How To Eat 1 Chicken In 6 Different Ways – Using It ALL!

by Texas Homesteader ~ 

I found six different ways to enjoy that whole chicken I cooked. I was surprised at how many times that one bird could feed us using the leftover chicken. We’ve really gotten a lot of mileage with different meals out of this one bird. Check it out!

1 CHICKEN, 6 WAYS - Using It ALL! Thinking outside the box I fed my family several delicious meals with just 1 chicken and wasted nothing. #TexasHomesteader

Different Meal Ideas For A Whole Chicken

I recently cooked a whole chicken in my slow-cooker and had visions swirling in my head of all the different ways I could still use the rest of the chicken to feed us. 

Hummm… I wonder how many times I can feed RancherMan & myself with this one small bird? 

Y’all know I love a good challenge, and challenge ACCEPTED

There are only two of us here at the Homestead these days. But that one chicken fed us many times and in so many different ways. Let’s count them off!

You can click each of the titles to see the associated recipe.

(or see all my Homestead Chicken Recipes Here)


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1 CHICKEN, 6 WAYS - Using It ALL! Thinking outside the box I fed my family several delicious meals with just 1 chicken and wasted nothing. #TexasHomesteaderSlow Cooker Spicy Sticky Chicken

Of course the first round was spent cooking the entire bird in my slow cooker. That chicken was was seasoned with spicy savory spices such as cayenne, chili powder and paprika. It packs a powerful flavor punch, y’all! Our daughter shared this recipe with us several years ago. And it remains a favorite in my Homestead kitchen. I like to serve it with roasted potatoes and green beans.


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1 CHICKEN, 6 WAYS - Using It ALL! Thinking outside the box I fed my family several delicious meals with just 1 chicken and wasted nothing. #TexasHomesteaderHealthy Nutritious Broth Using Chicken Bones/Skin

After supper I pulled the remaining meat from the chicken and set it aside for future meals. Then I placed the bones and trimmings in my slow cooker, filled it with water and a splash of vinegar to make a batch of Slow Cooker Broth. It resulted in a couple of quarts of healthy delicious stock.

NOTE: Oftentimes these days I make Instant Pot Broth to get broth even faster. Whichever way you make it – homemade broth is beyond simple, is very healthy and almost free!


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1 CHICKEN, 6 WAYS - Using It ALL! Thinking outside the box I fed my family several delicious meals with just 1 chicken and wasted nothing. #TexasHomesteaderCream of Chicken Soup Using Broth

I used some of that chicken stock I’d just made to whip up a batch of Cream of Chicken soup for my next meal. Making my own “Cream-Of” soup saves us money in our food budget. Plus it’s void of those questionable ingredients and heavy salt often present in the commercial stuff. And truly – it whips up in minutes and is very zero-waste. What’s not to love??


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1 CHICKEN, 6 WAYS - Using It ALL! Making chicken pot pie with leftover chicken #TexasHomesteaderChicken Pot Pie Using Leftover Chicken

Armed with my homemade Cream of Chicken soup I quickly whipped up a flaky crust and assembled a delicious Chicken Pot Pie. I just added some of that leftover chicken, my cream of chicken soup and a can or two of drained mixed vegetables. This is one of RancherMan’s favorite ways for me to use leftover chicken. And it’s so easy!


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1 CHICKEN, 6 WAYS - Using It ALL! Making chicken & dumplings with leftover chicken. #TexasHomesteaderChicken & Dumplings Using Leftover Chicken

There was still plenty of chicken meat & broth left. So on another night I opted to whip up some fluffy homemade dumplings & make a hearty meal of Chicken & Dumplings. That recipe made plenty so there was even enough leftover after our supper to feed us a couple of chicken & dumpling lunches as well. Extra homemade meals with no extra cooking for me? YES PLEASE!!


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1 CHICKEN, 6 WAYS - Using It ALL! Making chicken & zucchini noodles using leftover chicken. #TexasHomesteaderLeftover Chicken with Zucchini Noodles

Now our leftover chicken is starting to run low. But we’re not through with it yet, y’all. It only takes a small amount of meat when you couple it with tender-crisp zucchini noodles and season it all with Herb-Bombs! This recipe made good use of the prolific zucchini growing in my garden and was a nice fresh meal option too.


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ALL Of The Chicken Was Used!

Now that’s a lot of mileage from one small bird! But by thinking outside the box I was able to feed RancherMan & myself several delicious, healthy & homemade meals and wasted nothing – not even the bones! 

I cooked a whole chicken and then used it in different recipes to use it all - no food waste! #TexasHomesteader

How To Use Leftover Cooked Chicken

And of course there are any number of ways that having cooked chicken in your refrigerator or freezer can really streamline your cooking. You can have a meal on the table FAST!

Using all the food we’ve made or purchased is not only healthy for us & good for the grocery budget, but it makes me feel good knowing I’ve been careful with our limited resources. Plus, y’all know how I hate food waste!

What are your favorite ways of ‘Using It All’?

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8 thoughts on “How To Eat 1 Chicken In 6 Different Ways – Using It ALL!

  1. Karyl

    I love this! I’m cooking for one, so I always hate buying a whole rotisserie chicken because I never know quite how to use it all. These are some great tips. Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
  2. Erin

    Thanks for this! I raise chickens for eggs, so I buy free-range butchered chicken from a neighboring homestead. The birds are big (Cornish cross Giants), so I’m glad to see some other recipe ideas to use it up. Especially with dumplings!

    Reply
  3. Keeper At The Homestead

    Funny that I came across this post! We think alike. I boiled a chicken on my stove today. I can usually get three meals out of it. Chicken dumplings and chikoen pot pie with homemade broth are two meals I have planned! 🙂

    Reply
  4. JES

    Love this! Our goal is no-waste as well… Have you ever tried boiling down the chicken feet. Not too pretty but it is one more way to get nutrients in… Not too bad as a base for rice 🙂

    Thank you for sharing this week on the Art of Home-Making Mondays!

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      I’ve never had access to the feet JES, we’ve never butchered one of our own hens. We typically only raise them during the temperate months & sell them each fall since we really don’t have the facilities to overwinter them. I’ve heard of people boiling down the chicken feet though – if we ever decide to harvest one of our hens (or roosters) I’ll certainly give it a try. ~TxH~

      Reply
  5. CTY

    I have been MIA for a bit–dealing with DH health issues. I use all the little bits up by making Chicken Croquettes: mix chicken with mashed potatoes & one egg, roll into balls, roll in bread crumbs, brush with oil and bake them. They are crunchy on the outside and pillows of fluffy goodness on the inside. Serve with biscuits, yeast rolls or toast & my version of your cream of anything soup. Naturally, they work with leftover turkey too.

    Reply
  6. Margy

    Very impressive. I’m afraid unless it was a very large chicken we wouldn’t get more than two, maybe three meals. I miss not being able to use a crockpot at the cabin because of our limited electricity, but a pot on the woodstove can keep going a long time. – Margy

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      I’ll admit Margy, RancherMan *is* a big-time meat-n-potatoes kinda guy so I portion out the meat to make it stretch when I need to. The addition of the zucchini noodles was a delicious stretcher, as was the chicken pot pie with all the veggies. With the chicken pot pie I used the fresh chicken broth so it gave a powerful meat punch without overloading the dish with meat. I was pretty pleased at how far this particular bird stretched, it was a huge budget saver for us. ~TxH~

      Reply

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