Cooking a Whole Chicken: How to Use Every Part & Zero Waste
Why Cook the Whole Chicken?
Roasting and cutting up a whole chicken is a kitchen game‑changer. It’s budget-friendly, eco-conscious, and lets you create multiple meals—roast, soup, sandwiches, stock—using every part.
Technique = taste
Whether it’s prepping an ingredient properly or knowing how to achieve a certain texture, technique can elevate the recipes you already cook, and are the building blocks for future food experiments.
Cookpad Author Malou shared a tip on how to achieve incredibly tender poached chicken, by plunging it into ice-cold water after it was cooked (a technique used when making delicious Hainanese chicken). The chicken becomes incredibly juicy and tender, a simple way to improve flavour without needing a recipe – ‘see for yourself’ says Malou!
How to get tender poached chicken Tip by Malou Herkes
Don’t throw out your bones!
No one wants to waste food, especially when it turns out to be incredibly tasty! Take Linda’s recipe for homemade chicken stock, using a leftover chicken carcass. ‘This is the PERFECT part of the chicken’ shares Linda, ‘that’ll give you the richest stock as it holds all the flavour’.
Linda uses spices like cardamom and cinnamon to flavour her stock which could then be used to make a fragrant broth or soup. Risotto, soup or stews made with homemade chicken stock are infinitely more flavourful than recipes made with a shop bought stock cube. By simply adding water and some store cupboard staples to your chicken bones you can create the base to a whole new meal, taking your dishes to the next level, too.
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Top tip:
Keep leftover bones from roast chickens, chicken thighs, or even chicken wings in the freezer until you’re ready to make stock!
Try something new
Utilising the whole animal is a great skill to learn, it cuts down on waste, opens up new recipes and flavours, and is almost always money-saving, too. The trick is to make trying new cuts tasty and easy. Ever thought about how to cook chicken neck? A cheap and flavorful cut of chicken not commonly utilised. By sharing a recipe using her mum’s favourite part of a chicken (and how to prepare it), Linda has empowered us all to be a little braver and give something new a go!
Embracing Every Cut
Wings & Drumsticks
Perfect for air frying or braising—crisp, juicy, budget-friendly, and fun at any meal.
Thighs & Breasts
Classic crowd-pleasers—ideal for grilling, baking, or sautéing with herbs and lemon.
From Carcass to Golden Broth
Don’t toss that carcass! Simmer it with spices like cardamom and cinnamon to create a rich homemade stock. Use it in risottos, soups, or stews for deep, warm flavour—far beyond store-bought cubes.
Why It’s Worth It
Using the whole chicken reduces waste, stretches your budget, and introduces you to flavours and textures you may have never explored. It’s sustainability and culinary curiosity in one.