Dressing a chicken also known as butchering or preparing a chicken, is the process of getting the chicken ready to cook by removing the feathers organs and other inedible parts. While it may seem daunting, dressing a chicken is a useful skill that allows you to have more control over the quality of your ingredients. With the right techniques, tools and safety precautions, dressing a chicken can be easy to learn.
In this comprehensive guide we’ll walk through the step-by-step process of dressing a chicken as well as answer some frequently asked questions. Let’s get started!
What You’ll Need
Before you get started, make sure you have the following equipment:
- A sharp knife or poultry shears for cutting
- A large cutting board
- A clean workspace like a countertop or table
- A bowl or tray for collecting the organs
- Plastic gloves for food safety
- Paper towels for cleaning up
- A garbage bag or bin for waste
- Ingredients like herbs or lemons to dress the cavity
Step 1: Prepare the Chicken
Start by removing your chicken from the refrigerator and letting it sit at room temperature for 15-30 minutes before dressing. This makes the chicken easier to handle.
Give the chicken a rinse under cool water and pat dry with paper towels. Remove any giblets or parts from inside the cavity. Discard the liver if it has any green spots, which indicates spoilage.
Step 2: Remove Excess Fat and Feathers
Use your hands or poultry shears to pluck any large feathers, quills or hairs. Pay attention to the wings, neck, cavity opening and areas around the legs. Remove any excess fat deposits around the chicken.
Step 3: Cut Off Feet
Bend one leg away from the body to pop and dislocate the joint. Place your knife between the joint and cut through the tendons and flesh to remove the feet. Repeat on the other leg. The feet can be saved for making chicken stock if desired.
Step 4: Make a Small Incision
Turn the chicken breast-side up and use a sharp knife to make a shallow 2-3 inch cut along the belly of the chicken, between the legs and just below the breastbone. Be careful not to cut too deeply.
Step 5: Remove the Organ Meats
Reach into the incision with your fingers to scoop out the organs and membranes. For whole birds, you’ll need to remove:
- Heart
- Lungs
- Gizzard
- Liver
- Gallbladder
Place the organ meats into your prepared bowl or tray. Inspect them and set aside any you wish to consume like the heart and liver.
Step 6: Rinse Under Cool Water
Rinse the body cavity well under cold running water. Double check for any remaining membranes or organs. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels when done washing.
Step 7: Prepare the Cavity (Optional)
You can add flavor to the chicken by placing aromatic ingredients inside the cavity before cooking. Try herbs like thyme, lemon wedges, garlic or shallots. Trussing the legs with twine will give the chicken a plump, uniform shape.
Step 8: Chill and Cook
Place the dressed chicken in the refrigerator until fully chilled, for at least 4 hours. Cook within 2 days, or freeze for later use for up to 9 months.
And that’s it! With these simple steps you’ll have a cleanly dressed chicken ready for any recipe. Now onto some common questions:
FAQ About Dressing Chickens
What’s the best way to remove the feathers?
You have two options to loosen the feathers for easy plucking:
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Dry plucking: Pluck the feathers by hand without scalding. Takes more time but preserves the skin.
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Wet plucking: Dip in 160°F water for 30-90 seconds to loosen feathers. Faster but can damage skin.
Do I need to remove the head and feet?
Removing the head and feet is optional. Leaving them on preserves flavor. Be sure to thoroughly wash legs, wings and neck.
Can I save the chicken fat and organs?
Yes! Reserve the fat from the cavity to render for cooking. The heart, gizzard and liver can all be cooked and eaten.
What if my chicken has bruises or tears?
Discard any bruised flesh and rinse thoroughly if the chicken has any tears or holes. Use within 1-2 days.
How long does a dressed chicken last in the fridge?
A properly dressed chicken will last 2 days in the fridge and 9-12 months frozen. Monitor for spoilage and rancid odors.
What’s the safest method for dressing poultry?
Always dress poultry on a clean surface away from produce and ready-to-eat foods. Avoid cross-contamination by washing hands, knives, and surfaces after.
Can I freeze a dressed raw chicken?
Yes, dress chicken as normal and then wrap tightly to freeze. It’ll keep for 9-12 months frozen. Defrost fully before cooking.
Dressing your own chicken may seem like a messy process, but with the proper tools and some practice it quickly becomes an easy kitchen skill. By dressing your chicken at home, you’ll have total control over the freshness and quality of the meat.
Things you will need
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- A sharp knife, axe, meat cleaver, or machete for cutting off the head.
- Rope. Cut 3 or 4 pieces of ¼-inch rope 12 to 18 inches long. One is to tie the chicken’s legs together tightly before you cut the head off; otherwise you will have a headless chicken running about the yard. The other is to tie the chicken’s legs onto your hook on a tree or cart.
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Figure 2. Front view showing where the cuts are made and how the skin is peeled away- A bowl. I use a stainless steel one but any large bowl or panwill do. Put your chicken in it once you cut it away from the carcass.
- A large bowl of water. Again I use a stainless steel one. It’s to keep my hands and knife clean while skinning the chickens.
- I use two sawhorses for a table base, over which I placed a sheet of ¾-inch plywood 24 x 48 inches. If you have a small folding table you could use it.
- A clean sheet of plastic or butcher’s paper big enough to cover your work table top. Tape it on or tuck it under the table top.
- I use my trusty cart, setting it up on end. The handle bar is just the right height for me to hang the chickens from and skin. I put a concrete block in it while I’m pulling the skin downward so the cart will not fall on me.
- A garden hose is handy to clean your knives and to pre-clean the chicken of any dirt or feathers before they are taken into the house for final cleaning and freezing preparation.
- A large black garbage bag with two twist ties that hold the garbage bag on the cart. Cut the garbage bag two-thirds of the way down so that anything you cut off while skinning, such as the feathers and carcass, goes into the bag (Figure 1).
Now you are ready to butcher and skin the chicken.
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Figure 3. A view showing how to cut away the mini-wing drumstickTie the chicken’s legs together and cut off its head. Then hang the chicken up by its legs (see Figure 2) with the breast of the chicken facing you. Make the first cut around the yellow part of the leg joint only deep enough to separate the skin, but not deep enough to cut the leg tendon.
Cut and pull down the skin from the leg, cutting just deep enough that the skin will come loose from around the meat. Pull the skin of the chicken down laterally to each side, all the time cutting away the other skin to reveal the leg meat that you will cut off later.
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Figure 4. The skinned carcass, ready for you to take the meatContinue to cut and pull the skin all the way down and backwards around the upper thigh. Continue to cut and pull the skin down around the breast and cut the wing loose at the first joint of the wing (Figure 3). Some people may want to continue to clean and cut around the feathers of the wing for the small tip of the wing bones, but for me there is so little meat it is not worth it.
It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3
Now we are ready to strip the skinned carcass (Figure 4).
First, cut the wings, or mini-drumsticks, off at the joint near the breast. By forcing them backwards and cutting as close to the breast and joint as possible, you will expose the wing joint and you can cut through and around it.
Next, cut the breast out. Lay your knife at an angle, starting the cut as close to the breastbone as possible.
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Figure 5. Side view showing where to cut the meatTake your knife and stay close to the rib cage while cutting downward and backward in an arcing direction as shown in Figure 5. Repeat the process on the other breast.
You are ready to claim the legs and thighs all in one piece. If you want to separate them later you can do so. Go up to the ankle joint at about ¾ to 1 inch above the “leggin’s” (that’s what I call the scaly yellow part above the feet on the chicken), and cut through and around the joint so that each leggin’ and foot falls free. While holding the drumstick and thigh in the left hand, take your right hand and hold the carcass while at the same time pushing the thigh and drumstick backwards. This is like opening a set of French doors. You will both see and hear the thigh joint pop loose from the hip joint. Cut as close to the round point as possible (Figure 5).
To separate the thigh from the carcass, make the next and final cut at the back upper part of the thigh, just about 1½ to 2 inches next to the anus. You now have a complete thigh and drumstick.
Some folks might say that you are not getting all the meat, that you are leaving the two small bony pieces on the wing tip, the two little scraps of meat on the backbone, the liver, and the neck. I say if you like those parts, go for it.
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Figure 6. The results of a freshly skinned and butchered chicken.