---
title: Using chicken in Glorious One-Pot Meals
date: 2012-05-07T19:26:35Z
modified: 2012-05-07T19:26:35Z
permalink: "https://elizabethyarnell.com/2118/"
type: post
status: publish
excerpt: ""
wpid: 2118
categories:
  - Glorious One-Pot Meals
  - Living Naturally
  - Recipes
tags:
  - chicken breast recipe
  - chicken dinner recipe
  - chicken thigh recipe
  - Dutch oven recipe
  - how to cook chicken
author: Elizabeth
---

_Reader question: Can I substitute boneless chicken breast for recipes that call for chicken breasts or thighs? Thanks – Laura, Martinez, CA_

Hi Laura,

Thanks for your question! Of course, you may _substitute any protein for any other protein_ in a [Glorious One-Pot Meal](http://www.gloriousonepotmeals.com), including but certainly not limited to, chicken breasts for chicken thighs. In GOPM cooking, you may choose bone-in and skin-on pieces of chicken as easily as boneless-skinless pieces… it really doesn’t matter. As with any type of cooking, including the bones in the cooking process will add more flavor, and leaving chicken skin on will certainly add more mouth-watering, calorie-laden fat, but it’s completely your choice. With every GOPM recipe, you get to choose exactly what goes in so that you end up with the meal you want by using this quick, easy, and healthy cooking method.

In our house, I like to change things up and sometimes use thighs or legs rather than the boneless-skinless chicken breasts I typically use. My husband prefers dark meat in his poultry, and I’ve noticed that using thighs adds a richness to the sauce you don’t get with breasts. Of course, that’s because of the extra chicken fat you get in thighs, but because we follow a whole-foods based diet that is generally low in saturated fat, this doesn’t bother my overall health aspirations for my family. There’s a reason professional chefs cook with a lot of fat: because it makes food taste good. I would prefer that the fat in my food came from a whole food source like a chicken rather than a processed, artificial source like Crisco.

But I digress from your original question. Yes, boneless chicken breasts cook up wonderfully in Glorious One-Pot Meal recipes. In fact, I keep a supply of individually-frozen, boneless-skinless chicken breasts in my freezer just for making GOPMS. I can toss frozen-solid chicken breasts into my [Dutch oven](http://www.gloriousonepotmeals.com/about/q-and-a.htm#dutch "Dutch oven recipes") along with other ingredients either fresh, frozen, or canned, and it won’t increase the cooking time of my [GOPM](http://www.gloriousonepotmeals.com/recipes/index.htm "chicken recipe") by even one minute! Not having to remember to thaw the chicken for dinner is a real convenience in my house!

Please feel free to ask me any other questions as you make your Glorious One-Pot Meals.

Happy cooking!

Elizabeth