An easy tutorial on how to boil a whole chicken, using simple ingredients and the stove-top, that can even leave you with a bonus of homemade chicken broth and can make an easy chicken noodle soup!
When making a boiled chicken, you can meal prep and either freeze it for later or you can use the meat a lot of different ways to make dishes like this Dorito Chicken Casserole, Crispy Chicken Tacos, or even this easy Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad.
Although you don’t have to use all of the other ingredients, such as vegetables and herbs, they help make more flavorful meat, as the chicken meat boils and cooks. You’ll see below how you can make substitutions and changes to best fit your needs for boiling a chicken.
Boiling chicken thighs, even boiling chicken legs, boneless chicken chicken breasts, and chicken wings, is possible too! But today we’re focusing on boiling a whole chicken.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s easy: It doesn’t get much easier than boiling a chicken. Just place the chicken and the preferred ingredients in to a stock-pot and place on the stove. With a 90 minute cooking time, you have a chicken ready to cook with or eat off of.
- Meal prep: If you love meal prepping, boiling a chicken is a great way to pre-make chicken for those easy dinner ideas that require shredded chicken, like this Chicken Caesar Sandwich.
- Flexible flavor: Love your chicken flavored with different vegetables and spices? No problem. Feel free to add your favorites, and use ours as a guide for boiling times and temperatures.
Ingredients Needed
The ingredients we use for this tutorial can be switched out to best fit your favorites and needs. However, we’ve listed a few notes below about some of the ingredients that we used in case you find it helpful.
- Fresh Whole Chicken – Whole chickens can usually be found in the poultry section of your meat department or your local grocery store. The size we usually try to find ranges anywhere from 3-5 pounds, so it fits in our stock pot.
- Fresh Rosemary – Not necessary but we love using fresh rosemary in a lot of our dishes and it can add so much wonderful flavor.
- Onion – White or yellow onions work for this and although you can use a red or green onion, we suggest white or yellow.
- Carrots – No need to peel the carrots for this!
- Water
- Salt
- Black Pepper
- Garlic – we used minced garlic for this but you can add whole, peeled cloves if you prefer.
Substitutions
If you prefer different ingredients for boiling a chicken, than the herbs and vegetables we’ve suggested, that’s ok. Here are some suggestions that you may find helpful:
- Celery – You can add celery with this mixture or if you don’t have carrots on hand.
- Herbs – fresh herbs like thyme, basil, and bay leaves are a great addition or substitution for rosemary if you prefer.
- Water – You can use chicken broth to boil the chicken in for added flavor.
Equipment
A large stock pot is needed to boil a whole chicken. Make sure your pot is large enough to fit the chicken that you have, and enough water to cover the size of the chicken.
How to Boil a Whole Chicken
It’s really easy to boil a chicken and requires only the prep and boiling.
*Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list & instructions!*
STEP 1. Place in stock pot. Place whole chicken (make sure to remove any giblets that may have been left inside of the chicken) in to a large pot, as well as any other vegetables, herbs, and spices you prefer to boil with it.
STEP 2. Add water. Cover everything with cold water, enough to cover at least an inch above the chicken.
STEP 3. Bring to a boil. Place the stock pot on the stove burner, and cook on high heat, until the water boils. When boiling, reduce to low heat, cover, and allow to cook for 90 minutes or until the chicken is cooked and the internal temperature reaches 165-175 degrees when checked with a meat thermometer.
Tip: Make sure to watch the boil, so the water doesn’t boil over. If it does, simply turn the heat lower.
Remove the chicken from your stock pot and serve as is, or shred or cut in to pieces to use in other recipes, much like we do with crock pot shredded chicken.
Recipe Pro Tips
- Allow to fully cool. If making this boiled chicken for later, allow the chicken to cool before placing it in the refrigerator.
- Freeze any extras. If you have leftover cooked chicken, you can freeze it for later to put in casserole recipes, or your favorite shredded chicken dishes.
Recipe FAQs
It takes 90 minutes to boil a whole chicken.
You can. Boiling may require 20-25 more minutes per pound, to make sure it cooks all the way through. Make sure the internal temperature of the whole chicken reaches at least 165-175 degrees.
Cover the pot while boiling the whole chicken. Just watch it carefully in case the temperature is set too high and it boils over.
Of course! Serving the carrots, celery, and onions with your boiled chicken can be a great easy dinner or an addition to your favorite dish.
How to Use Boiled Chicken
Boiled chicken can be used in so many dishes like soup recipes, delicious sandwiches, pasta recipes, simple salads, casserole recipes, side dishes, and so much more.
We think you’ll love it in this Buffalo Chicken Soup, Chicken Tater Tot Casserole, and this Chicken and Noodles recipe.
Storage
Refrigerate: If storing the cooked whole chicken in the refrigerator, it can be stored in an airtight container, or securely covered for 3-4 days.
Freeze: If freezing, store the cooled, whole chicken in a freezer-safe container or freezer bags, for 3-4 months.
Thawing: To thaw, place the leftover chicken in the refrigerator and allow it to thaw.
More Chicken Recipes You’ll Love
If you love cooking chicken or cooking with chicken, we think you’re also going to love these reader favorites:
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 Whole Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 pound whole chicken Weight can vary and that's ok! As long as the chicken can fit in the pot you'll be boiling it in with the lid being able to go on top.
- water enough to cover the chicken by 1 inch.
- 3 carrots
- 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1 white onion
- 1 Tablespoon salt or taste preference
- 1 teaspoon pepper or taste preference
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- celery if desired
- thyme if desired
- basil if desired
Instructions
- Place chicken, and the vegetables, herbs, seasonings that you wish to boil the chicken with.
- Next, fill the pot with water, so it covers the chicken by about an inch, or the best that you can.
- Cover the pot with a lid, and bring the water to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, and gently boil/simmer for 90 minutes or until chicken is done.
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.
Teresa F says
So easy to make with your instructions! I am not a cook at all so I appreciate how easy this is!
Jessica says
I’m so glad that this was helpful for you, thank you!
Sha says
This is the easiest! Instructions are clear and turned out flavorful and delicious! Highly recommended!
Jessica says
Excellent! I’m so glad boiling a chicken this way worked out or you, thank you!
Sha says
This is so easy and convenient! Thanks for this informative guid Jessica. Such a keeper!
Natasha says
Your tips on how to boil a whole chicken is super useful. I’ve followed them and they surely work! Thanks for sharing.
Kristyn says
Love your tips!! They make the perfect chicken! It’s golden & delicious! We love using this recipe all throughout the year!