Trends

America Finally Getting Bored With Chicken Breast, Loading Up on Dark Meat Instead

Drumsticks: all the rage.
Drumsticks: all the rage. Photo: iStockphoto

Time to find more thighs! There’s been a run on dark meat at the nation’s grocery stores lately, and America’s poultry producers are still playing catch-up with the trend, the Wall Street Journal reports today. Apparently, people have been taking their cues from Food Network chefs who’ve been regularly eschewing boring breast meat for more flavorful legs and thighs, driving up the price of boneless thighs to be in line with breasts for the first time, averaging about $1.30 per pound, after costing about half as much just a few years ago.

In fact, chicken producer Bell & Evans says they’re seeing shortages of dark meat every day lately, and Whole Foods has run up against shortages of thighs as well.

So, it’s probably only a matter of time before the country’s industrial chicken farmers start producing birds with extra-plump legs and thighs to match the ones they already make with pumped-up breast meat.

Dark Meat Getting a Leg Up on Boring Boneless Breast [WSJ]

America Finally Getting Bored With Chicken Breast, Loading Up on Dark Meat