TikTok Has Me Smashing Up Whole Chickens In A Bag. We Used To Be A Proper Country
"You need to try this trick for deboning rotisserie chicken," wrote TikTok user @katierreames in the caption of her #debonechickenhack video. Reames then stuffed a still-warm rotisserie chicken into a large zip-top plastic bag and squeezed and smooshed the bird (through the bag) until the meat was separated from the bones, ready for use in a variety of easy weeknight recipes
@katierreames
Allegedly, this hack not only is a fast and easy way to perform a thankless task, but also keeps the chicken juices from dirtying up the kitchen counter. "Works amazingly!! You are my HERO!!!!" wrote one fan in the video's comments. "What??!!! Just did this and will never debone a rotisserie chicken any other way!" added another. Skeptics pointed out there'd still be effort involved in removing the bones from the resulting mass of meat, while others noted that this wouldn't allow for specific parts of the chicken to be isolated or removed.
To see which commenters were correct, and because this seemed like a smart way to handle a tedious kitchen task, I decided I had to try it. I picked up two warm birds from Wegmans, one of the top spots for rotisserie chickens. With the first, my plan was to follow the TikTok video exactly to determine how useful it really was. I didn't have a specific plan for the second chicken, but figured once I'd tried the TikTok method, I'd be able to use it as a comparison point and control.
Is this chicken hack life-changing?
Simply, this works. It's a fast, easy way to remove all of the meat from a rotisserie chicken. That said, there are some important caveats to consider before fully converting to this method. Firstly, my hands still got quite dirty while doing this, probably because the chicken bones made small piercings in the bag, allowing some of the juice to escape. While the juice was by no means everywhere, it was there.
Secondly, because the chicken needs to be warm — as that's what makes it so easy to remove from bones — I found that the plastic bag didn't protect my hands well from the heat of the bird. Thirdly, as some of the commenters pointed out, there was indeed additional effort in removing the bones — especially the small ones — from the pile of shredded chicken that came out of the bag. This was not difficult, but it did add time.
As I was trying out this hack, I couldn't help but wonder if the bag itself was entirely necessary. Theoretically the bag helps contain the juicy, greasy mess, but as I already stated, my hands still got greasy even with the bag, and when I turned out the contents onto the cutting board, that also exposed my counter to a deluge of juices.
The verdict: is there a better way?
Inspired by this hack, I decided to try a second experiment that might have similar benefits and fewer downsides. I took a second chicken out of its package, put it directly on the cutting board, and grabbed a clean pair of reusable rubber gloves. To debone the chicken, I utilized a similar approach as above, attacking it wholeheartedly and without discernment, prioritizing speed and ease over any sort of presentation or specific cut.
Because this alternative method allowed me to to remove the bones along the way, I found it to be faster and easier overall than the bag method, and because I was careful to remove the chicken from the store container without spilling the accumulated juices, the resulting cutting board mess was present but manageable. In addition, I found that the rubber gloves offered more protection against the heat of the chicken than the plastic bag had.
In sum, my conclusion is that, while Katie Reames' chicken-in-a-bag hack does work, a better solution for quickly removing all the meat from a rotisserie chicken is to put the bird on a cutting board and attack it with gloved hands, crushing and pulling all the meat while simultaneously separating the bones.
P.S. Pro tip: save rotisserie chicken bones to make lazy homemade chicken stock.