Butchering your own chicken seems to be something of a lost art [View all]

...thanks to the wide availability of pre-butchered parts. However, I just enjoy doing it myself and I use every part of the chicken. The wings go in the air fryer. The thighs and legs I will sous vide for several hours and use them for things like soup and chicken tacos. The breasts I will slice in half and pound flat for sauteing. The back and wing tips I will sous vide overnight and turn into stock. I will usually butcher two at a time, vacuum bag into 1 meal servings and freeze. Into the dark meat and stock parts I will throw in some rock salt so they can go directly into the sous vide water bag for cooking.

The sous vide makes thawing them out super easy. About 30 minutes at 70F will completely thaw breasts or thighs. For any recipe that calls for chicken I always have the right parts.