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 impart additional flavor, nutrients, and collagen to rice as it cooks. After straining and removing bones from your homemade stock, simply toss the carcass back into the pot with rice, broth or water, and any other seasonings. The bones will infuse the rice with extra chicken essence. Just remember to remove the bones before serving the finished rice.

Make Bone Broth Dog Food

After you make stock from the chicken bones and extract all the goodness, your dog will love snacking on them. There are still a lot of good fats, proteins, and minerals in the bones. To make the bones safer for dogs to eat, lightly boil or bake them. Then, serve them whole, ground, or mixed into homemade dog food. Always supervise your pet while eating bones to prevent choking.

Fertilize the Garden

Chicken bones are a great way to feed plants in your garden because they have calcium, phosphorous, and other nutrients that plants need. Bury whole bodies or broken bones a few inches below the ground around your flowers, trees, vegetables, or other plants. The bones will add to the soil’s fertility over time. When putting bones directly on plant bases, be careful not to damage the roots or attract animals that aren’t wanted.

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

Don’t toss the bones after straining your initial batch of stock. Use them to make richly flavored sauces, gravies, or pan drippings for another meal. Place the carcass in a pan with cooking juices or water. Simmer and scrape off any browned bits stuck to the bones. Blend the concentrated liquid with cornstarch, herbs, or wine reductions to create flavorful gravies and sauces for chicken, pork, beef or vegetables.

Crafts and Decor

Chicken bones and carcasses can become ornamental objects to decorate your home or garden. Clean and bleach bones to create carved figurines, wind chimes, candle holders or plant stands. Or submerge small bones in clear resin to make unique jewelry coasters, or knick knacks. Paint larger bones bright colors and glue together to form letters, shapes, or sculptures.

Compost It

After making stock, bones and other food scraps can be put in a compost pile or bin. Crushed eggshells and ground bones add valuable calcium. The bones break down more slowly when they are whole, so cut them up first. To keep rodents from coming into open compost bins, bury the bones under the plant matter instead of leaving them out in the open.

Natural Dye for Fabrics or Easter Eggs

The cartilage and marrow in bones contain pigments that can dye fabrics, yarn, and Easter eggs. To make bone broth dyes, simmer the bare bones in water with a bit of vinegar for an hour. Strain and allow the liquid to cool. Soak fabric, yarn, or hard boiled eggs in the broth overnight or longer for pale pastel hues. Trying adding carrot, beet, or spinach scraps to the broth for more vibrant colors.

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.

By cooking a whole chicken and turning the carcass into stock, the meat can be used for more than one healthy meal. After making the stock, shred any chicken bones that are left over 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. Because they can be used for so many things, there’s no reason to throw away the chicken bones after making homemade stock. With a little creativity, you can use every part of the bird, waste less, save money, and feel good about it.