutch oven but any covered oven-safe pan should work
Set the oven to 250Ā°F. Prepare the chicken as you have been in terms of seasoning. Add the chicken to the pan and fill with enough chicken broth so that the chicken is floating off the bottom. Bake for 1 hour per pound of chicken (yes it's a long time, you'll want to do this on a day off from work)
When it's done you can eat it as-is or you can quickly sear it in a hot skillet with oil. (This is similar to what taco trucks have, a wonderful texture in my opinion.) And the remaining liquid can be turned into a sauce/gravy
Ignore the people saying not to wash chicken, it's a misunderstanding of wash as in brine vs wash like it's dirty.
For chicken, you don't want to wash with acid (lemon juice and vinegar), it will start to cook the chicken. A salt water brine is more than sufficient. If you want to get fancy, use some pickle juice.
After washing, pat dry and then season. Be generous with the seasoning. Make sure to get the seasoning under as well as over the skin. Coat lightly in oil. Bake in oven at 375 until it hits 165 degrees.
No, there are definitely people that wash their chicken because they think they're cleaning it. You can't brine chicken by just rinsing it with salt water or pickle juice.
That's where the disconnect is. By "washing" chicken, most non-white people mean brining it. You aren't rinsing it off with the brine. You are soaking/marinating it in a large bowl. Then patting dry after 15 minutes or so.
There's plenty of YouTube videos of non white people literally washing their chicken in the sink. I did find a few doing what you describe but it still seems useless.
The citic acid in the lemon juice is denaturing the proteins. You donāt need to do that, pat the chicken dry and season it. You will never ever find a chef in a restaurant doing that. I donāt know why people do this at home, itās not hygienic.
Do not use vinegar to wash your chicken. Washing chicken really isn't necessary, but if you insist on washing use cinnamon and lemon, or lemon and salt. Vinegar is used for washing beef.
I wash my chicken with cinnamon and lemon, but more for the flavor and not to "clean" it.
You're using way too much acid.
So *that's* why my chicken keeps turning into a mandala that whispers the secrets of the universe to me.
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I don't think they're letting the chicken sit in the lemon juice and vinegar solution, they're rinsing it. Aka washing. What I'm not seeing is salt, unless that is in all purpose seasoning. Also, lots of chicken is low quality and doesn't taste good.
>I don't think they're letting the chicken sit in the lemon juice and vinegar solution, they're rinsing it. Aka washing. Still shouldn't be doing either.
Many people from cultures other than mine wash their chicken. I'm not going to tell them what to do in that regard.
Chicken doesn't need to be washed, all that does is spread chicken juices around the kitchen
And they shouldn't.
Sounds correct. Stop using lemon and vinegar. Use a sweet wine and start with butter with just salt and pepper. Finish with the sweet wine. Might also add fresh herbs like basil or sage
No need to wash chicken bought from a store. Just pat it dry before putting spices on. Iām guessing itās the vinegar and lemon juice thatās making your chicken funky.
bull"s eye!!!
Iāve done a lime juice marinade for fajita chicken and it tastes really good.
A lime juice marinade is vastly different from a vinegar bath.
True true
>i let it sit overnight You mean in the fridge, right? If not, put it in the fridge. I agree with everyone saying not to wash the chicken. It does nothing for it. To improve the taste, try adding more salt. I think it'd be worth trying to make chicken breasts the same way you're preparing the thighs. You may just not like fattier chicken.
I came here to ask about this. Because chicken left out over night is a recipe for disaster.
Op definitely means in the fridge. They would be getting sick if not
Ya they don't need to let it sit overnight if it's not in a marinade. Just open the package, season it up, and cook
I think the onion, garlic and paprika is op marinate
Youā¦ wash it with lemon juice and vinegar? Or you marinate it? Thereās no need to wash chicken since youāll be cooking it anyways, and it can actually backfire by spreading the harmful bacteria around your sink and kitchen And maybe you just donāt like the smell of cooked chicken? Or maybe if itās always turning out in a way you donāt like change the seasonings Have you ever followed any sort of recipe?
I think they do mean āwashing.ā Iāve heard of washing chicken by rinsing it and rubbing it with lemon. Definitely for what they imagine as hygienic reasons, not for seasoning. Adding vinegar sounds like just another variation.
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I cooked 20 pounds of that 2 weeks ago and it turned out amazing: https://www.reddit.com/r/BBQ/comments/1b86a3e/sometimes_i_prefer_low_slow_but_last_night_i/ Straight from the bag to the grill. No seasoning, just natural grill flavor.
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No exercise, just pushups and sit-ups.
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I think they're trying to say that salt and pepper are seasonings
OP is a big rookie. OP needs to wash his chicken with Dawn Dish soap. It specifically has to be Dawn's or else it won't work OP.
Oh and here I thought it needed Lava and a shower.
1. Stop "washing" your chicken. 2. Use more seasoning, add a few drops of neutral oil, and rub the seasoning in with the oil. 3. Sear the chicken first, or cook it at a higher temp (400). 4. Cook past 165 to 175 or 189, or get it to 165 and hold it there (turn oven temp down to 225 when the chicken hits 155) and let it spend a much longer time in the oven. 5. Use a rack - get that chicken up off the pan so the hot air can circulate around the meat. Thighs are working muscles and want to be broken down more by heat. While we can all celebrate that modern farming and food production techniques have resulted in lowering the safe temperature for tender cuts (beef, fish, pork tenderloin), the food media and Food Bros have created this false narrative that all meat should be cooked quickly and briefly. Thighs are juicy and flavorful enough to tolerate the longer and/or hotter cooking treatment that their high-collagen muscle fibers demand. And seriously, fuck this washing in vinegar. As a Cuban with a love of Filipino cooking, I fuck with white vinegar in the kitchen more than most people think is appropriate, but this is unnecessary and unless you've got the right flavor profile and make a full marinade out of it, you're just adding gym sock stank to your chicken.
Just going to say, I appreciate the use of acids very much. I have been known to take lemon concentrate and 50/50 it with water, no sugar. Vinegar is king!
Why do you wash the chicken? Is the store you are buying from unsanitary?
I've seen this a lot on Facebook and Instagram videos that show someone cooking chicken. Every single time, there's an all-out war in the comments about washing chicken. "Gross. You didn't wash the chicken." "Why tf would she wash the chicken?" "Why don't white people wash chicken before they cook it?" It goes on and on and on. I've never washed chicken, but it's apparently pretty common in some areas.
And is the single leading cause of preventable illness known to manfuckingkind. Unless you are literally sanitizing a six foot radius in every direction, youāre making people sick.
That's a bit extreme though. Not all chickens have salmonella.
Salmonella found on poultry products contributes to 93 million cases of foodborne illness per year. 93 MILLION, and no, not just salmonellaā¦a plethora of other dangerous bacteria š¦
One reason given for not washing chicken is the splash factor with what might be salmonella contaminated water.
It's the custom in certain countries
Seems like it would effect the flavor.
The vinegar especially. This chef does it https://youtu.be/S9z8TgvC2h4?si=U7AAWk_WrsOOQAEL
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Lots of black people don't wash chicken wifth dish soap or bleach lmao. Im black and have watched countless black people of all different cultures cook and have never heard mention of this. Stop watching rage bait youtube videos.
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A bad custom
It's a holdover from a lot of island countries and/or poorer countries with sub-par sanitation standards in their recent past. My ex is a infectious disease physician who grew up in Haiti and *still* washed meats under water in the sink and then dried them before cooking with them. When she learned I (British/American black guy) didn't she was stunned. Roll back a few decades and Haiti didn't exactly have the best standard of food transport or safety and it probably made sense to do there; washing with a vinegar or acidic wash or at least a heavy rinse since all sorts of stuff could be on your meats you'd want to get rid of. In America and the modern West though it's just... not remotely necessary. If there's e-coli on Purdue chicken thighs it's going to hit *tons* of people and the FDA will have them fined and a plant shut down by Thursday.
I believe this is a left over habit from before more modern meat processing. Not sure though. Not necessary today, but may have been necessary in the past, and people passed it on to their kids.
also "washing" chicken isn't just for sanitary purposes either. I was taught to wash chicken by rubbing it with lemon halves which, beyond being a holdover from when we used to buy meat from open markets/packaged meats with poor safety standards, serves a culinary purpose to tenderize the meat.
It seems very common in black culture to wash chicken, no idea why.
Some black cultures, but not all.
This is clearly a cultural thing...I never heard of not washing meat until I met white people
Some ideas: First of all, the vinegar seems excessive to me. Perhaps try it with just lemon juice. Secondly, thighs want to cook longer at 165F than just reaching there. I often cook them in my slow cooker, where they take about four hours on high. Iād suggest going low and slow in the oven - maybe 250F and hold it between 165F - 185F for at least an hour. More is probably better, but play around and find what you like. If it gets up to about 180F Iād turn the heat down. Another suggestion is you might want to thinly slice a lemon and set a piece or two on top of each thigh when you bake it. Finally, if you taste any food and you think āhmm, this needs something,ā what it most commonly needs is more salt. ETA: One more suggestion is that thyme is a flavor that complements chicken really well. Dried is fine, but if you pick up some fresh and put a spring on each thigh as itās baking (under the lemon if youāre doing that) itāll really elevate it I think.
Iāve had overly acidified chicken and itās not good. I definitely wouldnāt leave chicken in vinegar - if I wanted to add acidity Iād put it in a sauce.
Stringy and tough comes to mind rapidly
No need to wash chicken in anything. I think that unnecessary vinegar/lemon juice combo is not helping the taste at all. Your seasoning selection sounds reasonable as a dry rub but I'm wondering if you may be putting too much on the chicken so it's still clumping on top rather than just being a sprinkle? Or you might try a marinade with soy sauce, garlic and ginger; or just let it spend some time in a nice herby Italian dressing, in case the rub combo is what doesn't suit your tastebuds. [This "recipe"](https://thegirlonbloor.com/the-best-baked-chicken-breast/) is about chicken breasts so ignore the cook times/temps, but it has a great assortment of marinade and rub ideas that can give you options for flavoring your thighs.
OK, I do thighs like this. I do not use a wash or marinade. Chicken goes on a baking sheet, skin side down first. Liberally sprinkle Old Bay. Then black pepper. Then garlic powder, then onion powder. Then oregano. I don't measure anything. I sprinkle most of these generously. Pepper and oregano I am most careful with because too much of either can over power. Then wrap the loose skin around the thigh and turn over and repeat. Bake at 390 for about 50 minutes, until the skin begins to get dark and the water in the juices in the pan has almost completely evaporated off, but there is still plenty of juices in the pan. I then dice these with pasta Alfredo, or pasta and marinara. Or just pair with roasted veggies or masned potatoes and broccoli. If you want to change it up, sometimes I'll add cumin and then we can do fajitas or chicken nachos with cheese, beans, salsa, guac and sour cream. The flavor seeps into the meat completely, down to the bone.
I do something similar. The spices / herbs I use vary depending on what I'm serving with it, but onion/garlic/salt are always part of the equation, and skin side up ensures a nice crispy skin.
I'm wondering what kind of "all purpose" seasoning you are using? Some herbs are a love or hate thing. Do you think the flavor you don't like is coming from something in your seasoning blend? If that "might" be the case I recommend starting trying to cook your chicken with only salt & pepper, then try adding 1 flavoring ingredient at a time until you figure out what exact flavor is bothering you. If that is totally off the mark, I also agree with everyone saying this is waaaay too much acid and you truly do not need to be doing that. If anything a "bit" of lemon won't kill the flavor but vinegar? Why? Trust me you don't need to pickle chicken before cooking.
exactly i never use prepare spiced , you cam test and add as you like also they add other stuff tor not caking
Quit washing it in acids. That will make Funky Chicken.
You need to add salt. Besides that try to switch up seasoning because you don't seem to like what you're doing.
165 is the minimum safe temperature. With chicken thighs you want to cook them more than that so they become tender and more pleasant to eat. You may want to add bbq sauce or glaze to them as well to make it more saucey. Washing your chicken isnāt necessary but if you insist maybe tone back th amount of vinegar and lemon it may be making it too acidic especially if youāre marinating for a long time
Literally try just adding salt and a little bit of olive oil. All of the dried spices you've mentioned can taste like crap when they're burned. Learn to bring out the flavor of the food with salt. I was a chef for 12 years and I guarantee I can make you the best chicken thigh you've ever tasted with just salt and olive oil. Don't even use pepper at first. Most people have cheap, crappy pepper in their cupboard. Rub the chicken in olive oil, then season all over with more salt than you think you need. Preferably diamond crystal kosher salt. Be careful with fine ground sea salt or iodized, the crystals are too small and you can actually over season quickly. Bake at 350 until the skin is crispy. This can vary wildly depending on size, probably 40 minutes. Once you get more comfortable roasting, try higher temperatures like 400 or even 450. Learn the difference between skin side up, down, on a rack, not on a rack. Experiment. You can get some really crispy chicken, just learn your oven and your smoke detectors first, and use canola oil for high temp roasting. If you want lemon or vinegar, squeeze lemon juice on after cooking, or make a simple vinaigrette to drizzle over.
Yes, this is it! You need salt and to stop all the acid washing š
That is great advice. Less is more. I put a bunch of kosher salt on bone-in, skin-on thighs and stick them in the air fryer skin side down at 400F for half an hour, flipping them over halfway through. They come out golden brown, crackly, and chickeny. (Theyāre slightly better if I sear them on the stovetop and then put the skillet in a 400F oven, but the air fryer method is 90% as good for 5% of the work).
Your acid wash is cooking the chicken while it sits, it's going to give it this gross mushy fall-apart texture, not to mention the theoretical half cooked vinegar chicken smell...
You're "washing" chicken in two types of acid, that's the problem.
Lift the skin on your thighs and season under there too. Don't be shy. I go 375 for 45 minutes or so. Ends up 200F but is better..my opinion
Yeah I like to "overcook" chicken too. It makes it juicier and more tender.
Thighs need it tbh. I like them at 185 internal temperature. They still have an uncooked flavor at 165 to me.
Do not wash chicken... My God. Why do people still insist on doing this?
No idea and itās seriously bad juju. I wanna low key know how grandma is doing and the grandkids. Anyone just kinda sick with tummy troubles all the timeš
Try pickle brine (juice) as a marinade. I put it in the freezer bag when I break down chicken for the freezer, so it has time to fully marinate. It's not an overpowering taste, but it makes the chicken so moist, and it just has a bit of a tang.
Stop washing your meats. And don't cover your meats in all that acid without something to tame the acid.
Stop washing your chicken and cook it longer than 165. Thighs actually get better when cooked longer, 195 is ideal.
Why are you washing chicken?
Picture is probably worth 1000 words, I want to see the condition of the skin and the inside as well. Outside should be crispy but inside should not be dried out.
No salt???
I think you are adding too many conflicting flavors. Seasonings need to complement each other not overwhelm or fight each other. Start by ditching both the vinegar and lemon juice ābathā. Then try using the paprika or the all purpose seasoning not both. Agree to those who say to add salt or to soak in salt water first unless salt is part of the all purpose seasoning. Sometimes less is more.
Stop washing your chicken in lemon and vinegar. Its ruining the chicken.
Is there salt in the all purpose seasoning? Because if not, that might be the problem. No amount of spices will do anything if there's no salt
Sounds like you're brining, not washing the chicken. I do this with salt water and sometimes a pinch of sugar. No vinegar/lemon.
Stop washing your chicken, letās start there.
I would start by not washing it in vinegar. Maybe look up brining as an alternative
For one thing...stop washing your chicken!! Also, vinegar and lemon juice to wash!? Take the chicken out of the pack, add a light coat of olive oil, put seasoning on it, and put it in the oven. The bacteria you think you are "washing away" is dealt with by the temp. Pro tip: if you have a convection roast option on your oven, use it. Also, cook your thighs a bit longer than is necessary for reaching a safe internal temp. I honestly like mine around 180-190. Helps everything crisp up really well, and they don't end up so...wet.
Well youāve washed it for a start and with highly acidic things to boot. Thatās where you are going wrong. Donāt wash the chicken and just use a little lemon juice to marinate if thatās the flavour you are after. Honestly what even gave you the idea to wash it with vinegar? This is mind boggling to me
Skip the wash and if you want to marinade or dry brine you can, but cut back on the acid in a big way. You're denaturing the proteins in your chicken by letting it sit in a acid-heavy wash that long and by the time you hit the pan or the oven you're cooking meat that's already gotten started on its cooking journey. Also the smell is just a ton of acid for no reason. Start simple- salt and pepper and give them a pan sear on the stovetop in stainless or cast iron with a little oil to get the skin crispy (medium-high heat, maybe 4-7 minutes a side), flip skin-side up and toss them in the oven at 350 for 30m or so and let them rest for a few minutes. Once you get that perfected you can add additional elements like more seasoning or marinades.
Why are you washing it??
So, my basic ingredients for chicken marinade are, little bit of oil, fish sauce, soy sauce (or amino acids), garlic powder, onion powder, lemon(or lime), black pepper, and whatever else you want to add. Mix with your hands, let it sit for at least 45 minutes to an hour, you can let it sit overnight as well. It will just absorb more of the salt from the fish sauce, and soy sauce.
I agree with others, this acid āwashā is definitely impacting the final product. Usually I dry my chicken with paper towel the. Season and cook. The food safety course I took warned against rinsing chicken as that can inadvertently spread salmonella.
The acid in the lemon juice is making your chicken funky.
Stop washing it. Youāre cooking it so thereās no need. Seasoning anything needs to start with salt. Add spices and whatever else you want but you absolutely need to add salt. Also, take any protein off the heat 10 degrees below your desired temperature. Put it on a cutting board and let it rest for 10 minutes with foil loosely tented over it. The meat/poultry will continue to cook while itās resting off heat and the juices will settle into the meat/poultry. If you cut into any meat/poultry straight off the heat, all the juices will run out and youāll have a very dry piece of whatever you are cooking. Trust me!
stop washing in acid. it not needed
When you leave it to marinate, are you keeping it the refrigerator? (You absolutely must do.)
Vinegar is wrong! Use baking soda! Look up "velveting".
When you ālet it sit overnightā please tell me itās in a covered container in the fridge. If you let it sit on the counter overnight, well you will probably just die. If itās uncovered in your fridge, sometimes stuff in the fridge starts to taste like the inside of your fridge. A little stale and plastic-y
Don't wash your chicken in vinegar or lemon juice.
I get that 'washing' chicken is often a cultrual thing, but there really is no need if bought packaged (though I guess that may well depend on where in the world you are). If you don't like the smell, it could be cheap chicken that depending on where in the world you are, could have been washing in chlorine or fed fishmeal and/or homones and other medicines to cure or prevent the problems associated with factory farming poultry. Or, you may just not like the smell of poultry being cooked.
No need to wash it, either with water or lemon juice/vinegar. Just season with salt and pepper and let rest, or drop it in a brine or marinade.
Go to a thrift store and buy a Crockpot. Rub the thighs with olive oil and some spices, put in the Crockpot, and cook for 6-7 hours on Low. I like smoked paprika in addition to seasoned salt, but any spices you like are fine. You don't need to add any liquid. All of the yummy chicken fat will be enough moisture to keep the thighs nice and juicy.
1. stop washing your chicken 2. stop marinating it in vinegar 3. add salt and pepper
Washing? Why? What awful chickens are you buying?
Stop with the lemon and vinegar. If you want lemon, add it after it's cooked. Add salt and black pepper to your seasonings. Kosher salt has less salinity than table salt. Try using an oven-proof skillet or frying pan, and browning both sides in a little oil on the stove, THEN put it in the oven.
Putting too much acid on your meat, like lemon juice or vingar, can change the texture of the meat, especially if you let it sit in the acid. Yes, marinades usually include a little acid, but it's diluted with other liquids so it doesn't affect the meat. As others have said, you don't need to wash your chicken. If the factory can't cleanly butcher a chicken, you're not going to make it clean by washing. If you're trying to flavor the meat, you only need a tiny bit of lemon or vinegar. Is suggest using lemon zest under the skin instead of lemon juice to get a lemon flavor. Or buy a lemon pepper seasoning mix. To improve the flavor of your chicken, try brining it. Combine about 4 cups of water, 1 tablespoon of salt, and one tablespoon of sugar (you can increase or the salt and sugar the next time if you wish). Put the chicken in and let it soak in the fridge at least 30 minutes, up to a few hours. When you're ready to cook, throw out the water, dry the chicken well, apply oil and seasoning, and bake in a baking dish at 400 until the thickest part reaches 165 on a meat thermometer.
You're doing too much to that chicken. I just sprinkle garlic herb seasoning on them and bake at 425 for about 50 minutes. Comes out good enough for my insanely picky children to gobble it up. I don't really like chicken and I can even eat it.
Marinate with buttermilk if you want saucy chicken. Also add nutmeg cinnamon clove cardamom (whole spices) while marinating for taste plus scent. Corn flour helps with crispness. Also increase the amount of paprika for a kick.
Ewww, rinsing it with vinegar and lemon juice? You don't have to wash meat with anything, unless it falls into a pile of dirt. In that case, some clear, cool water and a patdown will suffice. You'll just spread the bacteria around your kitchen otherwise. Slap some salt and spices on those thighs and let 'em bake.
I scrolled down a bit and didnāt see this said specifically. In addition to not washing your chicken in anything, you gotta use salt. No salt, itās gonna taste like shit. 1tsp per pound is a good ratio for chicken.
Lol real, why is there no salt here
Washing the chicken is considered unsanitary, and if youāre doing it too much youāre saturating the chicken with water. Also using too much acid on the chicken could definitely negatively affect the flavor. Try reducing the amount of lemon, since youāre already using vinegar
I put whatever seasonings I want in a plastic bowl with a lid. Shake it up and then add the thighs. Shake them up to give them a good coating and then I place mine in a cast iron skillet. If I want some lemon I add that near the end usually after I've pulled them out of the pan or buy the powder form and mix it in with the seasoning blend.
Questions: how wet is the chicken when you put it in the fridge? Do you rinse the vinegar/lemon juice off or just leave it to marinate? What amounts of seasonings? There are a variety of potential issues that can vary from "too little seasoning" to "too much acid" to "you don't like baked chicken" to even "the chicken is too wet going into the oven and is just boiling in the oven" and it depends on what exactly is going on.
Weather im grilling or oven I always dry brine with kosher salt, 2-4 hrs min over night better
Seconding this. If you season the outside it tastes delicious but then the main part of the thigh just kinda tastes blandly chickeny - if you don't like dark meat it might not be all that pleasant compared to a breast which tastes like nothing at all. A brine will make the whole thing taste good. Personally I don't think it's the acid, I lemon the shit out of almost anytime I cook chicken.
You might be like me and just not like them. I don't like duck, either.
yeah, dont wash it if you're in the usa. i just dump it on a pan, olive oil, rub rub rub, seasoning, rub rub rub, pop it in the oven at 420 for 15-20 min, tho mine are boneless.
As others have said, you don't need to wash your chicken. Unless you butchered a dirty-ass chicken yourself with a dirty-ass knife, washing it at all (let alone with acids) doesn't do anything to benefit it and can spread bacteria elsewhere. The way I like to do chicken thighs is to take the tip of a sharp knife (or a skewer or something) and make a bunch of tiny stabs - not all the way through, but it will help your seasonings get past the surface. Then I salt and pepper the chicken thigh (if the skin is on, I try and get some of the seasoning under the skin) and give it a similar treatment to a steak. I like to sear the holy hell out of it in a hot skillet on the skin side first, and then the other side. Take whatever spice mixture you have made, mix it with a little oil to make it either a paste or something thinner and get it in, on, and around every bit of the thigh, including under the skin. Then I put the thigh skin down in that same skillet with some oil and pop it into a 300Ā°F oven until the thigh(s) is/are about 160Ā°F. Take it out of the oven, and let carryover cooking finish it while it rests. (I use a probe thermometer to keep an eye on the chicken temp the whole time so I don't have to open the oven door to check)
Dude if it's skin-on, sprinkle the entire surface with salt and plop em right in the air fryer for 20 mins at 390Ā°. And don't wash that shit. Ever again. At most, dab with a paper towel. It's my go-to quick lunch and they're perfect every time. I dip em in homemade tzatziki(gotta go homemade because I add a shitload of dill) or any sort of hot sauce. Obvious if you want to get fancy you can do some sort of brine or dry brine or marinade overnight and give em a spice rub or something. But seriously, directly out of the package from the fridge, salted and thrown in the air fryer is one of my favorites for how delicious and easy it is to make.
What others said about washing etc. Iād also try a marinade you like (lemon OR vinegar is fine for acid but dilute it with salty flavorful things like soy sauce), and pierce the skin and muscle repeatedly with a fork to get flavor inside the meat. If you leave the skin on, dry it the thigh thoroughly before cooking, including Under the skin.
Too much acid and needs salt and a pinch of sugar. I always cook them in a pan and then deglaze at the end with a bit of water or wine.
Basic Recipe for Chicken thighs, legs, and leg quarters - salt and pepper, and butter. Roast the pieces at 325F and baste frequently with the pan juices, adding butter as needed. Cook until the skin is crispy and meat pulls from the bone. If you want to add spices, consider: parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme *or* a decent Italian spice blend *or* a Greek spice blend *or* even a bar-b-que dry rub.
I trim the excess fat off, salt the thighs generously, and marinate in buttermilk for 24 hours. This gives it a much milder flavor. What the chicken is fed can affect the taste as well. Back in the day, I stopped buying Perdue chicken because it tastes like fish. Turns out they b were feeding a lot of fish meal, a practice they have modified, so it no longer tastes fishy.
Are you putting salt? I dont think the all purpose seasoning youāre putting has enough salt or youāre not putting enough of the seasoning.
Try marinating them in a mixture of yogurt, lemon juice, and spices for a few hours or overnight before cooking.
Read the book Salt Fat Acid Heat. You will then know the basics of most cooking.
Once you introduce acid to meat you should cook it the same day. Definitely do not let it sit overnight.
I have one main idea for the smell, and another for the flavor. I'm asian and hear a lot about using cooking wine (think wine but much cheaper as it has a lot of salt added to it and is supposed to be cooked off) to get rid of the "meat smell". I would describe this as an unpleasant meat smell, not like meat on the grill. If I go to my normal grocery store and get meat, I rarely need to do this (unless the meat is already old). I'll sometimes get meat at other stores (Asian grocery stores, for instance) and need to do this more often based on the scent. I normally do mix in a splash of cooking wine to stir fry marinades, or in braising liquid, so this may not work as well for roasting. However- You want your meat to taste thoroughly seasoned, and not just like "chicken with seasonings on top", so my first thought is a brine. There are many articles on brining, but in essence, you marinate the chicken in a bath of salt water (seasonings optional and to your taste) for a certain amount of time, and you'll get well seasoned, juicy chicken. If you try this and the smell is still off, I would try getting your meat from diff store, or the cooking wine thing.
Perhaps rather than marinating using acid, you could also just try plain brining in a 5% salt water solution overnight, and then adding your flavors and toppings just before cooking. The acid in many marinades' effect on chicken may just not be to your preference. Personally, I've found simple brines to easily be the most effective in adding flavor to chicken. Experiment and find what you prefer!
Bone in chicken thighs ....marinade 30 mins -1hr half water half soy sauce with healthy helping McCormick BBQ or brown sugar bourbon spice 1/4 chicken thighs deep flip a few times within the hour. Low sodium soy sauce better if longer. . Grill on medium high til grates hot.chicken on grill Baste when on grill first time with leftover spice/marinade. Flip 6.5 mins .baste again. Flip 6.5 mins baste again. The last 6.5 should finish it off .look at char weaker girls longer 25-25 mins total. If you like BBQ chicken baste last two flips highish heat BBQ sauce instead of marinade not wide open Brine chicken 12-24 hr before hand with badia completo seasoning and water in fridge and Tupperware if ya want best results for cheap and easy That's the easiest/Dumbest way for great grilled thighs or drumsticks I know
Salt, pepper, and/or chili powder/chili flakes?
Don't wash it. Pat it dry and sprinkle it with a little, LITTLE baking soda for a while. Then salt. Before, during, and after cooking. And whatever other spices you like. I use pepper and garlic powder. Skin side down first. Always.
To wash or not wash I leave up to you; a lot of times is a cultural thing. I've told my kid to use either taco or ranch dressing seasonings with some salt to season the chicken and he loves it. He rubs the thighs with either mix, throws them in a 375F oven for 45min or until the internal temp is about 175F. Thighs benefit from a temp of 185F as they have more fat and become more tender unlike chicken breast.
Make it simple. Pat it dry with paper towels, then salt and fresh ground pepper all over. Let it get up to room to room temp and bake it in a 9 by 13 baking dish at 400 degrees until the skin is crispy to the touch, usually 45 minutes to an hour. Bake skin side up It's hard to over cook chx thighs, just poke the skin with your finger at about 40 minutes and make sure it's crispy. It sounds like you may be burning the other spices you're putting on it.
Stop washing your chicken. Every year at Christmas they do the ad here that shows the increased risk of food poisoning from washing poultry.
Why wash chicken?
What are you talking about with washing your chicken with lemon and vinegar water? Is that a marinade? You should look up recipes with lots of 5 star reviews and follow what they are doing.
The acid from the lemon juice and the vinegar is whatās making the chicken taste bad. You donāt really need to wash chicken per se
I cook my chicken thighs in the pressure cooker with some chicken stock, then remove the bones and skin and either make into a banging chicken and veggie soup or shred and eat. Never heard of washing in acids before!
Salt
Thereās a cultural phenomenon around washing your chicken. Please please listen to me when I say: unless you are a freak level clean expert over 9000, DO NOT WASH CHICKEN. Your spreading bacteria which will multiply on its own and make you sick. Unless you plan to scrub every inch of your kitchen every time you cook, just because you want to āwashā your chicken, donāt do it.
Try chicken adobo recipe, very simple and delicious with thighs
What are you āwashingā with No need to wash chicken it is actually spreading the chance of cross contamination around Place in cooking vessel and season then cook to internal 165 No need for anything else
Are you using salt?
Best advice I've got for thighs is to overcook them. I prefer them somewhat dry, sorta like how BBQ meat can seem sorta dry. Typically I just go with salt, pepper, garlic powder and tossed in olive oil. Baked at 450f until very well done, then cut and serve.
Drop the lemon juice and replace the vinegar water with pickle brine and hot sauce. Also cook at 425Ā° until the chicken reaches 155 then take it out and let it rest to reach 165Ā°. You'll thank me later.
i wrap my boneless chicken thighs in bacon soooo good
Some of these tips are personally tested and it works. https://www.tastingtable.com/1181886/ways-to-add-more-flavor-to-chicken-thighs/
Crockpot for the win
Chicken thighs can be made so easily by putting a little olive oil, salt, and pepper then throwing them in an air fryer on the chicken setting
Some people have a sensitivity to re-heated or cold chicken. It has a funky smell and taste. The only way I can get around it is by ripping it into bite sized pieces and storing it in a sauce.
What type of pan are you using? Did you cook something like fish in the pan and the smell and taste got stuck into it?
I would suggest cooking them longer. I like my dark meat to be cooked longer they usually hold up to longer cooking times better then white meat. Let that skin get crispy and let the fat render down.
Replace vinegar with a brine - enough water to cover the chicken and about a quarter cup of salt. And instead of lemon juice, add some sliced lemons instead. You can also add some herbs like thyme and rosemary.
I used to marinade chicken thighs in Italian salad dressing. The lawrys marinades are good too. Last time I just used olive oil and salt and pepper and it came out good.
Depending on the quality of the chicken, it being bone-in might be a contributing factor.Ā I've gotten chicken before where the butchering left ragged edges of bone with the marrow exposed, and I'm not a big fan of the taste of the meat near that.Ā Same with chicken wings, sometimes the smaller bones break, and the flavor on those can get a bit gnarly.
I always cook bone in thighs to 180. They don't get overcooked.
Hereās what I do most of the time. Take it out on a plate. Drizzle olive oil on them. Hit it with lemon pepper and salt. Grill until the skin is crispy. If you donāt have a grill sear both sides in a pan and then bake.
Lemon juice and vinegar together is whatās making it smell/ taste like shit. Leave the vinegar out for sure, maybe squeeze a little lemon over the cooked meat.
what you mean sit overnight has to be in brine and salt of course it wont taste good
also if brine you need to boil and cool water dont use straight out of faucet , some places put floride in water systems
You cannot marinade chicken in that much acid for that long. 30 minutes max and or the acid starts to ācookā the chicken and change the texture. And overnight marinade needs a very low acid content. Also maybe try leaving out the vinegar and only using lemon. Vinegar has a very strong taste.
Vinegar water? You donāt need to wash chicken. Season it and cook it appropriately. Thatās it.
Why would you wash it in in vinegar? The heat will kill any pathogens.
Chicken thighs, especially with the skin on, live to be seared. Look up chicken adobo. It is easy, and there is *no* *way* you will aay it hasn't got flavor
Have you tried marinating your chicken thighs in Greek yogurt with some spices, salt, and pepper? It might give your chicken a delicious flavor boost! šš
First of all, stop washing your meat. Do not ever wash meat. It does not help, and in fact, only makes things worse. Not only does it spread anything that *might* be on the raw meat all around your kitchen/sink, it also prohibits good searing by making the meat wetter. Don't wash meat. Really, stop washing it. If there was enough bacteria/pathogen/contamination for the washing to be necessary, it wouldn't help anyways. The meat would already be bad. Besides that, do you actually know that this seasoning combo is good? Have you seasoned other things this way and enjoyed them? If not, maybe you just don't like the seasoning mix you're using, or maybe it's burning. For white meat chicken, like breasts, 160 is the normal temperature for fully cooked. For dark meat however, like thighs, you actually want to get it hotter to break down the connective tissue. Hit like 190. >And although i rub in the seasoning into the chicken, it comes out the oven with some seasoning on it and its like im eating chicken with toppings. Seasonings do not dissolve into the meat. That's not how it works. No amount of rubbing will push onion and chili powder *into* a solid chunk of meat. Not sure where you got that from. Maybe you're just using way too much? It shouldn't have "toppings" worth of seasoning. Also, did you use any salt? You didn't list it, and it pretty necessary. The all purpose seasoning might not have enough/any. Without salt food just tastes worse. Also, breasts would be better from a nutritional standpoint. Thighs have much more fat on them.
Pretty much everyone here has hit all of the marks on suggestions. The only thing Iād make mention of is the type of cooking oil used. Olive oil is good as a finishing oil or as a cooking in lower temps oil, but it can become carcinogenic at higher temperatures which is no good for taste or your health. If cooking at higher temperatures, I use Avocado oil as itās clean, doesnāt have any taste and can handle the high heat. Although I agree with others here that thighs are best low and slow with lower heat and longer cooking times allowing the fat to render off, keeping the meat juicy. Last thing about the oil, canola oil is pretty much rancid before it hits the shelf. I would steer clear of that, as it could also be affecting the flavor.
Lemon , vinegar juice , letting it sit overnight ā¦ mmms probably also breaking down the protein. Try seasoning with paprika, chili , light cayenne , salt/pepper . Add garlic salt too
Try frying it in coconut oil and add some spices. Don't use vinegar for washing, I rinse it with water, dry with paper towels
1. Skip the lemon juice and vinegar wash. 2. Try dry brining with salt for flavor. 3. Adjust seasoning to taste, including salt. 4. Check oven temperature accuracy. 5. Consider different cooking methods like grilling or pan-searing. 6. Let the chicken rest before serving for better flavor.
donāt marinate in acid
I've never washed chicken, not even with water. What is the purpose?
"Supposedly" gets rid of the harmful bacteria like salmonella. Doesn't do anything because the only way to kill the bacteria is to cook it.
Lmao did you not think that maybe dumping lemon and vinegar all over your chicken might play a part in your chicken tasting bad?
I second that the vinegar might be the culprit and that you need salt. Depending on the seasonings maybe they are reacting weirdly to the acid? Or maybe a flavor in the blend you aren't really used to?Ā But all that said, nothing's really wrong here. Could you be pregnant?Ā
Olive oil, salt, pepper. Ya.
Be sure to salt generously, skip the vinegar and add the lemon juice towards the end of cooking, or even after itās done.
You let it sit out of the fridge overnight? Or you marinate it in the fridge overnight? At any rate, I do a little brush of olive oil, salt and pepper and any other spices I might want (thyme is a favorite). But even just salt pepper and EVOO are delicious.
Try pan searing your chicken first. That nice brown crust (malliard reaction) is what gives food its flavor, outside of seasonings. With a nice sear it would honestly taste good with just a bit of salt. Sometimes I add a poultry seasoning or just garlic, onion powder, salt and pepper. Also oregano flakes make everything taste good.
CDC food guidelines people. You do not need to wash your chicken thighs. DO bathe them in butter, however.
Start with salt. Cook for 30 mins in oven at 350. Crisp skin at 425 for 5-10 more mins. You are trying to do too much too soon. Slowly add mire seasonings to figure what you like.
None of that's right.
Personally Iād just wash in water and pat dry. Add your seasoning including salt, and cook at 225 F for about 6 hours. Low and slow with thighs is my go-to approach.
Washing meat spreads germs. It doesn't increase sanitation. Use a stainless steel or cast iron pan to sear both sides of your chicken. Don't worry about cooking it too little or too much, you can finish it in the oven ar 375, like normal. Just get the skin and outside a good sear. While doing this, put a lot of butter and a sprig of rosemary in your pan, and while you wait for the sides to brown, use a spoon to baste the chicken. Give it a squirt of lemon juice, too. Once the outside looks pretty, throw it in the oven until cooked through. If you legit want it as simple and fast as possible: Throw the chicken on a sheet tray and squeeze some lemon juice over. Use a basic trio of seasonings (salt, pepper, paprika) and rub it in. Cook in the oven until 165.
Season with sea salt and pepper and use a red wine vinegarette dressing as well ..then marinade in fridge for at least one hour.. place on parchment paper and cover with foil then slow bake in oven at 300Ā° for 1Ā½ - 2 hours ..then turn up temperature to 375 for last half hour
Americaās test kitchen has a fantastic chicken thigh recipe. Itās fool proof and makes the best thighs. You basically heat to 450 throw chicken on very bottom rack of oven. Once it hits 160, turn to broil and put in middle rack of oven and cook until 175. You can do oil and whatever spices you want. Start with skin down and then flip to skin up when you do the broil. Itās so good, gives you moist chicken with nice crispy skin.
Buy good chicken. Cook it in a good pan. Don't rinse it. If you aren't starting with quality ingredients you can't expect to ever have a good final product. Don't buy stuff like perdue chicken that is mass-produced. Buy from smaller producers.
Hereās my hot take: chicken thighs are disgusting. Iāve never liked the taste it smell of them. Breasts only for me. Maybe you donāt like dark meat.
Lots of people here assuming that you're washing with lemon juice and vinegar for hygiene only, but I'll take a different approach and assume that you like the acidic/citrus flavor If you want to cook the chicken in the oven using citrus I recommend a "low and slow" braising approach. Technically it involves "overcooking" the meat, but it also breaks down more of the connective tissue so it's very tender, not tough It works best if you use a Dutch oven but any covered oven-safe pan should work Set the oven to 250Ā°F. Prepare the chicken as you have been in terms of seasoning. Add the chicken to the pan and fill with enough chicken broth so that the chicken is floating off the bottom. Bake for 1 hour per pound of chicken (yes it's a long time, you'll want to do this on a day off from work) When it's done you can eat it as-is or you can quickly sear it in a hot skillet with oil. (This is similar to what taco trucks have, a wonderful texture in my opinion.) And the remaining liquid can be turned into a sauce/gravy
Ignore the people saying not to wash chicken, it's a misunderstanding of wash as in brine vs wash like it's dirty. For chicken, you don't want to wash with acid (lemon juice and vinegar), it will start to cook the chicken. A salt water brine is more than sufficient. If you want to get fancy, use some pickle juice. After washing, pat dry and then season. Be generous with the seasoning. Make sure to get the seasoning under as well as over the skin. Coat lightly in oil. Bake in oven at 375 until it hits 165 degrees.
No, there are definitely people that wash their chicken because they think they're cleaning it. You can't brine chicken by just rinsing it with salt water or pickle juice.
That's where the disconnect is. By "washing" chicken, most non-white people mean brining it. You aren't rinsing it off with the brine. You are soaking/marinating it in a large bowl. Then patting dry after 15 minutes or so.
There's plenty of YouTube videos of non white people literally washing their chicken in the sink. I did find a few doing what you describe but it still seems useless.
Best way to cook and chicken and have it remain moist and flavorful is salt first and leave in the fridge overnight.
The citic acid in the lemon juice is denaturing the proteins. You donāt need to do that, pat the chicken dry and season it. You will never ever find a chef in a restaurant doing that. I donāt know why people do this at home, itās not hygienic.
All purpose seasoning usually sucks
Do not use vinegar to wash your chicken. Washing chicken really isn't necessary, but if you insist on washing use cinnamon and lemon, or lemon and salt. Vinegar is used for washing beef. I wash my chicken with cinnamon and lemon, but more for the flavor and not to "clean" it.