What to Serve with Chicken Thighs? 10 BEST Side Dishes

Sweet, sour, juicy, and spicy chicken thighs can be the star dish on any occasion.

But what about side dishes to enjoy with the meat dish? Chicken tastes good with almost anything, so you don’t have to worry much.

If you’re wondering what to serve with chicken thighs, you arrived at the right place.

Below, we’ll mention at least ten best dishes to have with chicken thighs, so don’t go anywhere.

Zoodle stir-fry, tabbouleh, sweet potato fries, cucumber tomato salad, and fried rice are some items that make a lovely pairing with chicken thighs.

Why Consider Serving Side Dishes with Chicken Thighs?

No matter how delicious, a single dish doesn’t make a complete meal.

You need variety to create a balance and refresh your palate.

For example, if you have veggies as the main dish, you need some non-veg items, and vice versa with meat dishes.

Chicken thighs are wonderfully delicious, but you need some extra dishes to complete your meal.

Salads, grains, and veggies are all ideal for enjoying with chicken thighs.

Hence, you can use them in your side dishes.

If you serve chicken thighs at an event, you’ll require suitable side dishes to fill up everyone’s bellies.

Else, there won’t be enough food for all your guests.

What to Serve with Chicken Thighs? 10 BEST Side Dishes

Chicken thighs are yummy and versatile, and besides the four items mentioned above, there are several to choose from.

Read on to find out which are the best.

1 – Rainbow Fruit Salad

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It’s a classic side dish with chicken thighs and one that you’ll want to eat again.

Rainbow fruit salad is one of the items that not only complements chicken but also keeps your palate fresh.

Fruit salad is also suitable because you can prepare it quickly and in large portions.

Besides, you can work with many fruits depending on which ones are available at a particular time.

Fruits are delicious and nutritious, so you not only create a balance and add flavor but can absorb plenty of nutrients.

Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, pineapple, oranges, kiwi fruit, grapes, and bananas are some fruits you can use to make the salad.

2 – Zoodle Stir-Fry

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Stir fries are an option when you don’t have much time to spare.

You can make a dish quickly, serve it hot and complete a meal.

They also combine well with chicken thighs.

While there are many veggies to choose from, you can go a different way and make a dish with a less common ingredient.

Zoodles or zucchini noodles can be lovely when stir-fried.

Also called courgette, zucchini is a summer squash in green, yellow, or orange.

It’s cooked in various ways, and stir-frying is one method that makes the veggie incredibly yummy.

Add carrot, onion, bell pepper, and snap peas to enhance its flavors even more.

3 – Cucumber Tomato Salad

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It’s one of the freshest salads and easiest to make but also versatile and pairs nicely with chicken thighs.

Cucumber and tomato salad provides a new element and cleanses your palate.

Hence, it makes a suitable side dish for the chicken.

Both veggies are readily available, so it will be convenient to make the salad when you have many people to feed.

Besides tomatoes and cucumbers, onions and herbs are the main ingredients.

The salad tastes best when the veggies are fresh.

Hence, for instance, if you buy the cucumbers in advance, store them in the fridge and consume within seven to ten days.

4 – Tabbouleh

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It sounds exotic and different, but tabbouleh is a salad with its origins in Lebanon and Syria.

It’s flavorful and makes a perfect side dish with chicken thighs.

It’s a fresh, herby salad made of parsley, bulgur, mint, tomato, onion, olive oil, sweet pepper, and salt.

Some variations also contain lettuce, other veggies, and semolina instead of bulgur.

Hence, if you don’t have bulgur or parsley, you can use semolina or lettuce but use the same dressing and the rest of the ingredients to keep it authentic.

5 – Jalapeno Cornbread

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Spicy cornbread is an excellent side dish if your chicken thighs are sweet and juicy.

Corn is delicious and complements almost everything, like potatoes, so you won’t regret the choice.

Plain cornbread is also flavorful, but if you add some jalapenos, the taste will rise to another level.

You can make it hotter or milder according to preference by adding more or fewer jalapenos.

Cornbread rises pretty quickly, so it’s called quick bread, and unlike several other kinds of bread, it uses baking powder instead of yeast.

You can make it in a pan, Dutch oven, or skillet.

6 – Baked Beans

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Who says you can’t eat a hearty dish with meat? If it’s your aim to fill up your belly and satisfy hunger, comfort food is the right choice.

Baked beans and chicken thighs also make a delicious combo, and yes, the former is yummy too.

The Native Americans are said to have invented the dish, and the colonists made the dish famous.

Today, baked beans are a popular side dish across the US and many other places.

White beans are the first choice for making baked beans such as navy beans, cannelloni beans, or Great Northern beans.

So, you can make the dish with any of the above varieties.

You can use canned or dry beans, depending on availability.

7 – Sweet Potato Fries

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Fries also pair well with chicken thighs; of course, they’re everyone’s favorite.

But for a change, you can use sweet potatoes instead of regular spuds.

They’re equally or even tastier than potato fries because sweet potatoes are naturally flavorful.

There is also no need to add many ingredients.

Salt, pepper, and a little olive oil can do the trick.

When buying sweet potatoes, avoid big-sized variety and choose smooth, taut skin and are free of soft spots.

8 – Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

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Would you also love a meat and veggie combo to pair with chicken thighs? If you’re wondering whether the two dishes click, they do, and they’re a popular combination too.

Another reason for adding the dish is that it’s easy to make asparagus wrapped in bacon.

Besides, you don’t need numerous ingredients to make a yummy dish.

Asparagus, slices of bacon, black pepper, olive oil, and scallions or chives are the only items you require to make the dish.

The result is terrific, and you’ll surely want to eat again and again.

9 – Mushroom and Leek Bread Pudding

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Yes, it’s pudding, but it isn’t a dessert.

It’s a savory and lovely side dish to serve with chicken thighs.

Mushroom and leek bread pudding isn’t only delicious and hearty.

You’ll feel and stay full for a long time when you eat the food with chicken thighs, and your guests will have a great time tasting your food too.

The preferred mushroom variety for the dish is cremini, as it’s more flavorful than button mushrooms.

Also called baby bella and crimini, the mushroom variety is readily available, so you won’t have trouble finding it.

10 – Whole Roasted Carrots

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We’ll complete the list with a simple but yummy veggie dish that complements chicken thighs nicely.

If you like carrots, you’ll surely love whole roasted carrots.

The orange veggie is naturally tasty, so you don’t have to use many ingredients for the dish.

Salt, olive oil, and pepper are the other ingredients besides carrots.

But once cooked, you’ll have a veggie dish with the most wonderful flavors perfectly suitable to go with chicken thighs.

Conclusion

Enjoy chicken thighs any day since you don’t need to stress about side dishes.

With as many as ten yummy items, your menu will be explosive and full of flavors.

Serve different items so that there is variety and your meal feels complete.

A combo of veggies, meat, salads, and fries will make excellent pairings at any time.

Choose a separate item each time to keep the meal fresh and different.