Couldn't decide between bone-in thighs or breasts for meal prep

Tried bone-in thighs for the first time in the air fryer last night, 20 minutes at 380, and they came out juicy but took way longer than I expected. Has anyone else found a good shortcut for bone-in chicken that doesn't dry out the meat?

2 comments

2 Comments

josephbutler1mo ago

My buddy Mark swears by brining bone-in thighs for an hour before cooking. He says it keeps them from drying out even if you push the time a bit. I tried it once with a salt and sugar brine and honestly it was the juiciest chicken I've ever made, but I forgot to rinse them enough and they came out a little salty. Now I just stick to boneless thighs for meal prep because I'm too lazy to deal with the bones.

ray_hernandez1mo ago

Yeah that saltiness thing is a classic rookie mistake, I've done it myself more than once. @josephbutler it's funny how we swing from trying the perfect technique to just going with whatever's easiest for meal prep, because that's basically every cooking journey I've ever seen. My sister spent a whole summer perfecting her brisket rub only to realize she hates spending 12 hours on a single meal, so now she just buys pre-seasoned stuff from the store. It's like once you know the rules, you can break them without feeling guilty.