Skin-on boneless chicken thighs are the most popular cut of poultry in Asia, which is why I use them in a lot of recipes on this site. It's a flavorful, juicy cut, and when prepared well, the skin turns into a crisp, crackling shell that's loaded with umami.
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Why Debone Chicken Thighs?
While intact thighs or whole legs are great for grilling or stews, they don't work for stir-fried and pan-fried preparations. It'd possible to buy boneless skinless thighs, but without the skin, the meat tends to dry out easily, and finding boneless skin-on chicken thighs in the US can be challenging. Thankfully, you can enjoy crispy chicken skin and the juicy texture of skin-on-thigh meat by deboning thighs or whole legs yourself. Since the average price of bone-in thighs tends to be significantly lower, you can cut food costs as well. It only takes a few minutes, and the instructions and video below will show you how to debone raw chicken thighs easily.
Deboning Knife
Ideally, you want a sharp boning knife with a narrow blade about 5 to 6 inches long. This length gives you enough reach to maneuver around bones while giving you the control of a shorter blade. The blade should be relatively thin and slightly curved, allowing you to make precise cuts and follow the contours of the bones. A sharp, pointed tip is crucial for piercing and navigating tight spots.
Since it's better to use a sharp knife with the wrong shape than a dull knife with the right shape, here are a few alternatives. A sharp paring knife or a fillet knife will work almost as well as a boning knife. Chef's knives tend to have a larger blade, making them difficult to control precisely. Since this is a knife that most people have in their kitchen, I've demonstrated how to grip it for deboning in the video below. This grip will give you more control over the knife's movements.
How to Debone Chicken Thighs
Start with the bone-in thigh skin-side down and feel it with your finger to locate where the bone passes through the meat. Run the tip of a sharp knife down one side of the bone to expose that side. You'll need to run the knife around the knuckles on either end of the bone to separate the tendons attaching the meat to the bone. Do not cut all the way through the meat.
Repeat this on the other side of the bone so that you have two pieces of chicken hanging from either side of the bone. Insert the tip of the knife below the bone with the edge facing the more exposed knuckle. Slice the meat from the bone and cut through any gristle holding the meat to the knuckle.
Repeat this on the other side of the bone so that you have two pieces of chicken hanging from either side of the bone. Insert the tip of the knife below the bone with the edge facing the more exposed knuckle. Slice the meat from the bone and cut through any gristle holding the meat to the knuckle.
Stand the bone up and cut around the knuckle on the other side to remove the bone. Feel the meat with your fingertips to look for any stray cartilage or tendon and trim it off. You'll also want to trim any excess fat or skin from your boneless thighs. At this point, you can easily make skinless chicken thighs by removing the skin.
Your boneless chicken thigh meat is now ready to use. Make sure to save the bones for stock. Once you've practiced, it will take you less than a minute to debone each thigh.
How to Debone Chicken Legs
If you're starting with a whole chicken leg (thigh with drumstick still attached), you can check out the second half of the video below. This is how most thigh meat is sold in Japan, and it's why the leg pieces in my recipes look so much larger than typical thighs in other countries. As a bonus, chicken leg quarters in the US are usually the least expensive cut you can buy, so you'll also be saving money. With practice, you can debone a whole leg in under two minutes.
Lay the leg with the meat side of the thigh facing up. Insert the tip of your knife on the side of the leg's curve at the tip of the drumstick. Follow the contours of the bone towards the base of the leg.
When you reach the joint, you'll need to go around it like a speed bump and then continue tracing the contours of the bone until you reach the end of the thigh bone. Be careful not to cut past the bone and all the way through the meat.
Now, the inside of the joint should be visible. Cut through the joint.
Then fold the leg meat in half to separate the joint.
Use your knife to cut around the large knuckle on the thigh side to detach all of the tendons.
Scrape the meat away from the thigh bone using your fingers. When you reach the knuckle, use the knife to cut around it to release the thigh bone. You can also do this with kitchen shears.
For the drumstick bone, use your knife to scrape the meat off both sides of the bone. Then, insert the tip of your knife blade under the bone with the edge facing toward the tip of the drumstick. Cut through the meat and tendons to release the end of the bone from the meat.
Now scrape the meat away from the drumstick bone towards the joint where it was connected with the thigh bone, and use your knife to cut around the cartilage to free the bone.
Trim off any remaining tendons, stray pieces of meat, connective tissue, or excess fat. Reserve the chicken bones and trimmings to make stock.
Ways to Use Deboned Chicken Thighs
Here are some of my favorite chicken thigh recipes, but you can also check out an index of all of my chicken recipes for even more ideas.
- Chicken Teriyaki
- Chicken Nanban
- Chicken Katsu
- Shio Karaage (salt)
- Karaage (soy sauce)
- Crispy Chicken with Ginger Scallion Oil
- Chicken Chashu
Units
Ingredients
- 4 whole chicken thighs
Instructions
- Lay a chicken thigh on your cutting board with the meat side facing up. Run the tip of your knife from one end of the bone to the other, scraping the tip as close to one side of the bone as possible.
- Trace a similar path on the other side of the bone so that you have two flaps of thigh meat with the thigh bone sitting on top.
- Insert the knife blade under the center of the bone with the blade facing the tip of the bone that is more exposed. Next, slide the knife towards the end of the bone, scraping the meat away and cutting through any connective tissue holding the thigh to the bone.
- Stand the thigh bone vertically and use the tip of your knife to cut around the other knuckle to free the bone.
- Trim off any remaining white connective tissue from the meat and any excess fat or skin.
FAQ
I usually keep a freezer bag of leftover chicken thigh bones along with the trimmings in the freezer, adding to it over time. Once the bag is full, wash the bones, throw them in a pressure cooker, cover them with a few inches of water, and throw in some onions, celery, carrots, konbu, and salt. Cook it on high pressure for 1 hour to make a beautiful homemade chicken stock.
A lot of people talk about raw chicken as if it's radioactive, but in reality, it's no different than any other raw meat. You should be fine if you follow a few basic safety precautions for food handling. The first thing is to use a dedicated chopping board for raw meat. If you don't have one, I recommend disinfecting the cutting board with an antibacterial spray such as bleach. After disinfecting the cutting board, I usually run it through the dishwasher. To avoid cross-contamination, you also want to thoroughly wash all utensils and surfaces that come into contact with raw meat with soap and hot water before using them for anything else. Of course, you can wear gloves if you want to avoid contact with the raw meat, but it's not strictly necessary. Just wash your hands thoroughly when you're finished.
Izzie says
Dear Mark…
That is a very useful process to learn. Thank you.
Izzie
Marc Matsumoto says
You're welcome Izzie, I'm happy to hear it was helpful!
Kathy Stroup says
Thank you so much! You made it easy. The only issue I have now is choosing from all the delicious recipes here!
One thing: The leg quarters sold here in the US usually come with the hip bone and often some of the back. I just free the thigh bone from the joint by cutting around that hip bone. Then it looks just like yours. It makes for a flavorful stock, since there is meat on it. And my dog loves to eat the scraps, too!
Marc Matsumoto says
Good to know about the legs over there having part of the back attached. I guess it has the oyster (round medallion of meat that's on the chicken's equivalent of a hip bone) on it as well?
Kathy Stroup says
Yes, the oyster is there. I know it's a treasured tidbit in the culinary world, but when you are deboning just 4 legs, they really don't add up to more than a mouthful. I threw everything into the pressure cooker and made some delicious broth. George got to eat the meat from the pot. There was a lot of delicious, soft gelatin and cartilage left!