Here are five simple steps to show you how to debone a chicken.
I learned this simple method for deboning a chicken from a chef many years ago. It is now a skill I use on almost a weekly basis. Not that I ever thought I would, back when I first learned how to debone a chicken. It is so useful because I can buy a good, organic, chicken and get several days of meals with no waste, and it is good value.
I have a good boning knife that I bought when I learned how to bone a chicken. It has lasted well, it makes the job of boning easy and the results are good. No one is ever going to admire my butchery skills but they are good enough for home. The knife makes a big difference. Something like this knife would be fine to start out with https://www.southernhospitality.co.nz/victorinox-150mm-boning-knife.html The blade of the boning knife is narrow and rigid, not at all flexible and means you can control where the cuts are made. And, the cuts of meat I end up with look ready for cooking. Nobody has ever suggested I should buy the chicken pre cut.
I first thought about boning a chicken for use at home when my children were young. They were allergic to dairy and we ate meat instead. I found that bone broth was recommended as being good for gut health and is high in calcium. Both of these seemed like good things for my family. I looked into buying chicken frames for making bone broth. But then I realised, if I dusted off my boning skills, I could get more chicken meat than I was currently buying plus bone broth from a whole chicken. I now buy the best organic chicken I can and use that.
The local butcher recommended one particular farm for what he called “the only real chicken farm” and they use compostable packaging whenever they can. You might be able to find something similar in your area.
5 Steps: How to Debone a Chicken
- Place the chicken on a clean chopping board, breast side up. Open out the wing at the top of the breast, you can move the tip to find the first joint. Cut through the joint and put the wing tip aside. Then use your fingers to find the joint close to the breast and make a cut here. A boning knife is best for slicing through the soft tissue without risk to your fingers. Remove the wings and you have your first two pieces of chicken.
- Next, feel for the breast bone down the centre of the chicken. Run the knife over the skin so you can see where to cut. Use the tip of the knife to separate the breast meat from the centre bone and then under the breast following the frame. Do this on both sides.
- The fillet is under the breast and you can leave this attached to the breast or remove it for a small, tender cut that is good to slice up or make dippers for children.
- The drumstick and thigh are next. Hold the bone of the drumstick and lift it up away from the frame. Use the knife to slice through the skin and you will see that it is easy to separate the leg from the frame. Use the piont of the knife to find the top of the thigh joint and cut through.
- You can keep the thigh and drumstick as a leg piece, or separate at the joint in the middle. You will know you are cutting in the right place as teh knife will go through easily. If you are not cutting through the joint, then you will hit the bone and need to move the knife to find the space between the two bones.
No waste and delicious stock
I then use the frame to make stock. Put the wing tips and frame in a saucepan with water if you are making stock, or store in the freezer to make stock later on. Here is a link to my stock recipe. I have the pot sitting on the stove top as I debone the chicken and put in any other pieces such as skin and the wing ends as I go.
I hope this will encourage you to try deboning a chicken yourself. You will end up with up to ten pieces of chicken for the same cost as half as many from the butcher. And you will have a delicious stock, with no artificial flavours, to make incredible tasting soups from scratch.
Leave a Reply