People on a diet tend to eat a lot of chicken dishes. This is because chicken is known to be rich in protein and low in fat. However, chicken skin is an exception.

 

Chicken skin has a higher calorie content than pork belly.

 

Chicken meat contains 110 kcal per 100g, but if you only consider the skin, it has 450 kcal per 100g. The calorie content is more than four times higher than the meat portion. Even the well-known high-calorie pork belly (samgyeopsal) has only 330 kcal per 100g, which is lower than chicken skin.

 

This is because fat accumulates in the skin to maintain the chicken's body temperature. The fat in the skin accounts for 80-90% of the total chicken fat. While carbohydrates and proteins produce 4 kcal per gram, the same amount of fat produces 9 kcal. In reality, about 40 grams of fat are present in 100 grams of chicken skin.

People who like chicken skin also argue that the fat inside the skin is not necessarily bad.

 

It is true that the content of unsaturated fatty acids, which lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, is higher than expected. The ratio of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids is approximately 3:7 in chicken skin and about 4:6 in pork belly. Based on 100g of chicken skin, the saturated fat content is 9.1g, which is less than the 19g in the same amount of pork belly. However, considering the daily recommended intake of saturated fat for an average adult is 15g or less, this is not an insignificant amount. Since saturated fats are already being consumed through various foods, there is no need to specifically eat chicken skin to intake saturated fats.

 

Patients with hyperlipidemia, stroke, or other cardiovascular diseases who need to consume less saturated fat should avoid eating chicken skin.

 

Remove the skin before cooking the chicken. Instead of just collecting the skin separately and frying it, you can also boil or simmer the whole chicken to consume the saturated fats from the skin through the broth.

 

Meanwhile, if you are on a diet, chicken breast is the best choice among chicken meats. Chicken breast has 106 kcal per 100g, which is lower in calories than chicken thigh meat, which also has 106 kcal per the same weight. It contains less than 1g of fat. Since 22.9% of its weight is protein, it is also good for protein supplementation.

 

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I don't eat chicken skin.

It's a matter of personal preference.

A bit floppy, haha

 

So, I don't eat pork fat either.

 

All of these are my husband.

Now I think I shouldn't give it to my husband either.

 

Chicken skin is better than pork belly.

I didn't expect it to taste better.

I didn't even think about it.