Can I Grind Chicken Without a Meat Grinder?
Whether you are looking to make chicken burgers or chicken tacos, it can be frustrating when you find some amazing recipes, only to realise you don’t have a meat grinder to make your ground chicken.
Well, not all is lost, you can make ground meat without a meat grinder by using some simple methods such as using a; food processor, sharp knife, blender, mortar and pestle or a grater which can be substituted for the grinding process.
So as we can explore how to make the best ground blends of meat without an actual meat grinder, we have gone into some further details below about how to grind meat with no meat grinder along with the benefits of not buying preground meat so as you can make tasty recipes and have more control over your fresh ingredients.
Benefits Of Grinding Your Own Chicken
Many people find grinding their own cuts of meat time-consuming when you can just buy the type of meat already ground from the supermarket, but what do they put in these pre-ground meats, and do you always have ground raw meat available in your freezer?
We have listed out a few benefits of grinding your piece of meat below.
- The food tastes better – Grinding your own piece of meat makes it much more flavourful than commercial packed kinds of meat, many people swear by grinding their meat for certain food such as Asian meat salad dishes or Chinese food.
- You have control over the process – When you grind your meat yourself you know exactly what’s going in it, no scraps or high-fat content, you can make your blends of meat knowing the exact nutritional value and allowing you to have better control over terms of texture.
- It’s convenient – There’s often a time where I’m sure you’ve found some great dishes to cook for dinner, only to see they need the lean meat ground, rather than taking a trip to the supermarket, this is where learning how to grind your own can come in handy.
How To Grind Chicken Without a Meat Grinder
Now we know all the benefits we can get from grinding bits of meat ourselves, we have listed out some methods you can try at home to ground your white meat chicken yourself without a special meat grinder.
Try Blending The Chicken
First of all, the most popular method to grind your own chicken without using a grinder is by using a blender for the entire process.
A blender will able to produce lean ground meat with the exact texture you want, and you can grind the chicken by putting it in the blender with a handful of meat at a time and using the pulse setting.
Put your chicken hand-chopped meat into the freezer for around 30 minutes beforehand to make sure cold meat does not all stick together in one clump.
Use a Food Processor
A food processor is a little similar to a blender and can make excellent ground meat at home.
Simply get your chicken, remove any fat and bones then cut the meat into cubes, pop it into the freezer and grind in the food processor little by little till you get the textured meat that you desire.
Some food processors may even come with meat grinder attachments which can be handy.
Cut & Grind Meat With a Sharp Knife
One of the next ways you can grind your chicken yourself is by using a sharp knife, for this you would need to work at a consistent speed and cut in horizontal and vertical patterns until you reach the machine-ground meat’s consistency you want.
This method is a little time-consuming and you have to be careful not to cut yourself with a sharp knife.
Try a Mortar & Pestle
A mortar and pestle is an unusual method of grinding to try, but there is no reason as to why it can’t work by pounding the chicken and having some patience.
Simply cool your chicken beforehand and pound the meat in small batches with the pestle.
Use a Grater For Cubes Of Meat
Grab a box grater and your hand-chopped ground meats (freeze beforehand a little) and grate the chicken to achieve and ground consistency, do be careful of your fingers however and grate the meat in batches.
Should I Buy a Meat Grinder?
A meat grinder is the most efficient tool if you are looking to grind meat at home and do what these methods do above in half the time, with less mess and a more accurate consistency.
You do risk cubes of meat getting stuck in a blender, and the minced result will not be as fine, so if you are looking to grind a piece of meat at home often, whether ground beef or ground chicken, a meat grinder could be worth the investment.
Final Words
To conclude, grinding chicken at home can be done without a meat grinder by using a blender/food processor and even a sharp knife, meat grinders are more efficient and will speed up the process, so might be worth the investment if you are looking to grind your meat at home often.