What To Do With Chicken Carcass After Making Stock – Use Every Part Of The Bird

Cooking a whole chicken and making your own stock from the carcass is one of the most economical, sustainable ways to get the most out of your grocery dollars. A whole chicken can provide several meals, from the initial roasted bird, to leftovers, soup, and finally nourishing bone broth made from the carcass. But what do you do once you’ve extracted every last bit of flavor from the bones to make stock? Here are some of the best ways to use up the leftover chicken carcass after stock.

Make Chicken Salad or Spread

After removing the meat from the carcass to make your homemade stock, don’t discard the bits of leftover meat still clinging to the bones. Pick off any remaining chicken pieces and chop or shred them. Combine with mayonnaise, salt, pepper, celery, onion, relish, or any other additions you enjoy to make chicken salad. Serve between slices of bread or wrapped in lettuce leaves for a tasty light lunch. Alternatively, blend the shredded chicken with cream cheese, lemon juice, herbs, and seasonings for a flavorful chicken spread perfect for sandwiches, crackers, or vegetables.

Enhance the Flavor of Rice

Chicken bones can add flavor, nutrients, and collagen to rice while it’s cooking. When you’re done straining and taking out the bones from your homemade stock, just add the carcass back to the pot with the rice, broth or water, and any other spices you want. The bones will infuse the rice with extra chicken essence. Just remember to take out the bones before you serve the rice.

Make Bone Broth Dog Food

Your canine companion will love snacking on the chicken bones after you’ve extracted all the goodness into your stock. The bones still contain plenty of healthy fats, protein, and minerals. Lightly boil or bake the bones to make them safer for dogs to consume, then serve them whole, ground, or blended into homemade dog food. Always supervise your pet while eating bones to prevent choking.

Fertilize the Garden

Chicken bones make excellent fertilizer for plants in your garden They contain calcium, phosphorous, and other nutrients plants need. Bury whole carcasses or crushed bones a few inches below the soil around your vegetable plants, flowers, or trees As the bones break down over time, they will enrich the surrounding earth. Use caution when applying bones directly to plant bases to avoid damaging roots or attracting unwanted scavengers.

Make Bone Broth Soup

Even after using the carcass to make stock, you can extract a bit more flavor by adding vegetables, herbs, and spices then simmering the bones again. Try adding a roughly chopped onion, carrots, celery, garlic, peppercorns, bay leaf, parsley, and apple cider vinegar. Simmer for at least 2 hours and strain to yield a second batch of nourishing bone broth soup loaded with vitamins and minerals. Drink the revitalizing soup on its own or use as the base for another batch of soup.

Simmer into Sauces or Gravy

After straining your first batch of stock, don’t throw away the bones. You can use them to make sauces, gravies, or pan drippings with lots of flavor for another meal. Put the body in a pan with water or cooking juices. While it’s cooking, scrape off any browned bits that are stuck to the bones. Mix the strong liquid with cornstarch, herbs, or wine reductions to make tasty gravies and sauces for beef, pork, chicken, or vegetables.

Crafts and Decor

You can use chicken bones and carcasses as decorations in your home or garden. To make carved figurines, wind chimes, candle holders, or plant stands, clean and bleach bones. Or, put small bones in clear resin to make jewelry coasters or other unique items. Paint the bigger bones bright colors and then glue them together to make sculptures, letters, or shapes.

Compost It

Like most food scraps, leftover bones can be added to a compost pile or bin after making stock. Crushed eggshells and ground bones add valuable calcium. Whole bones break down more slowly, so chop or break them into smaller pieces first. Make sure to bury the bones under plant matter instead of leaving them exposed on top, to avoid attracting rodents to open compost bins.

Natural Dye for Fabrics or Easter Eggs

Bones’ cartilage and marrow have dyes that can be used to color clothes, yarn, and Easter eggs. Put the bones in water with a little vinegar and let them cook for an hour. This will make bone broth dyes. Strain and allow the liquid to cool. For soft pastel colors, soak fabric, yarn, or hard-boiled eggs in the broth overnight or for longer. For more vivid colors, try adding scraps of carrot, beet, or spinach to the broth.

Create Bone Meal Fertilizer

For a more concentrated nutritional boost, bake and grind the bones into fine bone meal powder after making your stock Spread bone meal around plants or till into soil and gardens The calcium and phosphorus will encourage blooming and fruiting for healthy plants. You can also add bone meal to compost or use as a gentle abrasive scrub for pots and pans.

Donate to Science or Education

Many local schools, universities, nature centers, or raptor rehabilitation programs accept donated bones for educational purposes. Call around to find an organization that takes clean, dried bones. Students can study bone structure and use owl pellets for lessons on food chains and ecosystems. Always call ahead before donating bones from home kitchens, since some may only accept bones sourced from licensed suppliers.

Trash It

As a last resort, you can simply send picked-clean bones and carcasses to the landfill. However, this wastes an opportunity to repurpose the nutritional components and misses a chance to reduce kitchen waste. If absolutely necessary, at minimum try to compost what you can first. With a bit of creativity, you can find a beneficial way to utilize every last bit of nutrients left in the chicken bones after making stock.

Cooking an entire chicken and transforming the carcass into stock makes the meat stretch for multiple nutritious meals. Follow up your stock by shredding any leftover chicken on the bones for chicken salad or gravy. Give the stripped carcass to your dog or cat. Fertilize your garden with the bones. Make a second batch of broth or soup. Craft decorations, compost, or donate. With so many possibilities, there’s no reason to simply throw away the chicken bones after making homemade stock. A little innovation helps you reduce waste, save money, and feel good about using every part of the bird.