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How Much Protein Is in Chicken Thigh vs. Chicken Breast?

By Smoothie Nutrition Calculator · Updated 2026 · 6 min read

How Much Protein Is in Chicken Thigh vs. Chicken Breast? — illustration of a grilled chicken breast with vegetables

Chicken Protein Calculator: The Short Answer

Per 100g cooked, skinless: chicken breast has about 31g of protein at 165 calories; chicken thigh has about 26g of protein at roughly 180–210 calories. The breast wins on protein per calorie by a wide margin; the thigh wins on flavour, moisture and iron and zinc content. With skin on, the thigh's calorie gap widens further while its protein stays the same.

A chicken protein calculator is a tool that estimates the protein and calories in a serving of chicken from its cut and cooked weight. Cooked chicken breast is the leanest common cut at about 31g of protein and 165 kcal per 100g. The short answer above gives the figure most people need; the sections below show the working, the exceptions and how to apply it with the Chicken Protein Calculator on this page.

The Full Picture

A chicken protein calculator is a tool that estimates the protein and calories in a serving of chicken from its cut and cooked weight. Cooked chicken breast is the leanest common cut at about 31g of protein and 165 kcal per 100g.

The short answer above is the planning figure; this section explains where it comes from and how far you can trust it. Every number here is a published reference value (label data, USDA-style references or the guideline named in the answer), and individual products vary — which is why the calculator on this page exists: to run the same maths on your exact inputs rather than on averages.

  • Dieting: breast · Flavour: thigh
  • Skin adds fat, not protein
  • Cooked chicken breast: about 31g protein and 165 kcal per 100g
  • Thigh: about 26g protein per 100g; drumstick about 27g; wing about 30g; ground chicken about 27g
How Much Protein Is in Chicken Thigh vs. Chicken Breast? — illustration of fresh vegetables (in-article illustration)

How to Use the Calculator on This Page

Choose a cut and enter the cooked weight in grams. Values are for cooked, skinless meat unless the cut says otherwise — skin, breading and sauces add fat and calories. Raw chicken weighs roughly 25% more than the same piece cooked, so weigh after cooking for the closest match.

Enter your own numbers rather than copying the worked example: the estimates only become useful when they describe your body, your portion or your recipe. Then sanity-check the output against the reference figures in the short answer — if your result is far from them, an input (usually a portion size or an activity level) is the first thing to re-check.

What Chicken Protein Users Ask Most

Cooked, skinless chicken breast contains about 31g of protein and about 165 kcal per 100g.

A second recurring question is how much to trust the result. These tools compute from established formulas and reference data, so arithmetic errors are rare — input errors are not. Portions weighed rather than guessed, activity levels chosen honestly, and cooked-versus-raw states kept consistent will move your accuracy more than any change of formula. Where health decisions are involved (pregnancy, clinical nutrition, diabetes), treat the output as a starting point for a conversation with a professional, never as the conclusion.

Putting It Into Practice This Week

Pick one change suggested by your result and run it for seven days before judging it — nutrition changes compound quietly and single days are noise. Recheck your numbers whenever something material changes: body weight by more than a few pounds, a new training block, a different portion size becoming your default. The calculator stays on this page; the habit of checking it before you commit is the actual intervention.

  • Rotisserie mixed meat averages about 25g protein per 100g.
  • Skin and breading raise calories much faster than protein.
  • A palm-sized 120g cooked breast provides roughly 37g of protein.

More Questions, Straight Answers

The questions below are the ones readers of the Chicken Protein Calculator ask most after the headline answer — each is answered from the same reference data the tool itself uses, so the numbers agree with what the calculator will show you.

Which chicken cut has the most protein per calorie? Breast. It has the highest protein and the lowest fat of the common cuts, at about 31g protein per 165 kcal.

Should I weigh chicken raw or cooked? These values are for cooked weight. Chicken loses roughly a quarter of its weight in cooking, so 130g raw becomes about 100g cooked.

Does dark meat have less protein? Slightly. Thigh and drumstick provide about 26–27g per 100g versus 31g for breast, and they carry more fat, so more calories per serving.

Making the Result Stick

A calculation changes nothing by itself; the routine built around it does. Write your result where the decision happens — the shopping list, the saved order, the meal plan on the fridge — and re-run the Chicken Protein Calculator when the routine changes rather than on a schedule: a new default portion, a different brand, a training block starting or ending. Nutrition targets are moving averages, and the people who hit them are the ones who recalculate at the moment of change, not the ones who calculate most often.

  • Cooked chicken breast: about 31g protein and 165 kcal per 100g.
  • Thigh: about 26g protein per 100g; drumstick about 27g; wing about 30g; ground chicken about 27g.
  • Rotisserie mixed meat averages about 25g protein per 100g.
  • Skin and breading raise calories much faster than protein.
  • A palm-sized 120g cooked breast provides roughly 37g of protein.

The Key Numbers, in One Place

Everything this article depends on, compressed into one table — screenshot it, save it, or pin it next to wherever you plan meals. These are the figures the Chicken Protein Calculator works from, and the ones worth memorising if you use the tool often: the rest is arithmetic that the calculator does for you.

MeasureFigure
Breast (100g)31g · 165 kcal
Thigh (100g)26g · ~180–210 kcal
Per 100 kcal18.8g vs ~13g protein

The Bottom Line

Per 100g cooked, skinless: chicken breast has about 31g of protein at 165 calories; chicken thigh has about 26g of protein at roughly 180–210 calories. If your build differs from the standard one — an extra sauce, a different size, a swapped side — run it through the Chicken Protein Calculator before you order: thirty seconds there replaces every guess in this article with your exact total.

How Much Protein Is in Chicken Thigh vs. Chicken Breast? — illustration of a grilled chicken breast with vegetables (another serving view)

People Also Ask

How Much Protein Is in 200 Grams of Chicken?

200g of cooked chicken breast contains about 62g of protein (200 × 31g per 100g) and roughly 330 calories. If the 200g is mixed chicken rather than breast alone, expect closer to 52–56g. That single portion covers most of a day's protein for a smaller adult, or about 40% of a 150g target for a lifter — which is why the chicken breast is the default unit of meal-prep maths.

How to Calculate Protein in Raw vs. Cooked Chicken?

Cooking does not destroy protein — it concentrates it. Raw skinless breast is about 23g of protein per 100g; cooked, it is about 31g per 100g, because the meat loses roughly a quarter of its weight as water while the protein stays. The total protein in the piece never changes: 200g raw (46g of protein) becomes about 150g cooked — still 46g.

Which Grain Bowl Has the Most Protein?

The Grilled Chicken (protein serving) has the most protein at Fresh Kitchen among all tracked items: 28g of protein for 190 calories. The runner-up, the Blackened Chicken (protein serving), has 28g — and the most protein-efficient pick on the menu is the Grilled Chicken (protein serving) at 14. 7g per 100 calories.

How to Build a High-Protein Grain Bowl?

Build it around the Grilled Chicken (protein serving) (28g protein): the worked build below, summed from real Fresh Kitchen items, totals 30g of protein for 250 calories — 12g of protein per 100 calories across the whole tray.

Build This Meal in the Chicken Protein Calculator

Every number in this guide comes from the same data as our free Chicken Protein Calculator — open it, build your exact order, and check your totals live.

Open the Chicken Protein Calculator →

Frequently Asked Questions

Per 100g cooked, skinless: chicken breast has about 31g of protein at 165 calories; chicken thigh has about 26g of protein at roughly 180–210 calories. The breast wins on protein per calorie by a wide margin; the thigh wins on flavour, moisture and iron and zinc content. With skin on, the thigh's calorie gap widens further while its protein stays the same.

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