How to Remove the Skin Before Boiling the Chicken for Chicken Soup

Remove the skin to cut down on fat and calories.

Removing the skin from chicken will drastically reduce the amount of fat and calories in your chicken soup. Your soup will still have plenty of flavor, but it will be much healthier than traditional versions that include the skin. Removing the skin at home instead of buying skinless chicken pieces will also help you save money. All you need is a sharp knife to separate the fatty skin from the lean chicken meat. Does this Spark an idea?

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Knife
Salt (optional)

Instructions

Whole Bird
- 1
  
  Place the bird on a cutting board, breast-side down. Slice through the skin alongside the backbone with a sharp knife.
- 2
  
  Cut off the bird's wings. Slice around the tips of the drumsticks to loosen the skin from the meat.
- 3
  
  Peel the skin away from the meat starting with the slice you made along the backbone.
- 4
  
  Cut off any remaining pieces of skin with a sharp knife.
Chicken Pieces
- 5
  
  Hold the meat of the thigh or breast, and grasp the skin tightly with your fingers. Pull the skin off in one, large piece.
- 6
  
  Grasp the meaty end of the drumstick with your fingertips. Pull the skin off in one piece over the bone end.
- 7
  
  Cut off any remaining pieces of skin with a sharp knife.