How Long to Boil Chicken: Whole, for Broth, Soup and Salad

Time is counted from the moment the water boils (if the chicken went into boiling water, from the second boil), then the heat is turned down: the surface should barely tremble, with no large bubbles. The bigger and older the bird, the longer it takes. For broilers the figures match the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) chart: a 1.4-1.8 kg (3-4 lb) bird is done after 60-75 minutes of simmering.

The chart gives approximate times: hobs, pots and birds vary. The most reliable check is a kitchen thermometer: the thickest part, away from the bone, should reach 74 °C (165 °F).

1. Prepare the bird

Move a frozen chicken from the freezer to the fridge in advance: a 1.5-2 kg (3.3-4.4 lb) bird needs about a day to thaw. Do not rinse raw poultry under the tap. Splashes spread Campylobacter and Salmonella over the sink and worktop, so the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the USDA advise against washing it: bacteria on the surface are killed by cooking.

• Pat the bird dry with kitchen paper, check it and pluck out any remaining feathers.
• Cut off the parson's nose (the tail with the preen gland) and large pieces of fat: the broth will be clearer and free of off-flavours.
• If the bird does not fit in the pot, cut it in half lengthways along the breastbone and backbone.
• If there is a bag of giblets inside, take it out before cooking. The neck goes into the broth with the bird, hearts take 30-40 minutes, cleaned gizzards 1-1.5 hours, and the liver is boiled separately for 10-15 minutes: in the broth it adds bitterness and cloudiness.
• After handling raw chicken, wash your hands, board and knife in hot soapy water.

2. Choose the pot and water

• A 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) bird needs a 5-6 litre pot and about 3 litres of water.
• The water should cover the chicken by 2-3 cm (about 1 inch), otherwise the top cooks less evenly.
• For broth, start the chicken in cold water: the flavour gradually passes into the broth.
• For meat to serve as a main course or in salads, lower the chicken into boiling water: less flavour goes into the water. Juiciness comes from a gentle simmer and accurate timing.

3. Bring to the boil and skim

Heat over medium heat and skim off the grey foam with a slotted spoon before the water boils: the protein rises in flakes and is easy to remove. If you miss this moment, the foam breaks into tiny particles and the broth turns cloudy.

4. Turn down the heat

• Once boiling, set the lowest heat at which the surface barely trembles.
• Leave the lid ajar by 1-2 cm.
• Do not stir: stirring lifts sediment from the bottom.

5. Add salt, vegetables and spices

• Salt: about 1 teaspoon per litre of water. Season broth lightly at the start and adjust at the end, because it reduces. Salt meat for salads 15-20 minutes before it is done.
• Add a whole onion, carrot and parsley or celery root 40 minutes before the end. Char the cut side of the onion in a dry pan for a golden broth.
• Add bay leaves and peppercorns 10 minutes before the end, otherwise the bay leaves turn bitter.

6. Check doneness and lift out the chicken

Pierce the thigh by the bone or insert a thermometer into the thickest part: you need 74 °C (165 °F), or clear juices if you have no thermometer. For salads, leave the chicken to cool in the broth for 20-30 minutes. For soup, lift the bird out, pull the meat off and return it to the pot.

Broth takes longer than the meat: flavour and gelatine from the bones pass into the water gradually. For a rich broth use 2-2.5 litres of water per 1 kg of chicken.

• Whole broiler: 1-1.5 hours.
• Farm hen: 2-3 hours.
• Rooster: 3-4 hours.
• Soup set, backs, carcass: 1-1.5 hours.
• Leg quarters and wings: 50-60 minutes.

If you want both broth and juicy meat from a broiler, lift the chicken out after 50-75 minutes (depending on weight), take the meat off and return the bones to the pot for another 30-40 minutes.

How to make clear broth

• Start the chicken in cold water and heat it gradually.
• Skim the foam before the boil, not after.
• Keep a gentle simmer and the lid ajar.
• Cut off the parson's nose and excess fat, add the vegetables whole.
• For a diet or children's broth, remove the skin before cooking: it holds most of the fat. Skim the fat off the finished broth with a spoon, or chill the broth and lift off the set layer.
• Strain the finished broth through a sieve lined with 2-3 layers of muslin.

A cloudy broth can be rescued with an egg-white raft. For every 1.5-2 litres of broth, whisk 1 egg white with 2 tablespoons of cold water, pour it into the strained broth cooled to 50-60 °C (120-140 °F), stir once and bring slowly to the boil: the egg white sets into flakes and traps the cloudiness. After 5-10 minutes on low heat, strain the broth again.

For soup, the chicken is cooked before the other ingredients go in: meat first, then vegetables and grains according to their own times.

• Broiler in pieces: 40-50 minutes, whole: 50-75 minutes depending on weight.
• Farm hen: 1.5-3 hours, best cooked in advance.
• For 3 litres of soup, take 500-700 g of chicken on the bone: half a bird, 2 leg quarters or a soup set.
• Add potatoes 15-20 minutes before the end, grains and noodles according to the packet, herbs at the very end.
• Lift out a whole chicken, pull the meat off and return it to the soup 5 minutes before the end.

Chicken broth makes a good base for chicken soup with frozen vegetables, pea soup with chicken, pickle soup with barley and sorrel soup with egg.

• Lower the chicken into boiling water: less flavour goes into the broth.
• Keep a gentle simmer: a hard boil makes the meat shrink and turn stringy.
• Boil a whole bird according to its weight (50-75 minutes), a bone-in breast for 35-45 minutes.
• Salt it 15-20 minutes before it is done.
• Take the pot off the heat and let the meat cool in the broth for 20-30 minutes.
• Pull the meat apart while warm, but slice it only when completely cool.

This meat suits salads such as "Chicken Under the Influence", Men's Tears, chicken with Chinese cabbage and corn and chicken with pineapple and walnuts.

Broilers are raised for 5-7 weeks, while a farm laying hen ends up in the pot at 1-2 years old. An older bird has denser muscles and more connective tissue, so the meat takes longer to become tender. In return, its broth is richer, more aromatic and more golden.

In shops an older bird is often sold as a "boiling fowl", "stewing hen" or "soup chicken", while a young one is labelled as a broiler. Cook a boiling fowl like a laying hen, for 2-3 hours. Age shows in a hard tip of the breastbone, yellow fat and thick skin.

• Young farm hen: 1.5-2 hours.
• Mature laying hen or boiling fowl: 2-3 hours.
• Rooster: 2.5-4 hours, 4-5 hours for aspic.
• The bird is done when the leg comes away easily and the meat falls off the bone.
• For more tender meat, keep the heat as low as possible with no rolling boil. In a pressure cooker the time drops to 45-60 minutes.

A whole bird is better thawed: otherwise the outside overcooks before the middle heats through.

• In the fridge: about a day for every 2 kg (4.4 lb). This is the safest method.
• In cold water: put the bird in a tight bag and submerge it in cold water, changing the water every 30 minutes. A 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) bird takes 1.5-2 hours; cook it straight after thawing.
• Do not thaw on the worktop at room temperature: the surface warms up while the middle is still frozen.
• You can boil chicken from frozen, but it takes about 1.5 times longer. This works better for pieces than for a whole bird.

In a multicooker

• Use the "Soup" or "Stew" setting.
• Whole broiler: 1-1.5 hours, if it fits in the bowl (a 5-litre bowl usually takes up to 1.5 kg / 3.3 lb).
• Farm hen: 2-3 hours.
• Chicken pieces: 40-60 minutes.
• Do not fill above the maximum mark; skim the foam 10-15 minutes after starting.

In a pressure cooker

• Whole broiler: 25-30 minutes once pressure is reached.
• Farm hen: 45-60 minutes.
• Leg quarters and thighs: 15-20 minutes.
• Let the pressure release naturally for 10-15 minutes: the meat will not dry out and the broth will not spurt through the valve.

• A thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh, not touching the bone, reads 74 °C (165 °F). This is the safe minimum temperature for poultry recommended by the USDA.
• Juices run clear, without any pink, when pierced by the bone.
• The leg comes away easily and the meat pulls off the bone.
• The meat is opaque and fibrous all the way through, with no glassy patches.

Colour is not always reliable. In young broilers the bone and the meat next to it can stay pinkish even when fully cooked, because of pigment from the bone marrow. If the thermometer reads 74 °C (165 °F), the chicken is done.

• Rinsing raw chicken under the tap. Splashes carry bacteria around the kitchen. Pat it dry with kitchen paper and throw the paper away straight away.
• Boiling on high heat. The broth turns cloudy and the meat tough. Keep a gentle simmer.
• Adding vegetables at the start. Over 1.5-2 hours they fall apart, cloud the broth and make it sweetish. Add them 40 minutes before the end.
• Boiling a frozen whole bird for the usual time. The middle stays undercooked. Allow about 1.5 times longer and check with a thermometer.
• Boiling a broiler for salad for 2 hours. The meat dries out and turns stringy. Take it out after 50-75 minutes and simmer the bones separately.
• Leaving the pot to cool on the hob overnight. The broth stays in the danger zone for too long and bacteria multiply. Cool it within 2 hours and refrigerate.

• Cool it quickly: stand the pot in a sink of cold water or divide the broth into small containers.
• Refrigerate within 2 hours of cooking.
• Boiled meat: 2-3 days in a closed container at 0-4 °C (32-39 °F); it stays juicier in broth.
• Broth: 2-3 days; bring it back to the boil before serving.
• Frozen in portions, broth and boiled meat keep for up to 3 months.

• Chicken soup with champignons on ready-made broth.
• Green borscht with sorrel on chicken broth.
• Julienne with chicken and mushrooms: boiled meat in a creamy sauce.
• Poured pie with chicken.
• Bride salad with chicken and processed cheese.
• Aspic from pork legs and chicken.
• More ideas in "What to Cook with Chicken".

More on individual cuts and giblets: how long to cook chicken thighs, how to boil chicken breast, how to boil chicken fillet and how to boil chicken hearts.

A chef shows how to make clear chicken broth (video in Russian).