Gordon Ramsay's Go-To Technique For Perfectly Cooked Bone-In Chicken Thighs - Tasting Table

"Ramsay shared a quick tip on Instagram, offering a simple but effective way to make sure your bone-in chicken thighs are cooked all the way through. The famous chef demonstrated how to use a paring knife to pierce the underside of the thighs several times so the tip goes through the meat. He's not piercing the skin side, but the flesh side, with just a few punctures across each piece."

"As Ramsay explains, if you're worried about the meat being pink around the bone, the punctures help ensure thorough cooking. When the chicken sears, the holes from the knife allow the heat to reach the bone, rather than radiating up through the tissue as it normally would. Basically, it's a shortcut to ensure full cooking deeper into the meat than normal."

"Pink chicken does not always mean raw chicken, which is why eyeballing your meat isn't a surefire way to test for doneness. If the chicken is younger, the bones may not have fully formed and that can lead to discoloration in the meat even when it is fully cooked. There's no safety issue at all with eating it, but the aesthetics can throw people off."

Many people experience anxiety about cooking chicken safely due to fears of undercooking and foodborne illness. Pierce the flesh side of bone-in chicken thighs several times with a paring knife, avoiding the skin, so heat can penetrate toward the bone during searing. Those punctures help heat reach the bone instead of radiating up through surrounding tissue, promoting more complete cooking and reducing pink coloration near the bone. Pink meat can occur without being unsafe, especially in younger birds whose bones can cause discoloration. Confirm doneness by checking internal temperature; chicken must reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit throughout. A digital thermometer provides reliable assurance.

Read at Tasting Table