This Is The Healthiest Way To Cook Chicken
Chicken is one of the best sources of lean protein (via Medical News Today). However, there are a number of factors that can cancel out the health benefits. Hate to break it to you, but fried chicken is not a particularly healthy way to consume chicken. Neither is cooking it with its skin on, as delicious as it may be. While some restaurants may very well cook poultry cuts with the skin still on, if you're trying to eat for good health, it's best to remove it yourself as the skin is full of calories and saturated fats (via Eat This, Not That!).
The breast is the healthiest cut of the chicken (assuming it's skinless), and it's a wiser choice than fattier parts of the bird such as the thighs or the legs.
But of course, much of how nutritious chicken is has to do with how it's cooked.
The best way to cook chicken for the health benefits
As mentioned previously, frying chicken is not a healthy option. Pan frying is slightly better than deep frying, simply because it's not completely submerged in the fatty oils (via The Cooking Expert).
When it comes to pan frying, the type of fat you use to grease the pan is important. A healthy oil, such as olive or coconut, is going to be a healthier choice than animal fat, like butter.
However, the healthiest way to cook chicken is to bake it or boil it. Putting it in the oven to be cooked via dry heat without the use of much oil cuts down on the additional calories added from a fat source used to transmit heat (via The Atlantic). Boiling chicken in water doesn't add any calories to the chicken, but it doesn't add much flavor either (via Livestrong).
One final thing to ensure that your chicken is the healthiest that it can be is to make sure that the chicken is raised free-range and grown without antibiotics.