How Long to Boil Chicken Thighs

Boiling chicken thighs, whether boneless, bone-in, fresh, or frozen is so easy and can result in delicious chicken if you follow my advice.

Video: How To Boil Chicken Thighs

What Liquid Do I Boil Chicken In?

You can use seasoned water, chicken stock, or broth to cook the chicken. Simmering the chicken thighs in chicken stock or broth gives them the best flavor. You can use chicken bouillon to make the stock. Whatever stock or broth you use, taste it before adding any additional salt. If it has nice saltiness, don’t add salt.

In general for this, you want your cooking liquid to have a good amount of saltiness. Taste it. You should be able to taste the salt without it being overwhelming.

Adding Extra Flavor

Adding other ingredients will penetrate the chicken while it’s cooking a little bit, but not much. Your best bet is to add liquid ingredients and/or finely ground seasonings.

Aromatics like peppercorns, onion, garlic, bay leaves won’t have time to really get their flavor into the water, since the chicken won’t be cooking in the water for very long. I opt for onion powder and garlic powder over the fresh here.

Lemon will be able to add flavor. I find it best to add the lemon wedges rather than adding juice straight to the water. Other liquid ingredients that add good flavor are soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce.

Poaching Versus Boiling Chicken

When we say we’re boiling chicken, we are actually technically poaching it. The difference is simply that boiling means the water is at a high temperature and is bubbling rapidly. For poaching, the water is at a more gentle bubble.

It is better to cook the chicken in a lightly simmering liquid than in rapidly boiling water. The reason is that the chicken will be more tender and less tough if it is cooked more gently.

Chart: How Long To Boil Chicken Thighs

Type of Chicken Thigh	Boiling Time
Boneless chicken thighs	10-12 minutes
Bone-in chicken thighs	15-18 minutes
Frozen boneless chicken thighs (frozen individually and unrolled)	12-14 minutes
Frozen boneless chicken thighs (frozen individually and rolled)	15-17 minutes
Frozen bone-in chicken thighs (frozen individually)	22-26 minutes

Tips For Fresh Chicken Thighs

It takes about 10-12 minutes for boneless chicken thighs and about 15-18 minutes for bone-in thighs in a gently simmering liquid. Whether or not they have skin does not affect the cooking times.

If your chicken thighs have skin on them though, that skin will be rubbery after boiling it. You’ll want to remove the skin after cooking by simply pulling it off. If the chicken is still hot when you do this, use tongs to remove the skin.

Alternatively, you can sear the chicken after boiling it. That will crisp up the skin a little bit. Heat a pan over medium-high heat until very hot. Add a little bit of cooking oil, just to lightly coat the surface of the pan. Put the chicken in, skin-side-down, and cook until browned, 4-6 minutes.

Tips For Frozen Boneless Thighs

If they are frozen boneless chicken thighs that were frozen in large flat (about 1-inch thick) pieces, they will need 12-14 minutes. To fit these in a single layer in the pan, arrange them in vertical layers like books on a shelf. You can see what I mean by that in the video for this Instant Pot Chicken Thighs recipe.

If they were frozen in round bundles (these are about 2 inches thick, oval in shape, and are essentially the meat tucked around where the bone used to be), they will need 15-17 minutes of cook time. 

Tips For Frozen Bone-in Thighs

For frozen bone-in chicken thighs (with or without skin), they will need 22-26 minutes.

If your chicken thighs are frozen in a block (they were on a tray and you put them straight into the freezer and now they’re stuck together because they froze against each other) you can still boil them. They will need longer and will be tougher because of it. I advise thawing the chicken first in this case. 

But if you really want to skip thawing them, follow the above instructions putting the block of chicken in the saucepan and toping it with water, salt, and aromatics. Then bring it to a boil and then drop it down to a simmer as instructed. The only difference is that you will check regularly to see if they can come apart. Use tongs and a fork to gently attempt to take them apart. Be careful not to splash hot water on yourself. 

Once they are all apart, continue to simmer on low until they’ve reached 165°F internally. For boneless thighs, it will take about 12-15 minutes of simmering after they have come apart. For bone-in thighs, it will take about 15-20 minutes after they have come apart.

Expert Tips For Boiled Chicken Thighs

You want to arrange the chicken thighs in a saucepan or skillet that is large enough for them to fit in a single layer. Add enough water or stock so that the chicken pieces have 2 inches of water above them.

Why only one layer of chicken? When a piece of chicken is on top of another, it pushes down on it. The places where they’re touching are then not in as good contact with the hot water and don’t cook at the same rate. 

If you want to do two layers of chicken thighs, you can, but then make sure to move them around and flip them every 5 minutes so that they cook more evenly.

Cook until chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165°F or is no longer pink inside. Whether or not they have skin does not affect the cooking times in the chart above.

Remove chicken from the water and place on a cutting board or plate to rest for 5 minutes before shredding, slicing, or serving. This method is great for using in my Cottage Cheese Chicken Salad.