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Make no mistake about it, learning how to bone a whole chicken is not for the faint hearted, and your first attempt will probably take forever and end up not looking remotely like a chicken, even if it still “tastes like chicken”. However, if you do learn to bone a whole chicken it will give you a real sense of pride and achievement, you can impress your friends and tackle a whole lot more chicken recipes . . . the ones for boned chicken . . . rolling and stuffing is popular for these types of recipes.

Boning A Chicken

I’m not sure whether that sounds quite right, but you know what I mean don’t you? Right, step by step instructions for boning a chicken . . . watch your fingers!

1. Take out any giblet packs, organs or fatty bits.
2. Rinse your bony chicken under cold water . . . and keep on rinsing until the cold water runs clear.
3. Dry your bony chicken with kitchen paper . . . don’t forget the inside of the cavity.
4. Put your chicken onto your cutting board with the breast facing upwards (that’s the easy parts over), now . . .
5. Lift up the neck skin and find the wishbone, cut it out with a small sharp knife (watch your fingers) and cut away the skin from around it, then pull it out. Put it somewhere safe for when the kids get home from school.
6. Turn the chicken over so the breast is facing downwards, and with your sharp knife cut a slit all the way from its neck to its tail . . . the backbone should now be exposed. Separate the backbone from the meat cutting and scraping. the entire left side.
7. Cut through the left side leg and wing joints, cutting down and moving the meat away from the breast. Rinse and repeat these steps on the right hand side. (I don’t mean rinse the chicken again, it’s just a little thing I say sometimes, “rinse and repeat” . . . like the instructions on a shampoo bottle).
8. Carefully lift up your chicken and cut as closely to the breastbone ridge as you can until it is free. Take care not to split or pierce the skin which covers the breastbone.
9. Chop off the wings at the joints, but leave the upper bones. Scrape off the meat and take the bone out.
10. Now you can deal with the drumsticks, carefully cutting the skin at the end until the bone is exposed, then cutting the meat from the bone.
11. Now do the same with the chicken thigh.

And that’s all there is to it. That’s taken me a few minutes to explain, and it’ll probably take you hours to achieve . . . ha ha, it does get easier with practice!

Top Tips – don’t forget to save the bones to make chicken stock for lovely, delicious soup. Oh, maybe I’ll do some chicken stock soup recipes soon. Anyway, to make the stock just boil up the bones in a big saucepan of water and throw in some veggies of your choice . . . onions, carrots, celery, bay leafs, lots of seasoning  and herbs. Boil for ages and then remove the bones and save the stock for future delicious recipes.

You need a very sharp knife to successfully bone a whole chicken . . . I know I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again . . . watch your fingers!

Don’t forget to give your cutting board, knife and hands a good scrubbing both before and after you’ve dealt with your chicken.

Right, let’s see how other people do it . . . bone a chicken that is!

And how quick and easy it is after a bit of practice . . .