15+ Best Healthy Chicken Thigh Recipes for Weight Loss
Chicken breast may seem like a more versatile meat, but in all honesty, cooking with chicken thighs—whether it's boneless or bone-in—is just as simple! Not to mention that chicken thighs are juicier and tastier than the breast, giving your healthy chicken thigh recipes even more flavor.
Between healthy ramen bowls, soup, fried rice, and even two versions of chicken tikka masala, here are our favorite healthy chicken thigh recipes we love to whip up on busy weeknights. And if you're in the mood for chicken breast check out 33+ Best Healthy Chicken Breast Recipes for Weight Loss.
Weeknight Chicken Thigh Tzatziki Bowl
Chicken thighs already have more flavor than chicken breast, marinating them brings them to another level. For this dish, thread the chicken pieces on skewers for easy flipping on a cast iron pan and serve them over fluffy quinoa, crisp veggies, and olive topped with herby tzatziki sauce.
Get our recipe for Weeknight Chicken Thigh Tzatziki Bowl.
Sign up for our newsletter!
Chicken Ramen With Shiitake Mushrooms and Spinach
A big bowl of ramen sounds like the perfect meal for a cold, rainy night, right? Well, if you're paleo, ordering a bowl of ramen isn't always an option. Nevertheless, a simple swap from noodles to zucchini noodles (also known as zoodles!) can easily solve that salty ramen craving.
Get our recipe for Chicken Ramen With Shiitake Mushrooms and Spinach.
Instant Pot Lemon Chicken
Cooked in chicken broth with a touch of fresh lemon juice, this Instant Pot lemon chicken recipe is an easy and flavorful protein to add to your dinner plate. Pair it with some easy sides like roasted broccoli or Brussels sprouts for a well-rounded meal.
Get our recipe for Instant Pot Lemon Chicken.
Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Chimichurri Sauce
This grilled chicken sandwich delivers heroic flavor by employing chimichurri, an Argentine herb-based sauce that would make shoe leather taste like fine dining, along with a solid supporting cast of sweet peppers, sharp raw onions, and peppery greens. Good luck finding a side salad, let alone a real sandwich, at a restaurant for 310 calories.
Get our recipe for Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Chimichurri Sauce.
Chili-Mango Chicken Stir-Fry
Using healthier oils and a hearty serving of sugar snap peas, this dish is a perfect balance that will leave your palate feeling warmed and satisfied, with a caloric intake that will leave you feeling healthy and renewed.
Get our recipe for Chili-Mango Chicken Stir-Fry.
Slow-Cooker Chicken in Red Wine
Coq au vin, as it's known in France, is one of the world's great dishes and all it takes to create it is a whole chicken (or a few chicken thighs), half a bottle of wine, and a few vegetables. A slow cooker makes matters even easier, but a good old-fashioned pot will do, too for this classic chicken in red wine recipe.
Get our recipe for Slow-Cooker Chicken in Red Wine.
Chicken Cacciatore
In the pantheon of classic Italian-American dishes, chicken cacciatore emerges at the top of the nutritional totem pole. That's because it derives its flavor from a lusty stew of tomatoes, peppers, onions, and wine—not a blanket of cheese or oil-soaked bread crumbs. That's right, you'll save almost 600 calories with our chicken cacciatore recipe and almost 10 bucks than you would dining on Olive Garden's Chicken Scampi.
Get our recipe for Chicken Cacciatore.
Chicken Adobo
This may be the easiest recipe in the entire book—only marginally more challenging than toasting bread or pouring yourself a bowl of cereal. Chicken adobo is a staple of the Philippines, a dish so delicious and simple that it's a wonder it's not a weekday standard in houses across America.
Get our recipe for Chicken Adobo.
Chicken Zoodle Soup
We've made our special light version by swapping in zucchini noodles for regular noodles, which makes this recipe gluten-free, paleo, and Whole30-approved. Basically, the healthiest chicken noodle soup you could possibly have.
Get our recipe for Chicken Zoodle Soup.
Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala
Craving Indian food, but don't have any Indian take out places near you? Don't worry, you can make your own version of chicken tikka masala—thanks to your handy Instant Pot—right at home!
Get our recipe for Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala.
Chicken Fried Rice
Our recipe turns fried rice on its head, relying on a ton of fresh vegetables, considerably less rice, and a bit of oil for crisping it up. So when you're in the mood for Chinese takeout but need to save money, this is one of our favorite healthy chicken thigh recipes to whip up.
Get our recipe for Chicken Fried Rice.
BBQ Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner
We like to use chicken legs for this BBQ chicken recipe, but feel free to also snag some chicken thighs or breasts. Just make sure to always check the internal temperature of the meat! If the chicken is at 165 degrees internally, it's good to go.
Get our recipe for BBQ Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner.
Slow Cooker Pumpkin Chicken Chili
In this pumpkin chili recipe, we combine all the classic chili elements—beans, peppers, onions, celery, carrots, garlic, and chili powder to name a few—along with the chicken and pumpkin in a slow cooker for a few hours. Then, you'll come home to a flavor-packed chili that is savory and brings a little kick you can ramp up by adding in some hot sauce.
Get our recipe for Slow Cooker Pumpkin Chicken Chili.
Provençal Chicken
This is the type of simple, healthy, satisfying dish that gives Mediterranean cooking its reputation as the perfect fusion of flavor and nutrition. All of the key components—white wine, tomatoes, olives, herbs—have the distinct advantage of being both intensely flavorful and incredibly good for you.
Get our recipe for Provençal Chicken.
Chicken and Dumplings
This chicken and dumplings recipe has many of the same magical powers and core flavors of chicken noodle soup—like root vegetables, savory broth, and shredded chicken—but it is made more substantial by the addition of a roux to thicken the soup base and, you guessed it, fluffy dumplings instead of limp noodles.
Get our recipe for Chicken and Dumplings.
Chicken Scaloppine
Our lighter, more authentic version of this Italian dish wraps chicken and sage in a layer of prosciutto, which then becomes a crispy skin that keeps the chicken moist while it sautés. A splash of wine and chicken stock directly into the cooking pan becomes your 2-minute sauce.
Get our recipe for Chicken Scaloppine.
Chicken Tikka Masala
Don't have an Instant Pot? Try this version of chicken tikka masala instead! Chicken Tikka Masala is like Indian fast food: it requires a few simple ingredients (many of them pantry staples), can be thrown together in no time, and tastes amazing!
Get our recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala.
Kung Pao Chicken
This Kung Pao chicken recipe puts the heat back in the driver's seat and kicks quite a few calories to the curb.
Get our recipe for Kung Pao Chicken.
