Is my understanding correct that a typical bone-in chicken thigh bought in a US supermarket (in this case, from Whole Foods Market) only comes with the femur attached? Chicken thighs in my country additionally come with the hipbone (pelvis) and part of the backbone attached to them.

12 comments

  1. It kind of depends on the distributor around where I live. This is probably a very broad question since health/food restrictions and designations can vary wildly between states so what might be the case in Montana might be very different from the case in Rhode island type thing

  2. Chicken thighs with the pelvis attached are also commonly available, usually called “Leq quarters”

  3. They can be either with the leg attached or a thigh by itself, and sometimes like the way you described it. Stores will have all the varieties of cuts. Just depends on what store you go to. Sometimes you can’t find some cuts at some places.

  4. I know what you mean but I am laughing imagining someone’s incredulity that chicken thighs don’t come with the whole skeleton

  5. Seems like your question has been answered, but I just need to point out Meat Caste guy would be thrilled to see you’re asking about bone in meat for you cat.

  7. If I get thighs from my local fried chicken place they come the way you describe, if I buy thighs from my store they only have one bone down the middle.

  9. Yes. Butchers are trained to pop the femur out of the hip socket before cutting through the flesh.

  10. Correct, it’s just the femur. The joints of the femur get cut.

    The backbone gets turned into other food products, think chicken stock or animal feed, the leg itself is processed into drumsticks and get sold separately.

    As for the leg socket, that can depend. Sometimes it’s a good clean cut, other times it’s not perfect, but it won’t include the pelvis itself. So you might have some cartilage you have to clean up or tear off after cooking and other times you won’t.

    As others have said, there’s also chicken leg quarters and that can be cheaper. Outside of that or like boneless skinless thighs, you’re really not going to see most commercial chickens that are sectioned be processed the way you describe here in the states. It’s uncommon.

  11. Yes, the lower leg is sold separately as drumsticks (unless they’re leg quarters, in which case they’re attached)

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