Chicken feet

Chicken feet

Chicken feet are cooked and eaten in many countries. After an outer layer of hard skin is removed, most of the edible tissue on the feet consists of skin and tendons, with no muscle. This gives the feet a distinct gelatinous texture different from the rest of the chicken meat.

Chicken feet are tasty, but they also have cosmetic benefits. They contain a lot of collagen, which led Asians to believe that eating chicken feet will give them more youthful-looking skin. This is also the reason chicken feet and peanuts soup is popular among Chinese women who want to achieve glowing skin.

What Do Chicken Feet Taste Like?

Though this part of the chicken is not as meaty as the rest, they still somewhat taste like chicken. Texture-wise, the abundance of collagen gives them a gelatin-like texture when cooked.

You can eat everything on the foot except bones and nails, so be sure to clean the feet before you start cooking.

Chicken (Bone-In with the Skin)

If you’re looking for a collagen boost, choose cuts with the bones and skin—that’s where the collagen is. Chicken feet are especially high in collagen as they’re primarily cartilage (León-López, 2019).