How to Debone a Chicken Thigh

An infinitely useful culinary skill that's quick to learn. Here's how.

By
J. Kenji López-Alt
Kenji Lopez Alt
J. Kenji López-Alt
Culinary Consultant
Kenji is the former culinary director for Serious Eats and a current culinary consultant for the site. He is also a New York Times food columnist and the author of The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science.
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Published August 30, 2023
Overhead view of deboning

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

Why It Works

  • Bone-in chicken thighs are cheaper than boneless.
  • This method gives you bones for the stockpot.

Recipes often call for boneless chicken thighs, yet finding them in supermarkets can sometimes be hard. You're far more likely to find bone-in thighs or even whole legs. Knowing how to take that bone out yourself will save you some hassle and provide you with good bones that you can save for the stockpot.

I've tried dozens of methods of boning chicken thighs. As it turns out, the easiest is also the one that provides the best yield: Cutting and scraping every last bit of meat from the bone. Here are the steps to remove the bone to create either skin-on or skinless, boneless chicken thighs.

Recipe Details

How to Debone a Chicken Thigh

Prep 10 mins
Total 10 mins
Cook Mode (Keep screen awake)

Ingredients

  • Bone-in, skin-on or skinless chicken thighs (see notes)

Directions

  1. If using skin-on thighs that you want to be skinless, peel the skin off the thighs using your hands (you can also use the side of your knife to hold the thigh down as you go). Otherwise proceed with the skin attached.

    Removing skin from a Chicken thigh

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

  2. On a work surface, set the thigh rough side up and locate the single bone that runs through it just under the flesh. Your goal is to remove this bone with minimal damage to the meat.

    Overhead view of locating the bone

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

  3. Keeping the fingers of your non-knife hand curled for protection (raw chicken can be slippery!), and using the tip of the knife, score a line through the meat along the length of the bone.

    Overhead view of scoring the thigh along the bone

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

  4. Continue to carefully work the knife along the bone until the bone is fully exposed.

    Overhead view of cutting meat away from the bone

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

  5. Grasp one end of the bone with your non-knife hand (a little piece of paper towel can help if it's very slippery), then, scrape and cut the meat off of the bone in short, firm flicks; a boning knife should have a curved bolster at the base of the blade designed for this task.

    Overhead view of pulling the thigh bone away from the meat

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

  6. When the meat has been mostly scraped off the bone, separate the end of the bone completely from the meat. Trim away any gristle or bits of bone or cartilage that may have remained on the meat.

    Overhead view of deboned chicken thigh

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

  7. Trim off any excess fat and/or skin and discard.

    Overhead view of trimming fat off chicken thigh

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

Notes

If you have whole chicken legs, begin by using a sharp knife to split the drumsticks from the thighs at their natural seam; if the knife meets resistance, reposition it until it slides through easily—you want to go through the joint, not the bone. Reserve drumsticks as needed or for another use.

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