Boiled Chicken Thighs (How to Boil Chicken thighs)

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Boiled chicken thighs recipe can’t be easier than this easy, simple, quick one that shows you how to boil chicken thighs perfectly. It comes out flavorful, tender, juicy, and delicious.

Whether you’re boiling chicken thighs for family dinner, this recipe is all you need to get flavor-packed, delicious chicken. No bland or tough chicken here. 

We like to boil chicken and use for stews or keep it in the fridge to be able to cut or shred it so we can have it ready to use in quick meals like salads and sandwiches anytime we need to.

Boiled Chicken Thighs Recipe

This boiled chicken thighs recipe can be used for skinless boneless chicken thighs or bone in. It’s one of the easiest recipe and you can’t go wrong with this.

Chicken thighs are dark meat that is flavorful and cheap and for boiling, I personally prefer using bone-in as they come out more flavorful and give the best broth ever but like I wrote above, you can use this recipe for either.

Also, you can use frozen chicken, but I advise you to thaw it first. You can thaw it overnight in the fridge or to quickly thaw, put it in cool water.

You don’t have to own an oven, air fryer, or instant pot to eat a good chicken dinner. This was done on the stovetop and takes 20 minutes to cook.

Eat as it is simply boiled, or broil, grill, shred, or glaze with sauce after boiling. It can be paired with most side dishes like potatoes, rice, vegetables. 

This is a step by step guide on how to boil chicken thighs. The tools required are a pot with a lid and a fork.

Ingredients

The detailed ingredient list, measurements, and directions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Chicken thighs – Bone in or skinless and boneless.

Onion

Curry powder

Salt

Water

Chicken vibes chicken seasoning- If you don’t have this in your kitchen cupboard don’t worry just use the below-listed spices and herbs. If you’d like to make yours here’s the simple chicken seasoning recipe. It takes just 5 minutes to put together.

Thyme

Black pepper

Garlic granules

Parsley

How to Boil Chicken Thighs

Place the chicken thighs in a pot and cover with water. Let the water be at least 1-2 inches above the chicken.

Add in salt, curry powder, the seasonings, and onion. Chop the onions or cut into at least 6 parts before adding to the water so the water gets its full flavor.

Cover the pot with it’s lid and boil chicken on medium heat for 20 minutes.

After this time, check if it’s cooked through and then remove the thighs from the water.

Wait! Don’t throw the water away..this broth is golden and very useful! Check tips below on how to use it.

Serve immediately or you can then broil or grill the chicken if desired.

How long to boil chicken thighs

To boil boneless chicken thighs– For 5 pieces which is about 1kg (2lb), This will take 10-15 minutes. If you will be shredding the chicken, you can add additional 5 minutes so it’s very tender and quick to shred. This is based on using fresh and not frozen chicken.

To boil bone in chicken thighs – For 5 pieces, using this recipe, it will take 15- 20 minutes. This depends on the size of the chicken and bigger ones will take longer to cook. If you are going to broil or grill afterward you can take few minutes of this time as long as you are sure it’s cooked through. This is based on using fresh or fully thawed chicken thighs.

How To Boil it in a Microwave

You can boil chicken thighs in the microwave If you are left with no option than to do this. Here’s how to do it:

Add all the ingredients and water to a microwave-safe bowl.

Cook on high for 15 minutes or till cooked through. If it’s not cooked through at this time, add additional minutes and check every 5 minutes till it’s done.

Check with instant thermometer to ensure the internal temperature is at least 75C/165F as that is when it is safe to eat.

How to Serve and What to use for

Serve with rice, potatoes, vegetables.

You can brush with sauce like buffalo sauce, bbq sauce, peri peri sauce, and any other of your favorite.

Use in soups, salads, sandwiches, tacos, wraps.

Shred and use chicken for food like sandwiches.

Use in pot pies, chicken fried rice, and recipes that require it.

How To Store

When it’s completely cooled, pack it in an airtight container and store it in the fridge up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months. You can reheat it on the stove, or in the microwave.

If reheating on the stove, add some water in a pot, put the chicken, cover the pot and let it steam for 5 minutes or till heated through.

If reheating in the microwave, cook on high heat for 2 minutes or till heated through. Be careful not to let them dry out.

Pro Tips

• Clean all tools used to cut or clean the raw chicken.

• Ideally the chicken should be about the same in size so they cook evenly.

• Let water cover the chicken so all parts are cooked evenly. The smaller the chicken parts, the quicker they cook. If using hard chicken, boiling will take longer, so adjust time accordingly. 

• Place the chicken in a single layer so they cook evenly, Use the water from boiling to cook rice, chicken and add flavor to other dishes. 

• Check after the cooking time, and if needs more time, check it every 3 minutes.

• It’s important to cook the chicken thoroughly to prevent food poisoning or foodborne disease. To determine if the chicken is cooked through and safe to eat, use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature. It should be at least 165F/75C. 

• Leave the chicken to rest in its broth for 5 minutes after cooking. I have found this to enhance the flavor.

• It’s important to season the water you’ll cook the chicken in well with salt so the chicken doesn’t taste saltless. You’d want the water to taste salty.

• You can add vegetables like carrot to boil with the chicken at the same time. It intensifies flavor.

• You can also add bayleaves but i add bouillon cube instead as it intensifies the flavour.

• Cover the pot with it’s lid to lock in flavour, and allow the chicken to cook quickly and evenly.

• You can skim off the fat from the broth before using.

• Add cornflour slurry to the broth to make gravy or save to use for recipes that requires broth.

• If shredding the chicken, leave to rest and cool for 10 minutes before you shred.

More Recipes

Simple Chicken seasoning

Spicy chicken drumsticks

Teriyaki chicken thighs

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