Chicken breast vs Chicken thigh: nutrition per 100 g

Breast is the lean white meat; thigh is the darker, working muscle. Per 100 g raw without skin, breast has 21.8 g of protein against 18.2 g in thigh, a gap of 3.6 g, and covers 40 per cent of a man's daily protein need against 34 per cent. Breast ranks 2nd of 14 meats, poultry and eggs for protein. Thigh has 14.2 g of fat against 9.0 g, about 1.6 times as much, which lifts its energy to 200 kcal against 168 kcal. Thigh also carries more cholesterol, 92 mg against 62 mg.

Dark meat is darker because its muscles hold more of the iron-containing pigment myoglobin, and the numbers follow. Thigh has 1.11 mg of iron per 100 g against 0.83 mg in breast, and 1.42 mg of zinc against 0.78 mg, about 1.8 times as much. Breast ranks last of 14 meats, poultry and eggs for both iron and zinc. Thigh also has a little more calcium and magnesium. Breast has more potassium, 295 mg against 263 mg, and less sodium, 37 mg against 65 mg. Selenium is the same in both.

Breast is the better source of niacin, 8.06 mg per 100 g against 5.62 mg, covering 45 per cent of a man's daily need, and of vitamin B6, 0.53 mg against 0.38 mg. Thigh has more of the fat-soluble vitamins, as you would expect from a fattier cut: 16 micrograms of retinol against 7, and 0.65 mg of vitamin E against 0.29 mg, about 2.2 times as much. Thigh also has slightly more thiamine and riboflavin. Neither cut is a meaningful folate or vitamin C source.

Many Indian families prefer leg and thigh pieces because they stay moist through long cooking, which suits chicken curry, biryani, korma, tandoori chicken and Kerala chicken roast. Breast dries out if cooked too long, so it works best in tikka, kebabs, chilli chicken, salads, wraps and quick stir-fries. Both values are for raw, skinless meat; skin adds fat, and cooking drives off water, raising the protein per 100 g of the cooked piece.