Debone Your Rotisserie Chicken With A Simple Plastic Bag Hack
You probably fought tooth and nail at Costco to get that fresh rotisserie chicken, so you want to make sure you get every morsel of that juicy meat and crispy skin off the bones. Let's be honest, we've all hacked off random pieces for some late-night snacking, but it's not the most efficient or cleanest way to get the most out of your bird. As TikToker @katierreames demonstrates, a plastic bag is all you need to debone a whole chicken in minutes, mess-free.
@katierreames
For this hack, you will need a resealable plastic bag big enough to fit the entire chicken. Most supermarket rotisserie chickens are between 2.5 to 4.5 pounds, so a gallon-size bag (11 inches by 11 inches) will be sufficient, leaving enough room to seal the bag. However, for larger birds like Costco's $4.99 rotisserie chicken, you will need at least a two-gallon bag (13 inches by 16 inches), or you can debone the chicken in two stages. Once the chicken is sealed in the bag, use your fingers to massage the meat off the bone. Rotisserie chicken is so tender that this process is effortless and quick.
Recipes using rotisserie chicken
Supermarket delis prepare rotisserie chickens every two to four hours, from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. So, the bird you buy on your way home is likely freshly made. Ready-to-eat meals like these are often cheaper than purchasing an uncooked chicken and roasting it yourself, not to mention the convenience factor.
While the golden brown skin is an umami flavor bomb and shouldn't be thrown away, you may not want it in every recipe. To avoid picking pieces out of the shredded meat, we recommend peeling the skin off before using this hack to debone the chicken. Consider it a snacking reward for all your hard work.
Shredded rotisserie chicken can be used in countless dishes with no additional cooking needed. You can chop raw vegetables and create a hearty dinner salad or combine the chicken with mayonnaise for a flavorful cold chicken salad. You'll never go back to poaching chicken after having chicken salad like this. Mix shredded chicken with your favorite barbecue sauce to prepare pulled chicken sandwiches, or add it to corn tortillas as a base for chicken tacos.
Rotisserie chicken is a wonderful shortcut for preparing chicken soup recipes that taste like they've been simmering all day. Use the shredded meat in pot pies, pasta dishes, or sandwich it with shredded cheese for an afternoon quesadilla. You can even place it in a waffle iron to make "chaffles," a low-carb alternative to bread.
Don't throw out the bones
After you've cleaned the meat off the rotisserie chicken's bones, don't throw away the carcass. The chicken still has plenty to offer. You can use it to make delicious soups, stocks, or nutrient-rich bone broth to sip.
To make chicken stock, add the bones to a large pot and cover it with about six quarts of water. You can flavor the stock with aromatic vegetables like onions, carrots, and celery, but there's no need to peel or dice them since they'll be strained out later. Simply cut the onion in half and the other veggies into a few chunks. Toss in some whole black peppercorns, bay leaves, and sprigs of your favorite herbs for an intensely flavorful base for soups, risotto, and sauces. Homemade chicken stock is not only an impressive thing to check off your to-do list, but it doesn't contain any additives or excess sodium, so the flavor will shine in your future dishes.
Save it for later
If you don't have the time to prepare the stock immediately, store the bones in the freezer until you have six hours to simmer the ingredients. To reduce kitchen waste (and earn your recycling badge), place herb stems and the peels and scraps from preparing veggies for salads and other recipes in the bag too. The components can safely stay in the freezer indefinitely until you have enough ingredients. With the price of groceries nowadays, saving every scrap is more important than ever.
To use the stock in a broader range of recipes, freeze it in smaller, one-cup portions. If you already have large ice cube molds for your after-dinner whiskey, you can use them for this savory application. This way, you can have homemade stock in a variety of recipes without needing to defrost the entire batch. For the best taste, use the frozen stock within two to three months.