What to Do With a Chicken Carcass: 2 Frugal Recipes
I’m going to teach you how to make something out of nothing! I’m going to show you what to do with a rotisserie chicken carcass to get more for your money. From this carcass, I’m going to make a chicken salad recipe and chicken stock. I’m going to pick off as much of this chicken as I possibly can.
Chicken broth recipe
1. Pick through the carcass
Don’t be afraid to get into the chicken carcass to pull off all that chicken meat. The meat you are picking off is the most tender and tasty out of all the meat. You can see how much meat I was able to get off the carcass - I'll use this to make the chicken salad recipe later.
2. Get your veggie scraps
I’m always telling you to save your veggie scraps and this is why. I use them to make homemade chicken broth. I use the broth for soups and dumplings.
3. Dump the carcass
Once you’re done picking the carcass, dump the entire thing into a stockpot.
4. Add veggies
Now I’ll dump my bag of veggie scraps into the stock pot.
5. Add bay leaves
Add bay leaves to give it a savory homecooked taste. I put three leaves in the stock pot.
6. Cook
Turn the stovetop on low, put the lid on, and let the stock pot simmer for about 18 hours. It will reduce down quite a bit when it’s done.
7. Canning the broth
You’ll need a pressure canner for chicken broth. If you are just making veggie broth without chicken, you don’t need a pressure canner for that–you just need a water canner. A pressure canner has a higher temperature to kill any bacteria in the chicken.
8, Prep the canner
My pressure canner is the Presto 16-quart canner. It takes three quarts of water. Use the right amount of water that your canner needs. If you’re not sure, check the owner’s manual.
9. Add vinegar
Add white vinegar to the water. It keeps the canner clean from white residue.
10. Wash jars
Wash your jars and put them in the canner to warm them up. You’ll need to keep all the temperatures the same. Put cold ingredients in cold jars, and hot ingredients in hot jars. If you don’t go by this rule, thermodynamics will make jars explode.
11. Prep the jars
I’m using quart jars. Wash the jars, then put a little water in the jars so they don’t float away. I’m warming up five quart jars.
12. Lay the lid on
Put the lid on the pot, but just lay it on, don’t put it into place to trap the heat in there to sanitize the jars.
13. Strain the chicken broth
Prepare to strain the broth by getting a big bowl and strainer. I’m going to strain my broth twice. First in a big colander and then in a small one.
Slowly pour the broth into a colander that’s in the bowl.
After you have poured the broth through the first colander, rinse the stock pot.
Put the small colander on top of the clean stock pot.
Carefully pour the big bowl of broth through the small colander into the stock pot.
I am straining it a third time to capture all the remnants.
14. Fill the jars
Take jars from the canner, but keep the water in the canner. Use tongs to take the jars out of the canner.
Use a funnel to pour the broth into the heated and sanitized jars. Leave an inch of empty space at the top of each jar. The broth is thick and rich. It’s cloudy because it’s full of fat.
15. Wipe jar rims
Use white vinegar to wipe the rims of the jars to create a good seal.
16. Put jars back in the canner
Place filled jars back in the canner. Put the lid on and lock it into place. Turn up the heat.
When the button pops and the steam starts coming out steady from the vent on the cover for 10 minutes, let the canner continue to push out the air for another 10 minutes. Don’t skip this step. You have to get the air out of the canner.
After 10 minutes, turn the heat down. Wait until the pressure reader reaches 16 pounds of pressure which is what my elevation requires. Check your manual for your elevation.
17. Let it pressurize
Then let the canner do its thing for 75 more minutes. When the timer goes off, turn the heat off and let the pressure go down. When the pressure is down to zero and the button is down, then you can open the lid.
18. Remove lid and jars
It’s hot, so open the lid away from your face. Remove jars and let them cool down.
Here's the homemade chicken broth!
Chicken salad recipe
1. Add mayo
I put half a cup of mayo into the bowl with the chicken.
2. Add almonds
I like crunchy almonds in my chicken salad.
3. Season
Put in a couple of pinches of salt and pepper. Add a few shakes of onion powder and garlic powder.
4. Add sweet relish
Open a bottle of sweet relish and add a few tablespoons.
5. Add grapes
Wash and cut up some red grapes to add to the chicken salad. I cut my grapes thin for chicken salad.
6. Mix
Mix the ingredients well. This made enough chicken salad to fill sandwiches for my family of five.
What to do with a chicken carcass
One rotisserie chicken made dinner for five, a batch of chicken salad for sandwiches for the family, plus a rich, tasty chicken broth with tons of nutrients. The broth will look totally different than the stuff you buy in the store.
That’s how you turn a rotisserie chicken into many things. Let me know if you do anything else with your rotisserie chicken by leaving comments below!
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I do this all the time, except for canning the broth, I freeze it by putting the cooled broth in a quart freezer bag and then freeze them stacked flat.
Excellent article! I do something similar with Costco chickens, we always have 2 or 3 in the refrigerator for sandwiches and snacks, once they have been depleted of meat I boil the bones and make chicken soup, like you say there is still a lot of meat left on those bones, remove the bones, put in veggies and there you have it, chicken soup! Easy, peasy and cost effective.