Chicken bones are messy, and your hands are probably splattered in red if you’re grating or mincing them. But grinding chicken bones for stock or chicken noodle soup is a great way to eliminate chicken bones without all the fuss. While you can make a stock in a Crock-Pot, a countertop meat grinder is faster and makes the process much easier. Plus, you get to control how much meat goes into your stock. A meat grinder is a way to go if you want a faster way to make stock.

Things to consider

Grinding strength: A higher number of turns per minute means a finer grind and a faster job.
Grind adjustment: The best models have adjustable plates, giving you the freedom to adjust the grind size from fine to coarse.
Ease of use: Look for a crank-style, rather than a lever-style, grinder. Crank grinders don’t require as much force and are easier to use.
Dishwasher safe: You’ll want to clean the grinder after each use, and dishwasher-safe parts make the process easy.

Buying the best meat grinder for chicken bones will help you save time in the kitchen.

* Type of grinder. There are two main types of meat grinders: Manual and electric. Manual ones require you to turn the crank to mince the meat manually. Electric meat grinders come with an electric motor and a built-in blade.
* Size. If you’re shopping on a tight budget, you may want to buy a small unit. But if money isn’t an issue, you may want to go for a bigger unit, saving you money in the long run.
* Capacity. A 1/4-, 1/2-, or 3/4-horsepower grinder should be enough if you’re buying a starter unit. On the other hand, if you’re buying a unit to supply your whole family, you may want to opt for a bigger unit.
* Maintenance. Most grinders are easy to clean, but you need to be extra careful with electric ones. Clean them regularly to avoid jamming problems.

In the GetAmyCakes Lab, we test meat grinders for performance and efficiency, evaluating how easy it is for cooks to prep ingredients, change blades, clean the grinder, grind, and clean up. We also look at how easy it is to use a digital scale to measure ingredients and how well the grinder performs. Here are the best meat grinders for chicken bones for 2022:

KUUNLESIN – Meat Grinder for Chicken bones

As advertised, this meat grinder is powerful enough to grind pretty much any meat, be it beef, chicken bones, pork, etc., and it’s much quieter than you would expect from such a machine. The 350W motor, blade, and cutter head are also very sharp, making for a clean cut. The 420 stainless steel blade is easy to clean and made of high-quality materials. It has four interchangeable grinding plates, including 1/8-inch, 1/4-inch, 3/8-inch, and 1/2-inch, which help make different kinds of meat mixtures (like meatballs, hamburgers, schnitzel, etc.). The meat grinder is designed to have six speeds, so you can customize the speed to what works best for your meat (more speed produces finer mince, less speed produces coarser mince). It also has an automatic reverse function if you need to dredge the meat. It also comes with a handy carrying bag, which is very convenient for travel.

HOTIL Heavy Duty 3 in 1, Meat Grinder

The HOTIL Electric Meat Grinder saw off most of our competition in speed, power, and value. The grinder’s motor is the most powerful we tested, and its 3.3-horsepower rating means it can grind meat quickly. The grinder’s stainless steel cutting blades are sharp enough, and the motor’s speed is low enough to prevent overheating, which is a common issue with other grinders. It also has a handy accessory compartment with a removable tray, and the motor’s built-in overload protector allows it to run continuously without overheating. The grinder’s most glaring weakness is that it’s not as easy to clean as some of our competitors, making it a chore to use. We wouldn’t recommend using it to make large amounts of sausage, but if you’re making smaller batches, you can easily clean it by hand.

Newhai 1.2HP Commercial Meat Grinder For Chicken Bones

This is one of the nicest electric meat grinders we’ve tested. It’s well-designed, sturdy, easy to clean, and has a heavy-duty motor that makes it perfect for grinding chicken bones. The stainless steel blades and cutting plates are sharp and strong, and it’s easy to clean them by hand once you’re done grinding. It’s also very quiet, which is essential when you’re grinding chicken bones. This grinder comes with a sausage stuffer tube, a sausage stuffer lid, and a manual for making your sausages. The grinder does an excellent job of grinding chicken bones, and it’s a lot more convenient than using a mortar and pestle, and it will save you a lot of time.

CHEFFANO Meat Grinder, 2600W Max Stainless Steel Meat Grinder

The most versatile electric meat grinder we tested, the CHEFFANO 2600W Max Meat Grinder delivers muscle-crushing power, enough meat capacity to handle any big job, and solid build quality. It offers enough features to have multiple purposes. Plus, it has an extra-large hopper that can hold a ton of food, which is excellent for making large batches of sausage or other ground meat. It has three grinding plates, two steel blades, a food pusher, and a set of rubber and sausage accessories. The grinder includes a sausage stuffing tube and a Kubbe kit for making your kibbe. Best of all, it has an extra-large feed tube perfect for whole feeding chickens, turkeys, and hams. The hopper and auger system are also well designed, and the large-capacity hopper and adjustable feed tube make grinding just about anything easy. But the most significant advantage to this meat grinder is its price: it’s way cheaper than any other grinder we tested that has similar power. Its only real downside is because it uses a 3-speed motor, you have to crank up the grinder to its highest setting to grind dense meat.

LEM Products Stainless Steel Big Bite Electric Meat Grinder

The LEM Electric 8-1/2-Inch Stainless Steel Big Bite Meat Grinder has a .5-horsepower motor that quietly grinds meat into whatever size you choose, from coarse to fine. The stainless steel head, body, and auger are easy to clean, and the cutter heads are long-lasting. The auger has rifling that pushes more meat forward with less user intervention, and the stainless steel body and hopper minimize fingerprints, although we found the body to be a bit short. The auger also turns slowly, which can be a nuisance, but it’s quieter than ever while in use. The grinder is reasonably priced but a bit heavy, so it takes some muscle to empty it. The LEM is also one of the smallest grinders we tested, so it’s a good choice for small kitchens or campers. There are less expensive electric meat grinders on the market, but LEM’s grinder is well-built, comes with a lifetime customer support policy, and it’s LEM’s largest grinder.

HOUSNAT Heavy-Duty Electric Meat Grinder For Chicken Bones

The HOUSNAT Heavy-Duty Electric Meat Grinder is the best meat grinder for the money, and it easily beats out our previous pick, the Cuisinart MG-100E, on critical metrics. This grinder, which costs almost twice as much, has more than twice the horsepower as the Cuisinart, making it the most powerful grinder in our tests. It has a bigger capacity and better durability, with a 3.5-pound hopper and a 15-year warranty. The HOUSNAT also grinds faster—the three-horsepower motor can grind 9 pounds of meat per minute versus the 4.5 pounds per minute of the Cuisinart. The materials used to construct this grinder are of higher quality than the Cuisinart’s, and this grinder’s better motor and stronger gears make it more innovative and durable than the Cuisinart. The meat grinder is also more efficient since it squeezes the meat without destroying the fiber, which is vital for retaining nutrients and tenderness. The build quality is also better. We had no issues with our unit, which we received after two weeks, though the HOUSNAT’s manual is a bit confusing.

Nutronic Electric Meat Grinder with 3 Size Sausage Stuffer Tubes & a Kubbe Kit

The Nutronic Electric Meat Grinder set is an excellent choice for people who have prominent families or do a lot of cooking at home. It’s got enough power to mince up 5.5 pounds of meat per minute, which makes it one of the fastest models in our tests, and it’s also one of the most powerful, with a powerful 2200W motor. Two stainless steel cutting plates come with the unit, which house the 13 different cutting plates, so you can grind 23 different sausage sizes or make kubbe and cookies. The heavy-duty grinder also has an automatic circuit breaker that shuts the motor off if it gets too hot, so you can leave the meat grinder running safely for up to 10 minutes before it cools down again. The 5.5-pound capacity grinder bowl is also removable for easy clean-up. The 2200W motor and 5.5-pound capacity bowl, combined with its versatile accessories, make this an excellent choice for serious home cooks who cook a lot of chicken meat, poultry, and seafood.

Weston Pro Series Electric Meat Grinder

The Weston Pro Series Electric Meat Grinder is the most powerful grinder we tested, and its slide-out storage tray and convenient gear levers are so well-designed that we’d almost prefer them to electric grinders. The motor delivers 560 watts, which our testers described as “adequate,” The grinder does an excellent job of grinding 4-6 pounds of meat per minute. It’s also quieter than some grinders we tested, and that’s a welcome attribute when you’re using it to grind meat in the kitchen. The Weston grinder has a couple of drawbacks: The hopper design leaves a lot of space, which makes filling the large hopper difficult, and it doesn’t fit under the sink, which is a standard feature on countertop models. The hopper is also challenging to remove for cleaning, so after grinding up a lot of meat, you’ll need to wipe down the entire grinder. But otherwise, this grinder is versatile, simple to use, durable, and powerful enough for chicken bones.

LOVIMELA Meat Grinder

It’s big, powerful, and can handle pretty much any meat you want to grind. This grinder is, essentially, a chicken bones processor on steroids. Its power is unlike anything you’ll ever see in a home kitchen, and it’s powerful enough to handle just about any more delicate meats out there (beef, pork, duck, venison, chicken, even rabbit). The 3-pounds-per-minute processing speed is the fastest of any grinder we reviewed, and although the 1-minute cycle is short, it gets the job done. All accessories (including the grinding plates) are removable, so you adjust the speeds up to fit the meat you’re grinding and swap out the attachments. The kubbe attachment makes good kubbe, and the meat pusher is handy for making meat sauce and meatballs. The only complaint we might make is that, due to its large size, the LOVIMELA isn’t quite as portable as the MoGo Pro, but it’s worth the space it takes up for more serious home cooks.

Sunmile Electric Meat Grinder for chicken bones and Sausage Maker

The Sunmile Electric Meat Grinder for chicken bones and Sausage Maker is a durable machine with good power and fast grinding. It has three stainless steel grinding plates, one plastic food pusher, one sausage maker, one stainless steel cutting blade, one sausage staff maker, and one power cord. Everything can be washed in the dishwasher and comes with a one-year warranty. We liked that the motor is 250W rated and 1000W max locked, so it’s more powerful than most models. The grinder head included is big, and the food pusher is significant, too. We love the ability to grind up to 150 pounds per hour, and the motor is pretty quiet while running. We also liked that it comes with a sausage staff maker. You can reach it with a wire hook on the top, which is much easier to use than a sausage stuffer. Finally, we liked the circuit breaker locked in, which prevents the motor from burnout in case you accidentally overload the grinder.

FAQ about Meat Grinders For Chicken Bones answered by experts

1. What are the different types of meat grinders?

There are three meat grinders: the stomper, the screw type, and the crank type. The stomper type requires you to stomp firmly on the ground, so the grinder works. The screw-type has a screw that you can turn to turn the grinder. The crank type has two or more cranks attached to a motor that tightens down the grinder. The grinders are available in two types: the stationary type and the electric type. The crank-type grinder can easily be converted to a stationary type grinder so you can move the machine around.

2. Which type of meat grinder is best for chicken bones?

As a general recommendation, I recommend that you should avoid using a meat grinder on whole chickens or chicken parts. The main reason is that chicken bones are pretty tough, and the grinding rate is usually too slow for a chicken neck or wing, which will tend to fly out of the grinder. Instead, I recommend cutting chicken parts into smaller pieces. You can either grind them through the coarse plate of your KitchenAid food processor, or choose a hand-held/countertop grinder, which will give you more control over the grind. You can also use a meat grinder to mince small amounts of organic beef or pork. The grinding rate is usually fast enough for these kinds of meats.

3. How do I clean a meat grinder?

Start by unplugging the grinder. Remove all the parts and place them in a dish. Wash the parts with warm soapy water. Use a brush to clean the edges. Rinse and dry them. Dry the cleaning bowl and parts thoroughly before putting them back. When you clean up, a circle of grease might form on the grinding plate. To clean it, pour boiling water over it, soak it for about 10 minutes, then brush it with a soft brush or sponge. Spray it with warm water, then let it sit for 2 to 3 minutes. Finally, wipe it dry with a clean cloth.

4. How do I use and maintain a meat grinder?

Meat grinders should be thoroughly cleaned after every use. Always rinse the grinder nozzle and remove any meat scraps in the machine. Run water through the grinder and remove any meat fragments left in the machine’s hopper. Clean the grinder base as well by running water over it to remove all traces of grease.

Meat grinders usually come with several parts that you can sharpen.

The cutting blade in the bottom of the hopper should be sharpened regularly. Since the blade is sharp, you should only grind meat, not bones. To sharpen the blade, run hot water over it, followed by a cleaning paste or rub and a little elbow grease. After about 30 minutes, the blade should be sharp.

If you grind meat occasionally, you might be able to get away with sharpening the blade once a month. You may have to sharpen meat every week if you grind it a lot.

5. Which type of meat grinder is easiest to use for chicken bones?

To grind chicken bones, you need a meat grinder that has a powerful motor. Look for a model with manual controls. The manual controls allow you to crank the grinder until the mixture is finely ground slowly. If you have a small kitchen, look for a smaller grinder. A smaller grinder will fit into most cabinets without too much space. Garlic presses can also be used to grind chicken bones, but garlic presses are just for single-serving size and can’t grind as fine as the larger grinders.

Conclusion

Butchers spend years honing their knives; the same goes for meat grinders. Meat grinders are highly specialized pieces of equipment, and the best way to determine the right choice for you is to consider your needs and preferences. Hopefully, having read this test, you can shop for the best meat grinder for chicken bones based on your needs! Let me know if you have any questions – I’d love to hear from you!