This one isn’t for the feint of heart, but it is highly recommended for those that enjoy incredibly delicious pieces of animals. This idea came to me one day after I had roasted a chicken for dinner and stood there picking off the tasty pieces of crispy skin.

“Why the hell don’t they sell pre-cooked chicken skin?”

And then my wife gave me that blank stare where I knew she was thinking to herself “Why did I marry this guy?”

And that is when I knew I had a hit. Because if my wife thinks it’s ridiculous, it’s got to be tasty. 

Making chicken bacon is super easy, it only costs about $5 and you’re left with a whole chicken to do with what you wish. Well, maybe not what you wish. I mean, it is kinda slippery and has a cavity and all…so use the chicken for food, please.

Chicken Bacon Recipe

Whole Chicken
Salt
Pepper

 
1. Nekid Time: Preheat your oven to 350°. You need to get this little fella into his birthday suit which is easy to do if you start on the breast. At the bottom of the breast, seperate the skin from the meat and slide your fingers between the two. Get as much off the breast as you can.

With a sharp knife or kitchen shears, slice the breast skin down the middle. Then just start pulling the skin off the rest of the chicken. You may need to use a knife in a couple of places to cut through some fat that’s holding the skin on, but go slowly and do more pulling than cutting. If you don’t get it off all in one piece, it’s not a problem.

2. Nice Rack: Lay your freshly obtained skin onto a cooling rack that’s on top of a foiled lined baking sheet (make sure it has sides!). You’ll be amazing how much grease comes out of this little piece of skin.

Now’s also the time to season your skin. I like to keep it simple with salt and pepper, but you can use whatever spices you’d like, just remember to keep it light so that it doesn’t overpower the final product.

3. Bakin’: Place your rig into the 350° oven and let cook for 15-20 minutes. After 12 minutes, keep an eye on it as your chicken bacon can go from golden to burnt in seconds.

4. Cool Down: You’ll want to let your bacon cool down a bit or risk burning the shit out of your fingers (I’ll admit, it might be worth it), so let your bacon sit for 15 minutes on the rack. The rest will also make it easier to get off of the rack.

Once cool, you can pull the chicken bacon off of the rack. It will probably crack into pieces but if you’ve got some large pieces, you can cut them down with shears.

In addition to being awesome eaten out of hand, chicken bacon is also great crumbled into a salad or a soup. So many times when we buy a chicken we don’t use the skin and that’s a shame, because it is delicious. Make use of what you buy, make some chicken bacon with your next chicken.

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