An easy tutorial on how to boil chicken legs using simple ingredients, for delicious chicken legs to enjoy by themselves or to use in other easy dinner ideas.
Whether you have fresh chicken legs or frozen chicken legs, this tutorial will work for you!
We love using chicken legs to make dinner, as they seem to be a more affordable cut of chicken. We’ve made chicken legs in the air fryer, chicken legs in the oven, and have even cooked slow cooker chicken legs.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Versatile: Chicken legs can be enjoyed alone or can even be used to shred and use in other recipes.
- Make-ahead recipe: Make these boiled chicken legs in advance, and enjoy them later in a recipe like these Chipotle Chicken Melts.
- Done in less than 30 minutes: In less than 30 minutes, you’ll have cooked chicken legs, ready for however you plan to enjoy them!
Ingredients Needed
Although we use specific ingredients for this, you can switch out the ingredients that you prefer or add others to it. We’ve highlighted a few notes below that can help.
Keep in mind the ingredients besides the chicken legs are not required but they do provide a more flavorful chicken.
- Chicken legs – We used a pack of 8 for this tutorial, however you can use as many or as little as you prefer.
- Onion – A whole, white, medium-sized onion was used in this method.
- Carrots – Feel free to leave the peels on the carrots for this.
Substitutions
If you’ve found that you need to substitute some of the ingredients, here are some suggestions that can help:
- Onions – feel free to use a yellow onion for this, instead of white.
- Chicken – you can also boil a whole chicken, bone-in or boneless chicken thighs, bone-in or boneless chicken breasts, or other cuts of chicken, similarly to this method.
- Celery – although we didn’t use celery in this method this time, you can use it here. We love using celery too, especially if making homemade chicken broth. I also use it in this rotisserie chicken stock.
- Herbs – Other herbs you may enjoy using are fresh thyme, fresh parsley, bay leaf or fresh basil.
- Garlic – We used minced garlic when we boiled a whole chicken, so you may prefer to use that as well.
Equipment
A large pot is recommended, or a stockpot the big enough to cover the amount of chicken you’re boiling, by one inch.
How Long to Boil Chicken Legs
Boiling chicken legs is easy, and it only requires a few simple steps of adding the ingredients in to a large stockpot, and boiling until the chicken is done.
*Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list & instructions!*
STEP 1. Add to the pot. Add all of the ingredients to the pot and cover it with enough water that sits about an inch above the chicken.
Tip: This is where you can also add other ingredients if you prefer specific items we haven’t listed here.
STEP 2. Boil. Turn the stovetop burner to high heat until it comes to a rolling boil, and then turn to medium heat, cover, and let simmer for about 10 minutes or until chicken is done or internal temp reaches 165 degrees.
How Long to Boil Frozen Chicken Legs
To boil frozen chicken drumsticks, the cooking time will be between 25 – 30 minutes.
At this point you can remove the chicken from the broth, and serve or allow it to cool.
Recipe Pro Tips
- Allow to fully cool. If making these boiled chicken legs for later, make sure to allow them to cool before placing them in the refrigerator or freezer.
- Broil. If you love crispy skin, you may choose to place the chicken legs in a baking dish and the oven on broil for a few minutes until they brown to your liking. Make sure to watch them carefully so they do not burn and overcook
Recipe FAQs
If boiling fresh chicken legs, it will take anywhere from 10 minutes to 20 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken legs. Make sure to check the internal temperature of the chicken legs, and that they reach 165 degrees.
Make sure that water is about an inch above the chicken, to ensure that the chicken can boil evenly.
Boil the chicken legs covered to ensure that the chicken legs cook appropriately.
How to Serve Boiled Chicken Legs
You can serve the boiled chicken legs by themselves or by coating them in your favorite sauce, such as teriyaki sauce, buffalo sauce or BBQ sauce.
or you can shred the chicken meat and serve it in other easy recipes, such as chicken pot pie casserole or these buffalo chicken sliders.
Serve these boiled chicken legs with easy side dishes like macaroni and tomatoes, green beans, and with these easy homemade biscuits.
Storage
Leftover chicken legs: Store any cooled, leftover chicken legs in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
Freeze: If freezing, store cooled chicken legs in a freezer-safe container or freezer bag for 3-4 months.
To Thaw: Remove frozen chicken legs from the freezer and place them in the refrigerator to thaw.
More Chicken Recipes You’ll Love
If you love cooking chicken or cooking with chicken, you’ll also love these chicken recipes that readers love:
Did you make this? I’d be so grateful if you left a “star” rating below to let me know what you thought! Then, the next time you need a quick and easy recipe, come back to Fantabulosity to browse all of my easy recipes!
Recipe
How to Boil Chicken Legs
Ingredients
- 8 fresh chicken legs Amount can vary to use less or more.
- water Enough water that it sits above the chicken by about an inch.
- 1 white onion
- 2 carrots
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- salt
- black pepper
Instructions
- Place chicken legs in stock pot with fresh herbs and vegetables.
- Add water; enough that it sits about an inch above the top of the chicken.
Fresh Chicken Legs
- Place on stove burner and turn to high heat until it boils. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium and allow it to simmer for about 10 minutes or until the internal temperature reached 165 degrees.
Frozen Chicken Legs
- If chicken legs are frozen, the cooking time can be 25-30 minutes, depending on how big the chicken legs are.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Shar says
Made this last night and my fam was filled and satisfied! It turned out so tender. Must-keep!
Kristyn says
This recipe makes the tastiest chicken legs!! And, it’s fool-proof! Thanks for sharing this!!
Toni says
Thank you so much for sharing this easy to follow tutorial! I will definitely make it again and again!