10 Easy Steps To Cut A Whole Chicken

Chicken is a huge staple in our house. We use it in chicken curry, chicken noodle soup, chicken tikka masala, chicken masala, fajitas, chicken parmesan, and so much more. It can definitely add up in our grocery bill. One way we save every month is by buying whole chickens rather than pre-cut meats.Cutting up a whole chicken can be extremely intimidating! I know it was for me! Well, I'm here to help you. Here is a step by step guide for cutting a whole chicken.

Step One

Rinse off chicken with water. Pat dry. Grab a pair of sharp cooking scissors, cutting board, and two bowls. One bowl will be for waste and one is for chicken meat.

Step Two

Take the skin off the chicken. The easiest way to do this is start breast side up and put your fingers under the skin. Slowly pull it away from the meat. The goal here is to NOT rip the skin. It is much easier to take it off if it's in one piece. Start at the breasts, then move to the wings, then the lower half of the body, and end with the legs.If it does break, you can use a paper towel to hold it better.

Step Three

This step helped me to handle the chicken better. I broke it in half. All you have to do for this is turn it, breast side down, find the middle, and break by pushing in.

Step Four

In order to cut around the bones all you have to do is find the joints (where the bones connect) Bend the piece back and forth and you can feel where they connect. Cut right in the middle and it's super easy. Here, we are starting to cut the wings.

Step Five

Now find the second joint and cut.

Step Six

The neck bone is easy to spot. Smack dab in the middle here. Now, cut down the neck on both sides. You will be cutting small bones here, but it will be easy. You can use the neck bone for stocks.

Step Seven

You have a bit of preference that comes in for this step. If you like bone in chicken, cut it in half and you're good to go.

Step Eight

If you don't like the bones, first cut out the wish bone shown here. Then cut out the rest of the small bones under the breast.

Step Nine

Find the joint and cut the chicken legs. This part is easy enough to tear off as well.

Step Ten

This is the last bit of the chicken. There are a lot of small and large bones so be sure to feel and get them all out. I cut around and pulled off as much meat as I could.Ta-da! Now, that wasn't as hard as you thought, was it? Once you do it the first time, it becomes easier each time.A few extra tips....

• Make sure you feel through to find any little shards of bone. I like to give mine and extra rinse at the end just to be sure.
• Hold onto the bones to make a delicious chicken stock.
• Try making a dish with the large bones in and see how much of a difference it makes.

Did you find this helpful? If so please share!

Meal Planning

The moment I told Joel we were having our third boy, he responded with one thing… “They’re going to eat us out of house and home!” My kids eat a lot now and they’re all under three. I can’t imagine three teenagers. 

 

Other than my husband becoming a millionaire, we’re going to need to learn how to stretch a dollar. One way I do that now is meal planning. Oh the dreaded meal planning. Most singles or couples without kids laugh when I say I meal plan. They comment on how much work it is and how it’s not worth it. Although, three boys later… I think it will be worth it. It also saves us a lot of money already! 

 

I’m going to help you out. I’m going to teach you a few things to make meal planning easy and possible!

 

Keep it simple     

Choose recipes you and/or your family have had before and like. Then you can add a few new recipes. Be careful not to overload yourself on new recipes. If you try a new one and like it you can add it to the list of we love it recipes! 

 

Keep ingredients in mind

When you are choosing your meals, keep in mind how much of your ingredients you will be using. If you decide to make pulled pork sandwiches and coleslaw, you will probably have extra cabbage on hand. Instead of wasting it, you can make another meal using cabbage. This helps stretch your ingredients. 

 

Plan a few leftover meals

We call this fend for yourself nights. Chances are you will have enough leftovers for a few meals. This is great for those busy days where you’d rather binge watch your favorite show than head to the kitchen and cook. 

 

Stock your pantry with some basics

Think about the meals that you typically cook through out the week. What are the basics you tend to cook with frequently? In our house we use a lot of rice, black beans, bread, and Indian spices. Our pantry ALWAYS has plenty of those things. 

 

Get a calendar

Get a calendar and put it on your fridge or use your phone’s calendar. Write down the meals you choose for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Write a grocery list based off your meal choices. You don’t have to stick to the exact meal you schedule for each day, but it gives you a list of meals you have groceries for. 

Indian Chili Powder

What is the difference between chili powder from a grocery store and Indian chili powder from and Indian grocery store? The heat! This question comes up all the time when making Indian food. I've also had friends that make an Indian recipe and call me to ask what went wrong. Most of the time the problem is they used the wrong kind of chili powder. Can you guess what the difference is between the two?Regular chili powder is a mixture of different ingredients. I had no idea! It contains ground chilies, salt, and garlic. Some brands may add additional things as well. Indian chili powder only contains red chilies. Indian chili powder also has different levels depending on the types of red chilies they use. I usually get the regular Indian chili powder for my Indian food. Joel's mom also sends me spices when she goes to India. It's definitely spicier than what you buy here. I made the mistake of trying to spice up my recipe and add a little more. Bad idea. I forgot to take into account the fact I was using authentic chili powder and should have tasted it first. Instead I ended up with a dish that made all of us cry, even my Indian husband was sweating!!!We all have those moments in the kitchen. We use the wrong ingredient, too much of something, or forget something entirely. Share one of your cooking fails with us!

How To Cut Your Cooking Time In Half

While on vacation with Joel’s family, I’ve learned the tricks of the trade. I’ve usually seen Joel’s mom and dad cooking Indian food. Joel’s mom works most of the day and then will come home and cook. She has a bit more time to come home and do everything from scratch. Joel’s dad has even more time to prep food and cook meals throughout the day. 

 

What about when you’re busy with kids all day and then have to help them with homework at night?

 

Or you have work all day and school at night?

 

Is there a way to make Indian food a little quicker? Yes!Here are a few things I saw Joel’s aunts and uncles do. 

Keep some prep food frozen. 

I’ve always said fresher is better. However, there are a few things that you can have frozen and won’t change the taste at all. A few of those would be diced onions, halved green chilies, diced tomatoes, and ginger garlic paste. 

Prep food at the beginning of the week. 

There are a few things you’ll need whether you’re making Indian food, Mexican food, or American food. Diced onions are a huge staple in our house. Look at your meal plan at the beginning of the week and see what you’ll be using a lot. Then you can have the diced tomatoes, diced onions, shredded chicken, cut lettuce, etc in separate tupperware containers. This will definitely save you time in the long run.

Cook Multiple Indian Dishes On The Weekend. 

This is by far my favorite. I always wonder how Joel’s family has the motivation to cook huge dishes every single day. I learned the secret… They don’t! Joel’s aunt, Chinnipinni, made three main dishes, four sides, and rice on the weekend. She also had some chapatis and roti on hand. This way she could take them out each night and change up the combinations each night. It was brilliant! 

Left over Indian food!? I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking about reheating a hamburger and fries you got from the restaurant over the weekend. It’s never good. The difference is that Indian food is way better reheated. The spices have time to develop and it just gets better. 

 

If you wanted to do this with American food, it’s just as easy. You could make up a big thing of shredded chicken, black beans, seasoned ground beef, and grilled veggies. Then have some staples on hand like pasta, rice, pesto, etc and you can change it up all night.

What do you do to save time when cooking?

 

Must Haves For Cooking Indian Food

As our little family has been cooking Indian food more often, I’ve realized there are a few things I’ve needed to make it easier. Or that I’ve had to go out and buy because I refused to hand cut lamb one more time. If you’re planning on making Indian food, here are a few things you should have. Although, I’m sure these things are great tools when cooking anything and you’re probably all going to laugh and tell me you’ve had these things since you moved out on your own. 

Cooking Scissors

When you’re making biryiani, chicken curry, chicken tikka masala, lamb curry, etc. you’re going to need to cut your meat. You’ll either be cutting them into bite sized pieces or cutting the skin off and scoring them. Whatever your need is, cooking scissors are a MUST. It makes the job go so much quicker and you don’t destroy the pieces of meat because you’re using dull kitchen knives like I did. Rice Cooker 

I don’t think I’ve ever had an Indian meal without rice. It’s one of those staples that you pair with everything. My kids are also HUGE rice fans. I know that some of you are way smarter than me and know how to cook rice on the stove. However, when you’re already using your stove to simmer all of you curries, it’s nice to have a rice cooker tucked off in the corner to use. You don’t even need a huge one. We upgraded from our teeny-tiny-barely makes a cup of rice rice cooker this year and have a good medium sized one. One day we’ll move up to the huge Indian sized rice cookers, but for now our little one suits us just fine. 

A Sharp Knife Or A Knife Sharpener

Notice I didn’t say sharp knives. I said a sharp knife. Joel and I need to save up and buy a great sharp knife collection. The problem is that Joel and I have different taste. I would buy the cheapest sharp knife set and he would buy the best of the best. Seeing as that is a HUGE gap, we’ve been waiting. As long as you have a good sharp knife or a knife sharpener you’re good. Trust me. Cutting tomatoes with a dull knife ruins your whole day. 

Plastic Or Glass Containers

As you start to cook Indian food, you will end up with a new set of spices. I always recommend buying in bulk or going to the Indian grocery store. The spices are amazing and a way better price. A mistake a lot of people make is bringing them home and keeping them in opened bags inside a pantry or cabinet. The spices will be ruined if you keep them like this. You need to keep them in airtight containers. 

Lot’s Of Friends To Experiment Your Indian Food On

This one is my favorite. I’m always trying out Joel’s families recipes or finding new ones online. I need to have some people around to taste the food and see what they think. I’m usually nice to my friends and try it out on my family first. If they don’t like it we just order pizza. Indian food is the best to have with a group of people! 

Ginger-Garlic Paste

When you start cooking Indian food, you'll notice a few ingredients repeat themselves. One of those is ginger-garlic paste. It's delicious! I've been making Indian food for a little over five years now and I've noticed I'm becoming a better cook. This has nothing to do with me. It's the fact that I've seen the light!!! Or rather how delicious food can be and I've used some of the techniques I learned in making signature Indian dishes in my everyday meals. I've started using ginger-garlic paste in just about everything! It deepens the flavor and adds a bit of a kick. You can go straight to your local Indian market or you can make it in your very own kitchen. I like to make it because I know it's fresh and like I said we use it all the time. Ingredients:Whole gingerWhole garlicOlive OilDirections:Cut the skin off your ginger and chop it up into chunks. Smash your garlic and take the skins off. Add equal parts ginger and garlic to a food processor and then add a bit of olive oil. Puree. Add enough olive oil for the ginger and garlic to become a thick paste. Make sure you add a little at a time because you can always add more if it's still too thick. 

How To Cook Indian Rice

What is the one dish anyone should be able to cook without screwing it up? Ok, besides toast? Rice in a rice cooker is the easiest thing out there to make. Well, for most people. I, on the other hand, managed to screw it up when my father in law came to visit. He let me know what I didn't add enough water and that I should watch him make it. It was like getting yelled at in front of your friends, getting smacked in the head in front of your friends by your mom, or tripping in front of everyone at school. I wanted to impress Joel's dad and let him know what a connoisseur of Indian food I had become. Instead I screwed up one of the easiest dishes there is. I watched him and tried to figure out what I did wrong.... A lot. First of all, you have to wash the rice. What the heck! Wash rice. This is what Basmati and Jasmine rice look like when you put water in it. The water is cloudy and definitely doesn't look clean. You have to fill it up with water and rinse it out until the water is clear. All of the surface starch gets washed off of the rice when you wash it. Joel says he has horrible memories of washing rice all through out his childhood. Torturous really. The kitchen chore I hated the most growing up was peeling potatoes. Your hand starts cramping up after the third potato and you think you will never be able to open your hand again. He then explained to me the water to rice ratio. I followed all of his advice and made proper Indian rice from then on. Then I made it for my mother in law. Yet again, there was something wrong. Apparently they disagree on the water to rice ratio! At this point I had to go with the larger consensus. I asked his aunts how they do it and the ratio they all agree on is 1:1. The other little detail is to make sure you have PLENTY of it. It's never fun when you run out of rice during dinner!If you want to impress a few of your Indian friends, make rice this way!