So you have to debone chicken thighs. In this post, we’ll show you how to do it with step-by-step instructions (with photos) and a video!
Use Cases for Deboning Chicken Thighs
The biggest use case for this is when we want chicken thighs that are boneless, but still have the skin on, like in our Roasted Chicken with Sticky Rice recipe. Chicken thighs are usually sold bone-in/skin-on, or boneless/skinless. There’s no boneless, skin-on version at the grocery store!
You may also find yourself in a situation where a recipe calls for boneless thighs, but you only have bone-in thighs on hand in your fridge or freezer.
Another reason you might want to debone chicken thighs is that the bone-in versions are often significantly cheaper at the grocery store. If you buy whole thighs, you can de-bone them yourself, save the bones to make stock (try my mom’s Pork & Chicken stock—it’s the best), and save some money!
How to Debone Chicken Thighs
- Ok, there is only one bone to remove from each thigh. Start with the chicken thigh on the cutting board skin-side down. Find the bone that runs along the length of the thigh. Run a sharp boning knife, paring knife, or chef’s knife along the length of it to reveal the bone underneath the meat.
2. Use your fingers to move the meat away from the bone. Angle your knife towards the bone, and slice down both sides of it to expose the bone even further. You can also scrape the knife along the bone to remove the meat cleanly and avoid leaving any meat on it.
3. Next, point your knife so it’s perpendicular to the bone. Holding the bone up, make an incision underneath it to separate it from the meat below. Slice both ways so the middle shaft of bone (between the two ends) is separated from the meat. Then, slice around and below one end of the bone to release it completely from the meat.
4. Now that the bone is only attached at one end, pull the bone up vertically. Make a few final cuts to remove the other end from the meat.
Done! Don’t throw those bones away. Put them in the freezer, and use them the next time you make chicken stock, or our Pork and Chicken Stock.
Watch Video!
How to Debone Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 1 pound bone-in chicken thighs
Instructions
- Start with the chicken thigh on the cutting board skin-side down. Find the bone that runs along the length of the thigh. Run a sharp boning knife, paring knife, or chef's knife along the length of it to reveal the bone underneath the meat.
- Use your fingers to move the meat away from the bone. Angle your knife towards the bone, and slice down both sides of it to expose the bone even further. You can also scrape the knife along the bone to remove the meat cleanly and avoid leaving any meat on it.
- Next, point your knife so it's perpendicular to the bone. Holding the bone up, make an incision underneath it to separate it from the meat below. Slice both ways so the middle shaft of bone (between the two ends) is separated from the meat. Then, slice around and below one end of the bone to release it completely from the meat.
- Now that the bone is only attached at one end, pull the bone up vertically. Make a few final cuts to remove the other end from the meat.
Thank you for explaining this technique. I tried it last night with a reasonable result and am very happy with the outcome. I think the chicken meat I deboned had less water in it, so it was tastier. Here (Netherlands), the price of is only half that of boneless chicken thighs. A real win-win.
You’re welcome William and thanks for sharing your very practical comment
Always very useful info, Thanks. How bout a video on deboning chicken legs/drumsticks? These are usually a great buy but give me a real headache deboning. Maybe you’ve got one already: I’ll search.
We don’t have that yet, Stuart. We don’t usually de-bone drumsticks, but could be interesting to do!
LISTEN TO SARAH when she recommends saving the bones for stock. It’s a lot easier than it sounds, and homemade stock makes soups, sauces, and risottos way better.
If you can’t babysit a pot on the stove for hours, you can totally do it in an Instant Pot (45 minutes) or crock pot (overnight or while you’re at work). I do mine in the IP while I cook dinner, then I switch to the simmer setting to reduce it while I clean up and freeze it in ice cube trays overnight.
And if you’re not eating the skin, add that to your stock too! It adds more collagen, which makes the mouthfeel more silky.
Great tip on the skin, Jess!
Thanks for this. Is there a video available? The tricky part I always think is to avoid having the sinew and gristle left in your boneless thigh.
Hi Mark, the video is in the post, you may have to turn off your ad blocker to see it!
Thank you for saving bones to make stock.
Save skin for grebines !
A twofer!
Agreed, Peter!
Hi Peter, agreed, a little fried chicken skin with salt is very tasty!
I learned how to debone chicken thighs from my Dad, but with a difference: The meat forms a pocket and remains on the end of the bone. It’s stuffed with chopped ham, mushrooms, water chestnuts, green onions. Then it’s dipped in beer batter and fried. The bone serves as a handle for eating these stuffed chicken thighs. Of course we also used Sarah’s method for boneless chicken dishes.
That pocket idea is very interesting!!
Sounds delicious!
90% of the time bone in chicken thighs come with the back bone. That’s my challenge removing them. Can you please do a follow up showing us how to remove the back bone from the chicken thighs as well. Thanks
Yes Please!! That’s what I was looking for too!!
Hi Michael, acknowledged and we will put it on our list ;-)
Interesting, Sandrine! We’ve never encountered thighs with the backbone still attached—if we find them, we will try to do a follow-up video/photo shoot.
Hi Sandrine, ah, yes, good point and we will try to add that step to this post.
LOL, Where were you yesterday! Honestly, I use the same technique – but the task is really daunting. Soldier on, I say.
Hi miKES, with some practice, deboning chicken thighs definitely gets easier.
You ought to be wearing rubber or nitrile gloves instead of touching raw meat with bare hands. Chickens carry disease too, such as campylobacter, Salmonella and Clostridium perfringens bacteria.
This is good old traditional Chinese cooking, not dissecting organs in a pathology Lab.
True story, gloves give a false sense of security when cooking. Gloves make the wearer believe their hands are cleaner than they are so often gloved food handlers touch things that they shouldn’t. IF their hands had been ungloved they would have washed their hands. Gloves are not great at doing much but for assuaging fear. Best to follow safe handling practices.
Isn’t that what soap is for?
It’s fine as long as you wash your hands properly after touching raw meat and fish.
Hi Margaret, food safety is very important, but we do handle raw chicken and poultry all the time. It’s very important to handle poultry properly (not touch other things during) and thoroughly wash your hands and surfaces with hot soapy water afterwards. Follow these steps and everything will be fine.
Great timing. Boneless chicken thighs are so popular at Costco that they are almost always sold out, but they always have in bone-in version. I’ll be trying this the next time I cook chicken.
I’ve bought the Costco boneless on occasion. To be honest, they are pretty rough in cut and no skin. And all that leaky plastic. A love/hate relationship with their poultry product.
Hi Charles, yes, it is quite easy, and you have bones for making stock too. ;-)