Prices Go Thigh-High as Consumers Seek Dark Meat Pat LaFrieda Jr. can't get enough chicken thighs. If his family business featured on the new Food Network series "Meat Men" orders 100 cases of boneless, skinless thighs, his supplier might deliver only 60. That's because consumers have discovered something chefs have long known about dark meat: "It was always the least expensive protein that you could buy, but it had the most amount of flavor," LaFrieda said. Thighs and drumsticks are climbing the pecking order as Americans join consumers abroad in seeking flavor that isn't found in ubiquitous, boneless, skinless chicken breasts. The poultry industry used to have trouble finding a market for dark meat, but changing domestic tastes and growing exports to countries that prefer leg quarters are pushing up prices and helping pull the poultry industry out of a deep slump. Poultry industry experts agree TV food shows are helping to spur demand as chefs talk up dark meat and give home cooks new ideas. Dark meat is more forgiving than white and doesn't dry out as easily, La Frieda said, so thighs are great on the grill, while ground dark meat works well shaped into burgers, stuffed into ravioli or stirred into a Bolognese sauce and served over pasta, he said. In this April 26, 2012 photo, Pat LaFrieda Jr., whose business is featured on the new Food Network show "Meat Men," trims dark meat from a chicken at his company, Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors, in North Bergen, N.J. Thighs and drumsticks are climbing the pecking order as Americans join consumers abroad in seeking out flavor that's lacking in the boneless, skinless chicken breasts that have long dominated the domestic market. While the poultry industry once had trouble finding markets for dark meat, sales are now growing rapidly. (AP Photo/Mel Evans) Close "If you're looking for what the next trend is ... always ask the butcher what he takes home," said LaFrieda, whose company, Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors of North Bergen, N.J., supplies restaurants in the New York City area and along the East Coast. Matt Monk, 29, of Birmingham, Ala., a customer service representative for Medicare, said he grew up eating chicken breasts because that's all his mother would cook. He wasn't introduced to dark meat until he moved in with his father in his teens. "I like it because of the flavor," Monk said. It does not dry out like white meat. White meat, to me, it's flavorless. Any flavor that comes from the meat, it has to come from me seasoning it. The convenience and greater availability of boneless, skinless thighs is another major factor in the dark meat craze. New, automated equipment makes it more economical to debone leg quarters, where the work once had to be done by hand. Dark meat historically has been cheaper than white, but according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics, wholesale boneless, skinless thighs now cost as much as breasts, and sometimes more. Both averaged $1.33 a pound in March, but thigh prices were up 15 percent from a year earlier, while breasts were up only 1 percent. Bone-in leg quarters averaged 53 cents per pound in March, up 26 percent from a year ago. Melissa Dexter, 27, a student at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, said she noticed recently when buying both boneless breasts and thighs at Wal-Mart that the package of dark meat actually cost about 50 cents more. She said thighs are generally cheaper, though, and help stretch her budget. "Growing up, whenever we had chicken, whether it was KFC or homemade, the breast meat was always dry," Dexter said. I always enjoyed the flavor, not just the juiciness, but the flavor coming out of the dark meat.