How to remove chicken skin (Raw & Cooked)

Chicken skin can be removed when the chicken is raw or after it has been cooked.

The skin protects the meat while it’s cooking by preventing it from drying out, it also adds flavour but it’s where a lot of the fat is kept, just under the skin.

It’s of course healthier to remove the chicken skin before it’s cooked, Because the fat underneath the skin won’t melt onto the chicken when cooking. 

Personally, I think it tastes so much better with the skin on 🙂

So depending on the dish it may be in your best interest to remove it. Here is how to remove chicken skin from both raw and cooked chook.

Removing the skin from a whole raw chicken

After you have rinsed your chicken in cold water, place it onto your chopping board.

Using a knife start at the top of the chicken where the neck used to be and lightly run your knife along the skin from top of the breast to the bottom.

Be careful not to push too deep as you will cut into the breast fillet.  

What we want to do is lightly score the skin which will allow you to pull the skin apart, basically like opening up a jacket.

The breasts are one of the easiest parts to remove the skin from and the drumsticks are one of the hardest and don’t even try the wings because it’s near impossible to get all the skin off.

As you start to remove the chicken skin you will feel some resistance, to get a better grip, I recommend using a paper towel to get a better grip if it’s too slippery.

Keep removing the skin until you get down to the drumsticks, keep pulling till you’re over the thick part of the drumstick right down to where the ankles are. 

This will be one of the most difficult parts, keep pulling until you have completely removed the skin, flipping the chicken over when done.

You should now be looking at the underside / back of the chicken. The skin is firmly attached to the back. Keep on pulling until you can’t pull anymore and use a knife to run underneath the skin and inbetween the back of the chicken to help you remove it. 

Moving on to the wings pull the skin as much as you can, be aware that you’re not going to get much skin off. I recommend pulling it as much as you can and cutting the skin you have pulled off.

You’ll still have some skin left on the wings but it’s the tip of the wing, the part you won’t eat anyway. Although some people enjoy nibbling on the cooked tip.

To finish removing the skin, look over the chicken and cut off any skin you might have missed. Also don’t forget to remove the fat, pay particular attention to the back, breasts and thighs. Some parts you can simply scrap with the sharp edge of your knife to remove the fat. While in other areas you will need to cut it off.

Removing skin from chicken breasts

Rinse your breast on the bone with cold water and place on the chopping board. 

If you have a single chicken breast. It’s easy to remove the skin as it’s a matter of running a finger underneath the skin and pulling it off. 

You’ll be presented with the white meat and a little bit of fat along the edges, here you can clean up the chicken by running your knife and scraping off the fat.

For a double breast on the bone it’s very much the same. Put your finger underneath the skin and just pull. It should easily come off, if you have a little bit of resistance. Use a paper towel to get a better grip and finish off with scraping away the little bit of fat that is on the breast.

Removing skin for chicken thighs

Removing skin from the thighs is one of the easiest to do.  It’s as simple as rinsing the things with cold water and just lifting up one small piece of skin.   

One big difference you will notice compared to removing skin from the breast is the thighs’ skin is attached by some fat and when you remove the skin you will have to spend a bit more time removing the fat.

Don’t just cut the fat away as you will lose a good amount of meat. I recommend using a knife to scrape away the excess fat, to reduce waste.

Removing skin from drumsticks

The drumsticks are easy but can be difficult when you get to the end of the leg.

The easiest way to do it is to use a paper towel to help with gripping the skin. 

Start by rinsing the legs with cold water and peeling the skin down until you are at the end. You will notice some resistance as you pull the skin. 

In most cases you should be able to remove the skin if you wind it around your pointer finger and pull hard. 

The skin may be slippery from washing the chicken. So You could try patting dry the skin first, but I find it quicker to use a paper towel. 

Removing skin from chicken merrylands

Removing the skin from the merryland or leg quarter which is made up of the thigh and drumstick is fairly straightforward.

After rinsing the merryland with cold water, start with the thigh and pull back the skin until you feel resistance. Using a paper towel pull the skin until it starts to remove from the thigh. You may have to use a knife and run it under the skin especially where there’s a lot of fat.

Next move on to the drumstick, working your way down the leg of the chicken until you are met with a lot of resistance. Using a paper towel to help your grip finish pulling off the skin from the drumstick.  

You may get it clean off. If not, just use a knife to clean it up and cut away the excess skin. Once all the chicken skin is removed, go back and remove any excess fat.

Removing skin from a whole cooked chicken

To make it easier on yourself, removing the skin when it’s raw would be the most efficient way of doing it because you’re already preparing the chicken. 

But depending on the type of dish you are cooking, it might be better to leave the chicken skin on and then remove it after because you’re protecting the meat during the cooking process and of course the rendered fat that’s underneath the skin gives you extra flavour.

To remove the chicken skin when it’s cooked you’re not going to be handling the chicken the same way when it was raw.  

The meat is more delicate and will fall apart if you start to remove the skin when the chicken is very hot, you first need to let the chicken cool down slightly.

This also applies to cutting a whole chicken when it’s just been cooked the skin and meat will fall off the bone. Unless you are shredding the chicken, let it cool down first.

When the chicken has cooled down using tongs or forks, start at one end of the chicken gently pull the skin back. You will notice the fat has rendered away during the cooking process, removing the skin will be easier to pull off from the breast fillets and thigh fillets. 

At this point it’s only when you get to the drumsticks that it can be a bit tricky so just try to remove as much as you can. 

As for the wings I wouldn’t even bother as you will find that there’s not really much you can pull off. Again some people love to nibble on them as is. 

The back of the chicken will also be hard to pull off and involves picking up the chicken and you may find it fall apart.

Another way to remove skin from a cooked chicken is to let it cool down and cut it into quarters first.  This will allow you to remove as much of the skin as possible without it falling apart. 

Conclusion

And that’s how you remove skin from a raw and cooked chicken. It’s far easier to do it as you’re preparing the chicken. 

It does take practice especially the drumsticks but for the most part if you’re doing single pieces it’s as simple as pulling the skin back. Just remember to have a paper towel handy to help with gripping the raw skin. 

And be sure to allow the cooked chicken to cool down before you start so the bird doesn’t fall apart.

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