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How to Grind Chicken in a Meat Grinder

Meat grinders offer the very best when it comes to food customization. Instead of relying on premade minces at the grocery store, you can create your own custom-made meats whenever you want. You have full control over the meats you use, the fat content, the flavor, and so much more.

While many home chefs turn to grinders for processing beef, pork, and trophy meats, they're fully capable of handling chicken, too. Lean options like chicken and turkey offer up a healthier alternative to red meats. It's a versatile food that easily absorbs seasonings and marinades. So, why not toss it in your grinder?

With chicken's flexibility and many health benefits, it's the ideal meat to use in your grinder. Ground chicken can be used as a beef substitute for everything from chili to meatballs.

Grinding chicken isn't difficult. However, there are some notable differences compared to the ground meats you're used to. Chicken has a unique texture and reacts differently to the grinding process.

Why Grind Chicken?

Before we get into how to grind chicken, is it even worth the effort? Red meats like beef, pork, and lamb are revered for their flavors. They're the go-to for those looking to indulge. However, chicken offers a ton of great benefits. Grinding the meat up and using it in creative ways only helps you take advantage of those benefits even more.

1. It Has Less Saturated Fats

Research shows that chicken has lower levels of saturated fats than beef and pork. Saturated fats are considered "bad fats" because they can increase your chances of heart disease and other cardiovascular problems.

A standard skinless chicken breast only has about 1 gram of saturated fat in it. Meanwhile, a beef flank can have as much as 13 grams! If you're looking to stay healthy, ground chicken in the way to go.

2. Chicken is Better for Your Cholesterol

Speaking of saturated fats, ground red meats are notorious for causing cholesterol spikes. Not only do they have more cholesterol in them naturally, but the saturated fats aren't doing you any favors either!

Saturated fats can increase bad cholesterols and lower good cholesterols in your body. So, that mince chuck you use in your gourmet burgers can affect your health later on in life.

3. It's More Versatile

Moving away from the health benefits of chicken, one reason you might want to grind chicken is that it's much more versatile than the alternatives. This is especially true when it comes to taste. Red meat is packed with natural flavors that are brought out when you toss them on the grill. Unfortunately, that can cause spices to fall by the wayside.

When you make ground chicken, you can finally let those flavors shine through. Chicken accepts marinade and seasoning very well, making it easy to create meatballs, sausages, and patties packed with extra zest.

4. It's More Affordable

Finally, chicken is much more affordable than other options. Ground chuck and premium cuts can cost you a pretty penny. Utilizing chicken in your meat grinder will help you save a fortune while still getting the finished product you're after.

What You Should Know About Grinding Chicken

With the right equipment, grinding chicken is a fun and easy process. Grinders make quick work of the job and can provide you with mince that you can use in a wide range of recipes.

That said, there are some important things about ground chicken that you need to know.

1. Texture Is Crucial

First things first, let's talk about texture. Chicken is notorious for becoming gummy and paste-like when it's over-processed. The delicate protein fibers get pulverized quickly by a grinder's blade. If you're not careful, you may end up with something that closely resembles baby food rather than meat mince!

Our best advice would be to take things slow and consider the end results for your mince. You can use a coarse grinding plate to get a firmer texture that's good for burgers and meatballs. If you want your chicken to be more compact, the fine grinding plate will do.

Whatever you choose to make, just make sure that you grind sparingly. This isn't a muscle that you can put through the grinder more than once.

2. White Meat is Leaner

The unique thing about chicken is that fat content varies based on what part of the body the meat is coming from!

If you want to control how much fat is in your mince, you might want to stick to white meat. This includes flesh from the breast and wing.

3. Dark Meat is More Flavorful

While white meat may be leaner, dark meat has more natural flavor. Chicken thighs and legs are fattier and tend to be more savory. You can blend white and dark to get a nice balance between that works for your needs.

4. You Don't Have to Stick to Traditional Cuts

The beauty of using a meat grinder is that you can easily blend meats to create a mince that's perfect. In addition to mixing white and dark meats, you can toss in other parts of the chicken. Adding some pieces of gizzard or liver you take full advantage of what the bird has to offer while improving texture and taste.

What We Recommend

LEM Products #32 Commercial Meat Grinder

"strong, reliable commercial meat grinder"

Check Latest Price

There's no shortage of quality meat grinders on the market today. While any manual or electric grinder can get the job done, we recommend the LEM Products #32 grinder.

It's a stainless steel machine that has a ton of great features to make grinding meat much easier. First, it's packing a lot of power. The electric motor outputs 1.5 horsepower, which is more than enough to handle chicken.

Secondly, the grinder is purpose-built to help you finish large batches in a short amount of time. The auger is a bit longer than most. Not only that, but it has LEM Product's "Big Bite" technology.

There's a sizable gap between the teeth of the auger. It's located right under the hopper tube. This gap grabs onto large chunks without any issues. It'll push the meat to the spinning knife without any intervention from you. It's safe, quick, and very effective.

Best Tips When Getting Started

For the most part, grinding chicken at home is no different that grinding something like beef chuck.

After assembling the meat grinder, you should take some time to prepare the meat:

Start out by removing the meat from the bone. You can also get rid of the skin. Though, the choice to do so is entirely up to you. Slices of skin may help to improve the taste and feel of the mince.

Once you have removed the slices of meat from the bone, use a sharp blade to cut the meat up into cubes. Small 1 or 2-inch cubes will put less strain on your grinder.

At this point, you can apply the dry seasoning. Feel free to get creative here! Add some salt and your favorite spices. This will make the meat extra flavorful whenever you cook it on the grill or stove.

Now, arrange the meat into smaller batches and place them in the freezer. Our advice would be to freeze the meat for 15 to 20 minutes. This will make the chicken firmer and reduce your chances of turning the meat into a paste in the grinder.

After about 20 minutes, you're finally ready to grind. Place a large bowl beneath the grinding plates, flip the switch, and slowly load the chunks of chicken into the hopper. It's as easy as that!

Conclusion

Ground chicken has a lot to offer your favorite recipes. It's a healthier alternative that can be just as tasty as the standard foods you grind at home. Give it a shot and see for yourself!

Jump to Page

Why Grind Chicken?

What You Should Know About Grinding Chicken

What We Recommend

Key Features

Benefits and Drawbacks

Best Tips When Getting Started

Conclusion

"strong, reliable commercial meat grinder"

LEM Products #32 Commercial Meat Grinder

Check Latest Price

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