Which Cut Of Chicken Does Chipotle Use?

Mexican food can come with a range of potential proteins, but among the flavorful mix, chicken sometimes feels a little bland. Chipotle tries to counteract this impression with its own chicken by utilizing a cut of the bird that's known to be especially packed with flavor. Chipotle uses chicken thighs for all of its chicken options. The fast food chain chooses thighs because although they are lower in protein and generally smaller than breasts, they are also easy to cook and relatively fatty, which means more flavor.

To cook the chicken, Chipotle only flips the thighs once after the first side is charred, nice and dark brown, like the color of root beer. Even if you're going to cut the chicken up into bite-size pieces once cooked like Chipotle does, those seared brown bits still add delicious texture and flavor. The added boost Chipotle gets from browning these thighs is exactly why every cook needs to understand the Maillard reaction.

Typically, Chipotle only has one chicken option available at its restaurants. But it's currently offering a brand new Chipotle Honey Chicken, made with the same charred and diced chicken thighs, but also real chipotle peppers and a little bit of pure honey for sweetness.

Daily Meal ranked all of Chipotle's protein options, and the regular chicken had a middling showing. There were no major problems with it, but nothing especially delicious either, especially when compared to the herbaceous and flavorful carnitas. But Chipotle Honey Chicken proved to be Chipotle's absolute best protein available right now, and it wasn't close.

The balance between chipotle peppers and honey was well-struck, and the meat was satisfyingly juicy and charred. The chicken pieces were even more visually appetizing than the competition, with hearty chunks instead of the tough and dry shreds that sometimes take Chipotle down a notch. But this star protein is only available for a limited time, so get it while it's hot.