Best Chicken Recipes for Father’s Day

Father’s Day is always a great day to celebrate the Father in your life. A great way to celebrate your dad or the father figure in your life is by cooking a delicious, healthy, and flavorful meal featuring pasture raised chicken! We’ve outlined a few of our best chicken recipes for Father’s Day below, and would love to hear from you if you have a recipe that you think is perfect for the occasion!

Crispy Grilled Chicken Thighs

Chicken thighs are such a delicious cut of meat. They’re currently enjoying a resurgence in popularity because of their savory and juicy taste and low cost compared to some other cuts of meat. Chicken thighs are higher in fat than chicken breasts, but that higher fat content translates into a boost in flavor, making them the perfect candidate for special recipes like this one.

We adapted this meal from a Food Network recipe that called for bread crumbs. Since we follow a paleo diet but still love a good hearty comfort food meal, we love to create paleo versions of our favorites, including these crispy grilled chicken thighs. The recipe calls for skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs, and our Pasturebird chicken thighs fit the bill!

You’ll also need ⅓ cup paleo mayonnaise, chili powder and cayenne pepper, salt and pepper, and almond flour in place of the bread crumbs. As the recipe suggests, start by combining ⅓ cup mayonnaise, 1 tbsp chili powder (you can use less to cut down on the spice factor, especially if you’ll be feeding kiddos with this meal), ½ tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste), and ½ tsp salt. Once the mayo and spice mixture is combined, dredge the chicken in the mixture, cover, and refrigerate it for a few hours. This will really allow the flavors to absorb into the skin and meat for a truly savory final product. 

As your grill is preheating, fill a shallow bowl with 1 to 2 cups of almond flour and thoroughly coat each piece of chicken with the mixture. The original recipe doesn’t call for garlic, but we are firm believers that everything can benefit from a bit of garlic, so we like to add some garlic powder and pepper to taste to our almond flour mixture prior to coating the chicken. Grill the chicken for about 25 minutes, until each side is golden brown (turning at least once during cooking). We recommend serving this paleo spin on fried chicken with a broccoli salad (made with paleo mayonnaise of course) and this delicious sweet potato salad, which is a cool spin on regular potato salad for those who follow a paleo diet to the letter. 

“Everything But the Bagel” Chicken Wings

Whether the Dad you’re cooking for is a football fan or just shows up for the snacks, this unique spin on a popular tailgate snack is sure to impress. You can use a premade “everything” seasoning such as Trader Joe’s or one of the many others inspired by it, or make your own - this recipe shows you both ways. The addition of mayonnaise and mustard (paleo versions, of course) to the recipe adds a little bit of extra savory intensity to the pasture raised chicken wings, and also helps the seasoning stick to them better during cooking. 

If wings aren’t your thing, this recipe can also be used on chicken thighs or tenders! We love serving this with sweet potato fries, and of course, paleo ranch dressing for dipping. 

Chicken Avocado Burgers

Since Pasturebird is based in California, we of course love avocados! Father’s Day happens to fall during peak avocado season, and these chicken avocado burgers are a perfect blend of seasonal California produce and savory pasture raised chicken.

These delicious burgers can be made ahead of time or on the spot, and are unique and full of flavor. We love that they incorporate healthy fat from the avocado, and offer a new way to use pasture raised chicken breasts. This recipe, which we used for inspiration, uses ground chicken, but we love to put our own spin on the original recipe by “grinding” our own pasture raised chicken breasts in a food processor, and mixing with a bit of paleo mayo to help bind them together. The mayo also makes the final product even more juicy and delicious.

Aside from our chicken breast and mayonnaise revision, you can pretty much follow the original recipe to the letter, or add your own flavors - chopped scallions would be a delicious addition, or sweet onions. You’ll need about a pound of chicken, a firm but ripe avocado, 1 clove of minced garlic, ⅓ cup almond meal, ½ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp pepper. You can also add in a minced jalapeno or poblano if you want to give the burgers a bit of a kick, or add a squeeze or two of sriracha to the mixture. 

Gently toss the ingredients and form into patties, and then grill for 4-5 minutes on each side. These burgers are versatile, and can be cooked on an outdoor grill, or indoors (we love to use a well-seasoned cast iron skillet). Serve with your favorite burger toppings and sides for a gourmet rendition of a favorite casual meal. These burgers would be delicious with grilled seasonal produce such as asparagus, zucchini, or summer squash, and we ALWAYS love some well-seasoned sweet potato fries. 

No matter how you choose to celebrate, we hope that the father figure in your life has a wonderful and relaxing Father’s Day - if that day happens to include a delicious pasture raised chicken recipe, even better! We’d love to hear some of your favorite pasture raised chicken recipes in the comments, or if you tried one of these ones, let us know what you think!