Chicken is a staple of nearly every athlete’s diet. It’s high in protein, affordable and simple to prepare.

Chicken is one of the best sources of lean protein. However, many factors can cancel out the health benefits. Most of the nutritional differences between one part and another are too small to bother mentioning. The one useful difference is that dark meat has a bit more saturated fat and cholesterol than white meat.

Most of the fat in chicken is in the skin.
Worried about fat?
Remove the skin.

If you’re trying to eat for good health, it’s best to remove it yourself as the skin is full of calories and saturated fats.

The breast is the healthiest cut of the chicken (assuming it’s skinless), and it’s a wiser choice than fattier parts of the bird such as the thighs or the legs.

The Best Way To Cook Chicken

The important nutritional differences result from preparation. If you add fat during preparation, you are also adding calories (fat has nine calories per gram as compared to four for protein or carbohydrate).

Frying chicken is not a healthy option. Pan-frying is slightly better than deep-frying, simply because it’s not completely submerged in the fatty oils. When it comes to pan-frying, the type of fat you use to grease the pan is important.

A healthy oil, such as olive or coconut, is going to be a healthier choice than animal fat, like butter.

However, the healthiest way to cook chicken is to bake it or boil it. Putting it in the oven to be cooked via dry heat without the use of much oil cuts down on the additional calories added from a fat source used to transmit heat.

Boiling chicken in water doesn’t add any calories to the chicken, but it doesn’t add much flavour either.

The tastiest & easiest way is to bake it in the oven or stir fry it with vegetables. Put the parts in a baking pan, rub some olive oil on them, and surround them with plenty of garlic, lemon, carrots, or whatever you like. Bake at 350° until brown.

Eating chicken doesn’t have to be boring with these tasty dinner ideas!Here

One final thing to ensure that your chicken is the healthiest that it can be is to make sure that the chicken is raised free-range and grown without antibiotics.

Here Are 5 Different Ways To Eat Chicken For Weightloss

1. Grilled chicken

It’s simple, it’s easy, it’s nutritious and it’s versatile. With grilling, you aren’t drowning the chicken in oil or fat as you do in some other preparation methods. Whether you go skinless or not is up to you. The best option is to grill some vegetables alongside your chicken for a very healthy meal.

2. Poached chicken

If grilled chicken is too dry and flavourless for you, poaching your chicken could be a good alternative. Poaching involves submerging the food in a liquid and cooking it at relatively low heat. The best option is to use water and add vegetables and seasonings—such as celery, carrots, thyme, peppercorns and parsley. The chicken will soak up these flavours, and you’ll be left with a tasty, tender and healthy piece of meat.

3. Stir-Fried Chicken

If you want an awesome, quick and easy way to make a flavorful chicken meal, stir-frying is the way to go. Stir-frying involves frying multiple thinly sliced ingredients in a small amount of oil. Yes, unlike poaching or grilling, stir-frying requires oil. But it’s a very small amount (usually just a tablespoon or less), and healthier oils such as canola oil or extra-light olive oil can be used.

4. Baked Chicken

Baking seasoned chicken is a quick, easy and healthy way to prepare it for you and your family. You can cook it simply by lightly seasoning it with salt and pepper or you can prepare it with a marinade. No oil is generally required to bake chicken because it cooks with its juices. Once the chicken is tender and done throughout, you can remove it from the oven and drain off any excess liquid or oil.

5. Roasted chicken

Roasting chicken is similar to baking except the chicken is cooked longer. The skin is cooked to the point of being crispy but the meat inside is still tender. You can brush the chicken lightly with oil or butter to aid in the crisping process. Because broiling and roasting is a slightly longer process, oil has an opportunity to evaporate.

Make sure to find out Chicken vs. Fish: Which Is Healthy For You