Chicken feet. The feets of the chicken. Boys and girls, that's what we're talking about today.
Now, don’t go gettin’ all grossed out. Y’all are familiar with our ideals for our farm. Nothing gets wasted.
And why on Earth Americans wasted these wonderful morsels is beyond me. We’ll eat fast food but we won’t simmer chicken feet for stock? Fu-get-about-it.
Why You Should Be Eating Chicken Feet
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Because your body needs lots of vitamins, minerals, collagen, and calcium. That's why.
Most of us are familiar with the health benefits of homemade bone broth. Truly, as a real food enthusiast, I cannot stress the importance of drinking bone broth enough. It should be everyone’s ‘bread and butter’. A staple. A companion that lives long by your side. “In most every culture throughout history has used bone broth for its nutritional significance, versatility and overall deliciousness. Chinese medicine practitioners use bone broth to strengthen the kidney, support digestive systems and build blood. The term“Jewish penicillin” is used for chicken soup, known to inhibit cell inflammation and mitigate cold symptoms. And the English sip beef tea, or beef broth, used since the Victorian era.”
Bone broth has been known for centuries to aid in joint health, immunity, gut health, and more. Nutrients are pulled from the bones and cartilage, slowly swirling into a liquid gold – rich in vitamins, minerals, and feel good-ness.
Yes, feel good-ness is a technical medical term. I looked it up…
Bone marrow carries oxygen to our to our cells. Collagen builds the cells in our brains and bones. It rebuilds damaged cells in our intestines.
It is, truly, natural’s super-supplement.
Adding chicken feet to that pot ‘o stock ups the anty. Chicken foot stock is like stock on steroids. Chicken feet are comprised of entirely bones, tendons, and cartilage. Gross, right?
Wrong.
I mean, sure, yes – gross. But what our bodies can pull from those feet nutritionally is pure magic. Nutrients dance like sugar plums in our bowls. If you want to heal yourself from the outside in, start with chicken foot bone broth.
How To Peel Chicken Feet
We peel chicken feet for a couple of reasons. First, the chickens (naturally) get poo on their feet. We don’t want poo in our stock. And thus, we peel. Second, the skin can tend to give the stock a bit of an ‘off’ taste. Being a minimalist, I tried to skip this step a few times until I realized that it really does create a funky taste in the stock if we leave too much of the skin on. And thus, we peel some more.
Because we raise our own meat chickens here on the farm, twice per year, we’re left with chicken feet. At butchering, I simply throw them into a plastic bag and freeze them. Each week, I pull a small handful of feet from the bag and prepare them to be utilized in my weekly stock pot. Preparation is easy, albeight a bit grizzly. Here’s how I peel my chicken feet. (Also, just to make sure you didn't miss it: I boiled this process down and put it on a one-page recipe card for readers of this post. Get that Recipe Card here.)
1. Place the chicken feet into a pot. Add enough filtered water to cover them (if a few toes are stickin’ out, that’s fine.)
2. Put the pot on the stove and bring to a low simmer. Simmer the feet for 10 minutes.
3. After simmering, quickly move the pot over to your kitchen sink and run cold water onto the feet. Keep running the water for a few minutes, allowing the feet to ‘blanch’ in a way.
4. Drain the water and move the pot of feet over to your counter. Using your fingers (the best tools ever created!) begin to peel away the skin. It’s a bit slippery – but that’s okay. Just dig in there and go for it. I find that a twist and pull method seems to work best on the toes. Some people leave the toes on. Some clip them off. Do what you wish.
Personally, I’m a toes on kinda gal. Mostly because I’m lazy. I’m also not a perfectionist when it comes to this task. I don’t mind a few bits here and there.
As you can tell.
These feet can be simmered alone with a tablespoon of vinegar, a chopped onion, a few stocks of celery, and a few carrot sticks to make a beautiful chicken foot stock.
When I run out of chicken feet, it’s a sad day on the farm. Girlfriend's gotta protect herself from such heartache.
And thus, ration we must.
I’m sorry for saying ‘and thus’ so many times in this post. It just seems so fitting.
And thus, I say it.
See what I mean? Wait, what were we talking about? Chicken feet? Ah, yes.
Chicken feet are widely available – from your grocery store, to a butcher, to your local chicken farmer. Finding a source should be fairly easy. I recommend you keep some in your freezer at all time! When sickness creeps in, stick a few extra into your stock pot or into your chicken soup. Your body will love you for it.
I don’t want to hear that you think they’re gross. They’re a rich form of nutrients that is widely underutilized and wasted. And, if you remember this post (Eww! You eat WHAT?!) you’ll know how I feel about it all anyway.
Wishing you many happy days filled with chicken feet.
And Amen.
We peel our chicken feet at the same time we process our birds. The key is to use shackles when scalding so that you can dunk the feet completely under water when you scald the rest of the chicken. After 45-50 seconds at 150 degrees, I grasp firmly at the knee joint and make a swift motion towards the feet and all the outer skin should just slip right off. Sometimes the outer layer of toenail will come off too, but if it doesn’t just grasp the nail and bend backwards towards the top of the foot and it’ll pop right off. Also, if you ever end up with too many feet that won’t get used for stock before next processing season comes around, dry them in the dehydrator and they make great all-natural dog treats. Since the bones aren’t cooked, they are totally safe for dogs.
glad you posted this. I use the same scalding water from processing and clean them right away. This scalding time is too long IMO and the feet have started to cook in the contaminated water.
If you raise, scald for plucking, here is something I was taught by a elderly farm girl.
When you scaled your chickens, scald the feet also. This will loose an outer skin (the part that walks in everything you don’t want to eat) that can be peeled away from the feet, leaving a pristine, perfectly clean edible skin. Just rinse before cooking and go for it.
All the nutritional benefits of chicken you talk about here, exists in the skin as well. Nothing gross about that. 😊
Hi I have had several goes at making chicken bone broth, got a free bag of chicken bones from local butcher, but never gelled. Then realised it was due to the bones being only breast parts… After some research I decided to try chicken drumsticks good free range plus 10 chicken feet thickest gel ever whoopee.. That was yesterday’s batch and today reusing leg and feet from yesterday but adding another batch of feet about 10. Had my first cup of broth this morning but not sure I’m consuming it right way? I just scoop out the gel about 3 tablespoons and add boiling water.. Is this OK? Also I read not to add potatoes if using veg.. And I just trim of nails and any dark spots from feet leave skin on.. Do I have to cut off nails?… Now I’m off to your recipe site. Thanks so much 😊
If you have gone to the trouble of making it, just drink it . I’ll put about 1 cup of that gelatinous goodness in a microwaveable mug & nuke it for about 1 min. 30 sec. I’ll add a shake of salt because I don’t add salt when simmering. Pure gold goodness. No need to cut with more water!
the process you detailed is a tedious one over here in Nigeria just deep the feet in hot water and drag the feet with the other hand and watch as it pull off easily
These are expensive — $2.49 a pound — by me. I like making bone broth because my bones are free. We eat a lot of chicken and beef, so lots of bones. But my broth doesn’t always gel. Probably not enough cartilage. Still tastes great. So if I am making a gallon of broth how few feet can I add to get a gel boost? Would 4 or 5 turn a gallon of thick broth into gelatinized broth? I am trying to get good bang for my buck because I drink 3 pints a day.
Lucky you. The local organic farm here is charging $5 a pound
After you peel the skin off she say to simmer again but she did not say for how long to make the stock?
Doesn’t dehydration cook them? Any bones cooked aren’t safe for dogs.
Dehydration does cook them due to the heat required.
What does cooking bones do to make them harmful to dogs? Just curious, because I would really like to be able to utilize those leftovers for my pups but obviously don’t want to if harmful.
Cooking poultry bones can cause them to splinter when dogs eat them.
Bring it on Shaye! Besides collagen supplements are expensive, and chicken feet are not. (the less glamorous side of ‘anti-aging’, lol)
We lived in China for several years. They eat pretty much every part of any animal (except chicken breast. They feed those to the dog. “No flavor”). They sold chicken feet and neck in little packages at the grocery checkout line, like we would have candy bar in the US. True story. Man, I miss that place.
Goodness yes! I got to go to Hong Kong when I was eleven, and eat chicken feet. Quite the experience, but it was tasty!
????
I am trying first time to make chicken broth, using drumsticks, I added carrots, celery, garlic, parsley, I do not know for how long do I have to cook, my son said 4 hours, I think he is wrong, do I have to throw away the vegetables and keep just the chicken broth? I do not want it, cost money. I appreciate if you respond to my questions. Thank you
If you WANT to eat the vegetables, you may, there’s no rule against it and they certainly won’t hurt you. They’re usually pretty bland after being boiled so long, though – after all, the whole point is to release the flavor into the broth.
Four hours is not unreasonable, but it’s longer than necessary in my opinion. Simmering for an hour or two is probably enough. Or, why not experiment: taste your broth after an hour, then taste it again after two. If you think it’s better at the second taste, maybe see what a third hour will do for it? Then you’ll know for sure!
When I make bone broth I would usually cook it for a day or two if on the stove, or two hours in my instant pot. The only thing I add to my chicken feet bone broth is water, sometimes salt, and 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. You can add vegetables for other flavors, but I think it’s great on its own! You can add veggies in later to make a soup and nothing gets wasted 🙂
Sonja I do 60 minutes in my IP put the broth in quart jars. Add more water to the chicken parts and legs to the IP, cook another 60 minutes and put into quart jars. (No vegetables) because I mix it with my dogs food and I use it in our foods. I also use the kitchen aid sausage grinder? Grind up all the bones and meat, add rice and broth to the mix and I feed my dogs 1 Tablespoon in their TOW dog food. They love it.
I wonder if Witches were actually just on to something when they cooked chicken feet in Their crock pots and people just thought it worked like magic potion
Science has proven that chicken stock made with the bones and feet shortens their r “cures” the common cold.
I just eat the gel cold.Or heat just the gel slowly in a pot. Or, do it your way.
We butchered chickens with a neighbor. She got the fat from the chickens and cooked it down and put it in Mason jars for cooking and baking. I got the feet for stock and it was the most delicious ever! Why the heck not? I’m sure the stock you pay $4 for at the store has chicken feet in it. I think of it every time I crack open an almost free Mason jar of pressure canned stock from my pantry!
How long do you process your broth.
Did you ever get an answer on this? I’m getting the necks, gizzards, heart, livers and feet of some pastured chickens fairly soon.
We simmer our bone broth for 10 or more hours. From what I have read 8 hours is like the minimum to really get the benefits of the bones goodness. We also make about 4 gallons of broth at a time (its a really big pot)
I just read several articles by Functional medicine doctors and they recommend 24 to 36 hours in a crock pot barely simmering. They also said not to boil.
I’m an old hand at bone broth… but I’ve never tried using chicken feet. Adding to the list of things to try in 2015!
How was your chicken feet stock?
Ok, I didn’t know this. I love making stock and I don’t raise chickens. Not sure where I’d get these but I’m gonna hang on to the idea. You’re very wise in you use of the whole thing. Enjoy your blog even though I’m a city dweller. You go girl!
wallmart sells them, albertsons sell them , winco sells them. easy to find
Yes WalMart sells them (I got some in Sept 2019)
If your regular supermarket doesn’t carry chicken feet, try an ethnic market – I was in two Asian grocery stores and a Mexican Grocery this last week and they all had chicken feet – and the price was good.
Go to just about any oriental grocery store and they have chicken feet.
Good luck!
Can I reuse the chicken feet. I put them in the instant pot with thinly sliced red onions. I wanted a lightly flavored broth for soup. But I am wondering now if I could do this a second time? Are they reusable? Thanks so much if anyone knows and answers. Thanks for the really informative article.
I have to admit that the toenails really creep me out, but I use the feet anyway of course! Thanks for the tips on peeling them! I wasn’t super pleased with the method I had tried before.
Its very important to cut off the entire toenail section. Their needs to be a HOLE OPENING for the collagen gelatin stuff to come out of the chicken foot.
If you don’t cut off the toes at the claw it down at matter how long you boil it simmer the stuff it won’t release the collagen gelatin from the feet
There is no meat on chicken feet but just a thick skin and tendons and bones. Chicken skin is mostly made from collagen.
The first time I made this I did not cut off the toes. After first roasting the feet to improve flavor then I simmered the stock several hours but NO gelatin. Then I researched online and learned how important it is to cut off the inch around the toes.
Then U simmered the stock a second time and HUGE difference with plenty of gelatin rich stock
The best chicken stock I ever made was with the feet and gizzards included. It had so much more flavour than my usual stock which just uses the leftover carcass. Trouble is I left the feet in a pot overnight to dispose of in the morning. Then woke up dopey, removed the lid wondering what was in the pot on the bench…… It gave me such a fright!!
Our local rural grocer carries chicken feet and once witness a young boy begging his Grandmother to buys some. We are in the South so I can bet there are other ways to prepare them, as well. I never knew this could be done with feet! Not the most beautiful thing to look at but I trust it’s worth its weight in gold. Might just have to pick up a package of feet! It would be a comical cooking session in the kitchen, for sure. 🙂
Ahh! I wish I had read this before I made turkey stock with feet! I used the bird and its feet and organs, so hopefully the taste isn’t thrown off by the skin. I have 13 quarts of beautiful stock on my shelf now.
How long will preserved stock keep on the pantry shelf, if never refridgerated?
The feet I get from the butcher are perfectly clean, so I have never peeled them. I don’t notice any “off” taste as you’ve described. I’m not a fan of looking at the creepy toenails, so I am glad this works out 🙂 They do make an incredibly rich broth. Love it!
There is a rough outside covering on the feet, that protects the meat of the chicken feet from dirt and other nasties. Once the feet are scrubbed and the outside covering is removed the meat is perfectly good to eat. The meat had never touched the dirt or poop.
Sipping bone broth now… ‘If a few toes are stickin out that’s fine’ hahahaha! Love it. As always!
Why do you take the skin off? Just wondering. I already make stock with chicken feet but leave the skin on. We get them frozen and they’re well scrubbed. Taking the skin off just seems like a lot of work that I’ll never do.
Other cultures fry them and eat them, sans toenails.
I was raised fighting my brother for the fried chicken feet and the fried heart. Mmmmm good!
It’s the outside covering that is removed, not the inside skin of the feet.
No way, no how. I got ill just looking at the pictures.
Woose!
i need to know about why you remove the skin too! Is it just for better flavor? I get chicken feet from a local farmer and always throw a few into my stockpot but have never peeled them, or messed with the toenails either. I wouldn’t even know how to get the toenails off. They are well scrubbed, simmered for 20 plus hours so no poo bacteria could survive, and strain with cheesecloth in case there is any grit at the bottom of the pot. Please convince me!
Use scissors or a knife and cut the toe nails off below the nails.
Great post thank you!! I haven’t tried this yet so I’m so glad you wrote about this. Do you think it matters if the chickens are conventional or not? I’m trying to find a local source of pastured chickens and it’s really hard. Do you know of a website that
offers pastured chickens or feet?
Thanks so much! I love reading your blog…it’s such sweetness to this city-stuck girl.
Carrie
Where are you located? We have feet in Florida….
Loooking for 25 Lbs/ month.. How much? Kevin My dogs love them after I cook them..
LOVE the chicken feet! I used to be grossed out by them but started using them because of the benefits. After a couple of times using them, they stopped bothering me. My sister has a homestead in VT and the last time I visited, she sent me home with a bag of about 70 or so feet. I was so excited that you would have thought I just got the best Christmas present!
I second Katie’s comment on the feet. I am a city dweller and buy my feet from Wholefoods. I had never heard of taking the skin off and have been making stock every week for the last 2 years to repair my leaky gut. The feet at Wholefoods are scrubbed as well and are cleaner than the ones in your photo. I figure as long as I rinse and rub off any grim with my hands and paper towel the feet afterwards, before putting them in my crock for 24 hours, I am good. I haven’t had any yucky tasting stock and I haven’t gotten sick from any bacteria. I figure all the poop and grim is gone from the scrubbing at Wholefoods and my rinsing and rubbing the feet. Yes, they were gross to cook at first and I would get extremely nauseated when I first started cooking them. I would scream if the toe nails scrapped my hands a certain way, but I know it is for my benefit. No more grossing out here. Thanks for the info and hopefully for answering Katie’s question.
They have probably been peeled already.
Ditto! The original post about removing the ‘outer’ skin was when you dress the chicken and dunk it in hot water to pluck the feathers!!! The ones you buy are ready to cook.
Hi the feet I bought were really clean just rinsed in boiling water and cut off black bits on pads.. After reading posts don’t think I’ll bother trimming nails either.. I’m in UK so seems good gelked chicken bone broth, especially with feet, is pretty new here plus lot people are disgusted by use of feet!
Awesome post! It puts me in mind of the time I got in the truck with my soon-to-be Russian mother-in-law around hog butchering time. I happened to glance in the bucket sitting on the floorboard and had a pig head staring back at me. Good times…..
Seriously, she used it ALL. Some of the parts modern culture throws away are the most nutritive. And you wanna talk gross? Visit a commercial meat processing plant. Almost everybody thinks that’s just fine. If they only knew.
Keep at it Shaye! You inspire me!
So true, when I mentioned to my coworkers that I eat chicken feet, they just gave me a blank, disgusted stare. I told them I bring some to the next potluck…:)
I live in Brooklyn where chicken feet are normal. We have goat feet, cow feet, etc. Salted roasted beef scalps. Seriously, practically every odd piece of animals right there next to London broil. My problem is chicken feet are $2.49 a pound! Whole chickens are often 99 cents a pound and boneless breast $1.99.
I get our chicken from a local farmer once a year and this past year I asked for the feet as well. I must admit that adding them to my stock seemed gross, but I’m hoping that the more I do it the easier itwill it will become!
My husband and I love chicken feet. Stock comes out so yummy and in the summer when there is zucchini, I love to toss in a few baby zuk’s with the blossom still attached a few minutes before turning off the heat…delicious! I also sometimes make braised “Phoenix Claws” which is an Asian inspired recipe.
We love to make and can chicken foot stock! Best stuff out there!
Chicken feet have always grossed me out and I personally never liked the taste of them on their own. However, if you keep chickens and butcher your own then throwing them out is a waste. They make an amazing broth!
This method you are using is NOT the easy way to do this! My grandmother taught me a much simpler, easier, and less wasteful way. We have over a hundred chooks and we use this traditional method all the time. So simple: when you scald the chickens with boiling water to remove the feathers, the feet are still on and so just be sure to scald their feet well. The skin peels off so easily- like a rubber glove and in only a few pieces- clean and white! The other way would be to defrost your chicken feet and then dip them into boiling water for only 10-20 seconds or so with a set of tongs, one after the other. Even the claws shed their outer layer this way- the feet are so clean, and it is so easy and not at all messy! Be sure to cut off any callouses that may have formed on the bottom of the foot pad. Austin
http://permacultureglobal.com/projects/1759-sustainable-environmental-livelihoods-farm-Fiji
Yes, what Austin said. We just butchered 43 chickens the other day and I saved all the feet. I just dip them in hot water on the stove for about 10 seconds, and dip in cold water so you can handle them and the outer yellow skin slips right off. I also use my rose pruners to snip the nails off. Then they are ready and clean for either making Chinese or Korean chicken feet, or for broth.
Yes they have an almost leather like skin which you remove when plucking the chicken after it is scalded. The ones you purchase already have that taken off, underneath it is another skin which is edible you don’t remove that. Grew up on farm, helped slaughter chickens, they are delicious, simmer them in tomato juice, or sauce, with onion, salt, pepper even basil.
Most good Oriental grocery stores carry it as a regular item. Also many other unique items, well worth getting to know your local store.
How long do you cook them? We are doing the GAPS diet, and one of my fellow GAPS-ers said when they added broth from chicken feet, it really added a new dimension to their healing. I just got 80 pounds of organic feet from Azure Standard. That is one ugly sight in my freezer. *Shiver* I’ve had to tell my husband to stay out of the freezer or he will never eat my soup again. I cooked some feet today and only cooked them 2 hours, just like I was boiling a chicken to make meat stock. Do you ever recook the same feet for another batch of broth? I do that when I make bone broth. What do you do with them afterward?
I know people who eat the feet after they are done making broth. I. Just. Can’t.
I give them to my dog 🙂 I usually simmer them for 24 hours while making stock.
Well, I just got on this today, (3-11-2018,) a little late, but I simply asked Google how many bones do Chicken feet have, and this is one site I looked into. I find it amusing with all the comments, as I find so many people who do the “Yuck!!”, “Gross”, episode.
I am country, and we had chicken feet to eat when I grew up. I am not familiar with the Broth, Bone Broth, nor Stock, but I did make a large pot of Chicken Stew last night, where I used a breast, and lots of vegies, Onion, Carrots, Potatoes, (both red and white,) Parsnips, Turnips, Rutabaga, Celery, Chicken feet, (from the store,) and I even chopped up a Lamb Chop I had, and added it. I put in some Johnsone’s, Garlic Salt, Lemon Pepper, Salt, Pepper, and some Pork & Steak seasonings.
I cooked it most of the night, some on low. It tastes great, and I actually counted fifteen bones.
Now, does the cooking it a long time, actually produce the Bone Broth? (I ate the feet along with the rest of it.)
April, out of curiosity…how much is 80lbs of feet? Is it enough to fill a regular sized black garbage bag? Reason I ask is because I recently ordered for the first time ever, 20 lbs of feet from a local farmer and I am unsure how many I may be getting (thinking from a “have to peel them aspect”). Thanks!
We did our first chicken processing EVER today. Your post inspired me to save the feet. Never been so excited to have a bag of chicken feet hanging out in the freezer 🙂
Angi, I did it! For the first time ever in my 30+ years of chicken keeping, I used the feet. Thanks for the awesome photos and instructions. “Thus” I was able to be successful. Just goes to show you’re never done learning on the farm!
I just spent 3 hours peeling the skin off 5 lb. of chicken feet that did NOT come off “like a glove,” (like some people described). The skin seemed “glued” to the flesh. On most of them, I had to rip down to the tendons and such to get the thick layer of skin off. There were a few that peeled more easily. Not sure what I did wrong. I think I’ll try leaving the skin on next time. :-/
Depending on where your chicken feet came from, the skin may have already been removed.
We process chickens, and during the scalding process, the outer, thicker, DIRTY skin of the feet comes loose and
comes right off, along with the outer toenail. UNDER the thick, outer almost armor-like skin of the
chicken’s foot is ANOTHER layer of skin that was protected by the layer we remove. There is also an
UNDER toenail after the tough, outer (dirty!) toenail is removed.
If you’re having to get down to tendons to get the skin off, I’d say the outer layer of dirty skin was
previously removed. With a minute of exposure to scalding water, the outer skin DOES come off
super easily!
Same here with the skin not easily removed…So I asked a few of my chef friends:
Cut off the nails and just throw them in. It will produce a skim that you cam easily skim off.
Same here! Took a really, really long time to remove the skin from a pound of chicken feet last night! Came here for advice, appreciate your post and the responses it elicited.
Great post as usual. I grew up eating chicken feet, we’re entirely too impatient to make broth with them. They’re so delicious. We normally just boil them with a little salt to taste and voila, a meal fit for a king. I don’t know if you’ve tried goat feet? Even more delicious. Oh by the way I’m from Botswana and we definitely don’t waste anything from our animals
I am sitting here wondering, if I cook my chicken feet 24h like the post says, will I be able to eat them afterwards? Because I bought them to eat them and was thinking maybe I could get some broth out of them before eating, ha ha. Maybe I should cook them, eat the meat, then throw the bones back in the pot to get out the extra collagen. I can’t imagine throwing away the feet because everything they have to offer went into the broth, I love my chicken feet way too much!!!!
I have just discovered the benefits of chicken feet and thus….there you see, I do it too…purchased some from my local chicken butcher. I am an apartment dweller so this is my best option. I purchased them on Friday and cooked the first batch yesterday, (Saturday), actually that stock is still happily bubbling away. I went to start a second batch today (Sunday), a dog friendly version without the onion ( I figure if its good for us, it’s just as good for them) and discovered that some of the remaining feet have grey spots on them. Is this a sign of disease? I am reluctant to go any further without some information on this. I have googled madly but as yet , without result. Can you give me any information regarding this please?
We just made an appointment with our butcher for 30 chickens. She said they are not allowed to give us back the feet and are required to throw them away by state law. The only thing I get is the neck, no organs either. Chicken heart has always been my favorite part of the animal too. Makes me think about butchering my own.
Ridiculous.
All the more reason to raise your own chickens 🙂
That’s crazy. I live near Boston and our butcher gives us back the whole chicken. Yes, I have him do the killing. I just can’t. But he gives it back with head and feet still attached.
What state is that?
I’d make a bet the butcher is using your feet and organs for his own pleasure.
I am with Shaye on this, (even if I am late to get here,) and say it is ridiculous. I would have to ask the butcher to show me the law. When I take the meats to a butcher, such as deer, I want even the carcass back, as it was what I used to give my Chickens and dogs to eat.
I don’t think there are any states which have laws against returning the stuff from animals. They belong to the customer.
I have now discovered this nutritious food 🙂
1/2 kg feet, how long in a slow cooker ?
Do you eat the whole foot, e.g. cook for a long time to soften the bones, then eat all and save/drink stock ?
Is it better to keep stock for a day to turn to gel, for better collagen ?
I was just at Walmart Supercenter and saw a lady purchasing a package of chicken Paws at the check out .. I about grossed out.. I’ll never be able to eat chicken again.. I Had to read online what she was gonna do with them and now I know. To each his own.
I read your recipe for beef bone broth. Is chicken bone broth made the same way? Should I ask for “soup bones” along with the feet?
Stumbled on this blog as I was looking up the benefits of chicken feet broth. Your humor really tickled my funny bone. 🙂
We have recently begun buying things from a local farmer and obtained a pastured chicken last week and bought a bag of feet as I read they had tremendous gelatinous broth abilities. I’ve been making beef broth from grass-fed cows and will continue to but I’m not crazy about the taste. So last night I made a whole chicken in my instant pot with vegetables and after we ate that chicken for dinner I picked off all the meat and tossed the carcass back into the pot. Then came the real fun lol. I wish I could post a video here of my husband playing with the feet acting like a dinosaur. It was hysterical. I had read you should blanch them in boiling water and then in ice water to get the skin off easier because it makes the broth funky tasting and then chop off the talons. (It was not easy to peel off in the least) I was gagging and laughing the whole time. Scariest and most disgusting thing I’ve ever done. The yellow skin was so difficult to get off. It looked to me like the skin was really thick like leather and it seems like it might be easier to extract the nutrients with that skin off. So after straining the broth and chilling it overnight and scraping off the fat we had the thickest most gelatinous solid broth I have ever seen. It was truly amazing. I wish I could show you. Liquid gold. So I heated some up with a bit of the leftover chicken today, it is truly the most delicious chicken broth I have ever tasted in my life! So as disgusting as it all was I appreciated the encouragement in the comments above that you get used to it. I’m never going back, it’s chicken feet all the way for us lol! Now I’m just sitting back and waiting for the magic to happen in my body, haha. But those talons….UGH. I’m still shuddering thinking about it. I don’t think I can bring myself to cook those in the broth. Made me think of a large dogs toenails!
Hi,
Thanks for this. I make broth for our dogs all the time and I’m yet to find a broth recipe which i like, so perhaps i’ll try CF.
The feet we have in butchers here in Australia, they’ve taken the skin off already and they look nothing like this.
I’m interested as to how THEY get them ready for the consumer. I was uncertain if they left the skin on or off, then one day while getting some out of the freezer for the dogs, there was a couple which had the skin still attached, but kinda hanging there, so I gently pulled it off. A very thin, yellow layer it was, and attached to it was one of the outer part of the claw. The outer part of the claw that i pulled away was hard and what was left behind, attached to the foot, was a much softer inner claw.
I was surprised to see how much skin you actually took off, when compared to these ones.
Our dogs have all been eating a raw diet since they came to us at 4 weeks. I weaned a little onto raw last year and the boy that we kept is just a super dog! He’s now 15 mths, totally natural rearing, with the exception of one puppy vaccine shot at 10 weeks old and one small worming tablet at the same time. Since then, its been all natural prevention and treating. I run a Facebook group which is growing every day.
Anyway, great post! Be interesting to com ape to what others do.
No toes?!?! So much goodness gets thrown away?!
Ha!
It’s amazing how many people don’t proofread these days.
Alas, I am imperfect 😉
I bought chicken feet at the grocery store..are they already cleaned?
Can you purchase pre-skinned chicken feet? Honestly the skinning and the toenails is my only hesitation.
The ones you buy in a store have been thoroughly cleaned and the tough outer layer of skin has already been removed.
It healed my cracked heels!! I added pig’s feet to my chicken feet soup and i was suprised to see my heels looking normal. I havent even been applying any cream to my heels in months.
So feet healed your feet! LOL!
That actually makes sense. Whatever is in pig feet and chicken is probably the same nutrients as in your feet.
Personally, I’ve noticed my skin is tighter and more plump when I eat chicken feet soup. They are magic.
I just bought 4 pounds of fresh chicken feet that I will use to make a delicious chicken soup tomorrow. 🙂
I grew up in Eastern Europe, where the whole chicken is used for chicken soup, including the organs and feet. The first parts I always picked out for my first soup bowl when the soup was ready were the heart, feet, and head (to eat the delicious brain inside). To this day, I LOVE chicken feet. Now that I live in the US and can buy them by the pound (in my home country you only got the two that came with the whole chicken), I indulge my chicken feet love by using lots and lots of them when I make chicken soup. I can–and do :)– eat 5-6 feet at a time with my bowl of soup. I love the taste of that delicious cartilage!!
So, for anyone who is “afraid” of trying them, don’t be, they’re delicious!
How long do you cook the broth for, I would like to be able to eat the chicken feet along with the soup instead of throwing them away.
Thanks for publishing. I used feet once with high hopes. Indeed, the broth tasted funky. Now I know why. Thanks again! Now, I will Eat More Feet. 🙂
My mom is taking the skin off by charring the feet on open flame (you just need a gas stove, no grill or outside fire). Surely it takes longer than boiling, as you have to do it one by one, but it’s bullet proof. No meat/cartilage gets wasted and no skin is left on the feet. It also take care of the slippery part. Plus, the feet get a distinct flavor from charring, that can’t be brought in by ant spices.
Bahaha! I thoroughly enjoyed being edumacated right there 🙂 Shaye is it? Thank you very much. Say, do you peeps ever need a happy labourer at the Homestead?
Thought I might weigh in on my first use of an instant pot to get the yellow skin off my feet. IT WORKED GREAT! I put the feet on the steamer rack added the cup of water and used the poultry function on my Corsori brand instant pot. Set timer down to 5 minutes and used natural release this time. They peeled grandly, even the outer covering of the toenail came right off. My feet are from our own butchering and I had scrubbed them a bit before freezing them in gallon bags in a quantity that would fit in my instant pot. I put them frozen into the IP. Now that they are cleaned, I used a few in a broth batch and am refreezing the others on a big sheet so they will be individual in the freezer bag and I can grab a handful whenever I want .
Thank you!
So could someone please clarify: I am just starting to buy chicken feet and have made bone broth (delicious!) three times. The first time, I thought i had to remove the layer of skin and followed all instructions for scalding but it was almost impossible to remove the skin. Very labour intensive. I then realized that i was buying them wth the yellow layer already removed. (I didn’t know about the outer layer.) i had removed the last layer down to the tendons and it took me a long time. If the last layer of skin is actually fine to leave on, i would prefer to save myself the work. Do most of you leave the clean white layer of skin on? (I did n my last batch and did not have any funky taste, so i assume it is the yellow layer that is necessary.)
Yes yellow is removed, yes skin underneath is edible.
Do you sell chicken feet or can you let me know of where I can get them at a reasonable price? Thank You. Linda
what if a few feet with black spots on them got into my stock pot? would you eat it?
thanks
I ordered something in India once years ago. My Indian husband told me I would not like it. I am American and could not read the menu. Well, I had to know what is was so ordered. Out came a plate with 6 feet on it ! I looked in shock. Toe nails on them and hard as a rock ! Chicken feet , fried I guess. That was many years ago. Today I saw feet in the store and tried to make soup with them as remembered seeing them once on a menu : chicken feet soup or duck feet soup. We had no time to go in and check it out. Well, I watched a video thank goodness so cut off nails and boiled 10 minutes, then in another pot used filtered water, carrots, cellery, parsley, bay leaves, onions. The video said cook 1/2 hr ! I did 2 hrs. Strong odor as like chicken backs as tried once also. I don’t like the strong odor. I saw no meat on the feet so so no point in trying to eat what looked like fat and bones. That I took out and put in garbage. But my broth , i would say was like a rich chicken broth. I ate it like usual with my super fine noodles. Though I ate a bowl I am not sure I like it. I make soup in winter but throw away the chicken , I put kim chee in . I don’t think I will buy the feet again. And my daughter would not try it . I try everything once as curious and love interesting foods.Which reminds me my grandma loved pigs feet but I never had the nerve to try lol. Now I will take a look at least and read up on it. There was always a jar of it in her fridge and in some bars and clubs when I was a kid, there would be a big jar sitting out in case someone wanted the feet. So funny
Hello,
I’m quite new to this chicken feet bone broth thing, so I have only one question. Is the filtered water really necessary here? Wouldn’t boiling the water purify it enough? Not everyone can afford expensive water filters anyway. Also, I don’t live in the US, so the water might not be that dirty after all.
Looking forward to the recipe card! Thank you! =)
I have heard chicken feet gels are good for knees pain .Is that better to boil them just 20min or the longer cooking is better for releasing the vitamin D and Calcium?
“If you want to heal yourself from the outside in, start with chicken foot bone broth.”
I got a big chuckle as I read this, picturing myself rubbing chicken foot bone broth all over my skin. I suppose it might work, since the skin does absorb nutrients and other things. No worries, I know what you meant! :)))
I ordered chicken liver and gizzards from Walmart for an emaciated cat we are trying to nurse back to health and they substituted it with chicken paws. I was like, what do I do with these? I remember Chinese eat them, but other than that…Hence, why I am here. I used to hate gizzards, hearts, icky, but now I love them. I am gonna use the advice from you all and try them for the first time! I just was like, in what lifetime would you substitute chicken feet for chicken livers? 😜 😁
I have an old (70s) Chinese cookbook written by a Chinese gal. She says in the book that the secret to yellow chicken broth is adding the feet – obviously if you’re peeling the yellow all off, the pigment wouldn’t leech into the broth. So – if you’ve done it without peeling, does it really turn the broth more of a yellow color?
(As for the whole “they’ve been running around in the barnyard” thing, it’s not like the feet wouldn’t get cleaned first, and then all the boiling would kill any microbes that were left.)
Chicken feet broth is the bomb!
We’ll have about 80 chickens this year and find broth an amazing part.
I’ve found it quite easy to pull the outer yellow layer off in a few downwards strokes following the scalding process. When they are warm and well scalded they pull off together, clean and quickly.
Perhaps defrosting them, then doing the basic chicken scald method would be easier, cleaner and more appealing?
Having the feet completely submerged (pushing down and moving around with a spoon), will allow all of the outerskin (yellow) layer to peel away easily.
Hope this helps.
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This is the first time I noticed blood in my chicken feet!!…..as soon as the feet hit the hot water they went dark where the blood under the skin was…..and some seeped into the surrounding water giving it a discoloured appearance….usually no blood and clear water which sets into a pleasant whitish/gel…..if I continue with this batch I’ll probably get a dirty coloured gel…I expect! Anyone else noticed this?
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