Some people eat chicken bones on purpose, and others may ingest chicken bones by accident. Because chicken bones are animal products, they are not dangerous. But is it safe to eat them? Or are there any health benefits of deliberately eating chicken bones?
Eating chicken bones is safe if careful not to cut your mouth or swallow large, sharp pieces. Cooked chicken bones can turn break or turn brittle, increasing the risk of having a cut inside your mouth. One must avoid eating sharp-edged chicken bone pieces
Read on whether you have accidentally swallowed a piece of chicken bone or are planning to try eating it.
This article will discuss everything you need to know about consuming chicken bones —the benefits of adding them to the diet, certain risks of eating them, and our favorite ways to eat chicken bones.
Are Chicken Bones Dangerous to Eat?
Chicken bones are safe to eat if you are cautious. You can eat well-cooked edges and exposed pieces of chicken bones. Like chicken meat, chicken bones have nourishing nutrients such as calcium and phosphorus. However, we won’t recommend eating sharp chicken bone pieces and large parts. Eating brittle chicken bones poses a choking hazard and can cause internal damage.
If you plan to eat chicken bones, you should chew them properly to avoid medical emergencies. Generally, chicken bones are safe to eat, and many adults enjoy eating them.
Health Benefits of Eating Chicken Bones
Chicken bones contain vital micronutrients.
Chicken bones are rich in vital micronutrients such as calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium. These trace minerals provide bone broth with nutritional properties. Plus, the marrow in chicken bones is a highly nutrient-dense superfood.
Chicken bones support gut healing.
One of the biggest benefits of chicken bones is their high content of collagen, gelatin, and glycine. These nutrients support gut health, a major factor in strengthening our immune system. A healthy gut also helps reduce inflammation in the body. Although these nutrients are available in supplement forms (i.e., collagen powders), using the whole food version will always provide the most benefits. If you are looking for alternative ways to get these nutrients, you could always have a premade bone broth or make your own.
Eating chicken bones supports sustainability.
Although it’s convenient to buy boneless chicken wings, using bone-in chicken meat helps to ensure that you are using more parts of the animal with less waste. There’s a lot you can make using chicken bones and organs, not to mention the health benefits listed above.
Chicken bones add flavor to dishes.
An old saying can be paraphrased to say ‘meat is sweeter near the bone’. Not only are chicken bones nutritious, but they enhance flavor of any dish. When you cook bone-in chicken meat, the bone marrow and other substances add a depth of flavor that’s impossible to achieve with a boneless cut. Although bone-in cuts take longer to cook, a more succulent and juicy cut of meat is worth the wait.
Eating bone-in chicken meat saves money.
Bone-in meat is slightly less expensive than boneless cuts, so buying chicken bones can help save a little money. Many people see bones as waste and will pay extra for boneless cuts; however, bone-in chicken meat is where you get more bang for your buck.
How Do Chicken Bones Taste Like?
When you cook bone-in chicken meat, the flavor inside the chicken bone is released into the meat, giving your dish a deeper and meatier flavor.
Whether you like the taste of chicken bones depends on your preferences. Some people find that the bones are tasteless or have a brittle texture, but others enjoy eating chicken bones. Try chewing on succulent chicken bones the next time you have chicken, and see if you enjoy the flavor.
Read Next: How Does Bad Chicken Taste Like?
The Right Way to Eat Chicken Bones
Other Ways to Eat Chicken Bones
Chewing chicken bones is not the only way to enjoy their nutritional benefits. You can simmer chicken bones in water to prepare the bone broth, which can be used for braising vegetables and cooking grains.
Some people don’t have any issues eating chicken bones. But some usually can’t stand consuming them because of their flavor and texture.
If you’re one of those who hate eating chicken bones but would love to reap the health benefits they offer? Fret not!
That’s because there are many ways to add chicken bones to the diet without actually gnawing on them, and it’s by turning them into chicken stock. Unlike chicken broth, which contains chicken meat and has a thinner consistency, chicken stock is made entirely from chicken bones and has a richer taste.
Many people enjoy chicken stock because it’s full of collagen — if you eat it, you enjoy the many wholesome perks of collagen discussed earlier.
Roast the Chicken Bones
If you’re using a whole raw chicken, place raw bones on a baking sheet and roast at 400˚F for 15 minutes. Transfer roasted chicken bones and any juices to your pot. Many recipes call for raw chicken bones, which is OK, but roasting chicken bones enhances their flavor.
How to Make Chicken Bone Broth
Chicken bone broth is a great way to heal your gut and improve your health. There’s a reason why people have been making chicken bone soup for ages when they aren’t feeling well, and if that soup is a bone broth, it is a natural healing food.
Here are the steps to making healthy and delicious chicken bone broth:
- Place chicken bones in a large pot.
- Add vegetables like carrots, corn, celery, and onions.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Cover chicken bones and other ingredients with water and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to bring the chicken bone broth to barely a simmer.
- Partially cover the pot and allow the chicken bone broth to simmer for four hours.
- From time to time, scoop out any foam that forms on the surface.
- Allow the chicken broth to cool for a while after simmering.
- Strain the chicken broth through a fine-mesh sieve.
- Transfer chicken broth to a large jar with a lid and store it in the refrigerator.
Uses of Bone-in Chicken meat in Traditonal Cuisine
Eating and cooking bone-in meat is an age-old tradition that has been praised for centuries, and traditional cuisine has several uses for chicken bones, bone marrow, and bone-in meat. Although forgotten in recent years, cooking bone-in meat is far more easier than most people think. Plus, there are many different ways to add bone-in chicken meat into your cooking. I recommend swapping your go to recipes for bone-in cuts and experiment with different cooking techniques, such as roasting, braising, or making soups and stews.
Further, read up on the best way to cook bone-in meat.
Best Way to Cook Bone-in Meat At Home
A perfectly cooked, succulent cut of cooked bone-in chicken meat is irresistible. But home chefs everywhere still wonder — what is the best way to cook bone-in chicken meat?
Questions about the preferred, simple, or tastiest way to cook a chicken can cause a more heated debate than political discourse. Bone-in chicken is always harder to cook at home because the heat does not distribute evenly.
Home cooks have long heard that bones add flavor to the chicken and affect cooking temperatures. So, what’s the best way to prepare bone-in chicken to ensure you get the most flavorful bite?
While some people might drool over chewing on that chicken bone and enjoying every last scrap, the meat brings more enjoyment. The bone simply imparts flavor and works as a cooking insulator. The chicken bone helps the meat surrounding it retain moisture through cooking.
Some chefs suggest removing the meat off the bone, then tying it back onto the bone. This method helps the bone to insulate the meat but makes it easier for you to regulate temperature. Chicken bones ensure more even cooking, resulting in a more succulent bite.
So, the answer is clear. The best way to eat chicken bones is to gnaw on the bone-in meat. Just do a little butchering before the meat hits the heat.
Can You Eat Ground-Up Chicken Bones?
A Finnish startup claims it has come up with a brilliant way to squeeze more meat from a single chicken. All it takes is adding a little ground-up bone. They’ve learned how to process chicken bones to add them to ground chicken products like nuggets or meatballs. Eating ground-up chicken bones provides numerous health benefits and will lower the environmental footprint of every pound of chicken meat.
According to the Finish startup, eating ground-up chicken bones is simple. A mixture of chicken bones and veg protein with some meat attached is heated and then passed through an extruder to create a bone-vegetable-meat blend that can be mixed with ground chicken bone and meat. The chicken bones become virtually indistinguishable from other ingredients under a microscope.
Related Questions
What to do if you cut your gums on a chicken bone?
You should assess the damage if a chicken bone cuts your gums. A small scratch will heal quickly, but if the cut is bad and your gums bleed, you may want to go to ER.
Bones tend to turn brittle when cooked and can splinter, which may hurt your mouth or throat. Avoid swallowing large pieces of chicken bone at any time, as these are more likely to be sharp-edged or get stuck somewhere. You also don’t want to swallow a piece of bone longer than about 2 inches because this may get lodged somewhere in your digestive system.
If you are worried about having injured yourself while eating chicken bones, get checked by medical professionals. Although your body may process the bone effectively, you don’t want to risk it causing any problems.
Similarly, if you get a piece of chicken bone stuck in your throat, you may need to visit the ER to have it removed immediately.
Where to find chicken bones?
You can buy cheap chicken bones online or at local retailers and enjoy home-cooked bone broth or other dishes made using crispy chicken bones!
Final Thoughts
Although people throw away chicken bones, they are perfectly safe to eat, and many enjoy eating them. As long as you carefully chew on the chicken bones, you should keep the risk of gum injuries to a minimum. You may find that the bones are the best part of the chicken!
