Creamy, salted butter, packed with delicious savoury flavour from crumbled roasted chicken skin. It’s the ultimate accompaniment to freshly baked bread, or as a topping for steamed vegetables.

Serve it up as part of your Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner as a tasty alternative to regular butter.

Close up of a bowl of chicken skin butter with slices of bread in the background.

I saw this on a menu in a restaurant and was immediately intrigued.

I love a good salted butter, spread onto artisan bread for an appetiser. But chicken skin butter? That’s a whole new level!

I’ve made bacon butter in the past (also amazing – I’ll have to share the recipe for that one too), but chicken butter has a more complex, savoury flavour.
Spread on bread you’ll find your eyeballs rolling back in your head when you try this.

It’s also a really great way to take simple steamed vegetables to a whole new level.

Simply add a spoonful or two of this butter onto the hot vegetables and everyone will be taking second and third helpings, asking how you made them taste THAT GOOD.

I’m making a batch of chicken skin butter for Christmas this year to serve with my veggies on Christmas day (and also to spread on bread when I make the obligatory turkey butties).

📋 What do we need?

Ingredients for chicken skin butter on a wooden table. There is an overlay with wording for the ingredients on the image.

Chicken Skin – the chicken skins are peeled from chicken thighs (see further down in this post for ideas on what to do with the chicken thigh meat).
Butter – I use unsalted butter – this will enable you to control the amount of salt in the recipe by adding in more later if needed.

📺 Watch how to make it

Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.

👩‍🍳PRO TIP You can also make chicken skin butter using leftover skin from your roast chicken chicken dinner. Simply remove the skin, season a little more and place in the oven for a few minutes to crisp up. Then continue on with the recipe. If you’re using leftover skin, you won’t have the leftover chicken fat, but don’t worry, it will still be really flavourful.

A bowl of chicken skin butter and a piece of bread with the butter spread on it. There is also a knife, a couple of cherry tomatoes and sliced of un-buttered bread scattered around.

🍽️ What to serve it with

Spread on warm bread
Scoop it up with homemade flatbreads
Drizzle on steamed vegetables – especially sprouts, broccoli, carrots and green beans
Use it to gently fry cabbage (regular green cabbage or kale) or peas

I like to save a little of the crumbled chicken skin to sprinkle on top of the butter once I’ve placed it in the bowl. That’s totally optional though.

Overhead image of chicken skin butter in a grey bowl on a wooden board. There are slices of bread, some vine cherry tomatoes, a knife and a green napkin around the bowl.

🍲 Recipes to use the chicken thigh meat

Tall close up image of chicken skin butter in a bowl. There are slices of bread in the background.

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Chicken Skin Butter

By Nicky Corbishley

Creamy, salted butter, packed with delicious savoury flavour from crumbled roasted chicken skin. It's the ultimate accompaniment to freshly baked bread, or as a topping for steamed vegetables.

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 25

Total Time: 35

Servings: 8 tablespoons

Course: accompaniment, side dish

Cuisine: British

Ingredients

▢ skin from 4 chicken thighs
▢ ½ tsp salt
▢ ¼ tsp black pepper
▢ 120 g (1 stick) unsalted butter room temperature

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F (fan).
Place the chicken skins on a baking tray and sprinkle with the salt and pepper.
skin from 4 chicken thighs, ½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp black pepper
Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until crisp. If using an Airfryer instead of the oven, cook at 180C/350F for 10-12 minutes, checking once or twice, until crisp.
Remove the chicken skins from the tray and place on a wire rack to cool. Reserve any remaining fat from the tray and place in a small bowl.
Place the butter in a bowl and beat with a wooden spoon (or whisk with an electric whisk) until light and creamy.
120 g (1 stick) unsalted butter
When the chicken skins are cool, place in a food processor and blend until they resemble fine breadcrumbs.
Stir in crumbled chicken skin and 1 tablespoon of the reserved chicken fat from the tray (the rest can be used for cooking – it makes great fat for roast potatoes!).
Give it a taste and add in more salt and pepper to taste (I sometimes add in an extra ¼ teaspoon of salt at this point, especially if I’m using it to serve over vegetables), then serve.

Video

Notes

Making ahead:

If making ahead, cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days, then remove from the refrigerator about an hour before serving to allow it to soften up again.

Making a butter log:

If you want to make a butter log (for slicing into rounds) spoon the mixed butter out into a fat sausage shape (2.5cm or 1” in diameter) on a long piece of clingfilm.
Wrap the butter in the clingfilm and roll it on the countertop to get an even sausage shape. Place in the refrigerator to firm up.
Unwrap and slice into discs when ready to serve.

Cooking the chicken skin in an airfryer:

Season the chicken skin and airfry at 180C/350F for 12 minutes, checking once or twice, until crisp.

Using leftover skin from a whole cooked chicken:

You can also make chicken skin butter using leftover skin from your roast chicken chicken dinner.
Simply remove the skin, season a little more with salt and pepper and place in the oven for a few minutes to crisp up.
Then continue on with the recipe.
If you’re using leftover skin, you won’t have the leftover chicken fat, but don’t worry, it will still be really flavourful.

Ingredient additions

If you want to change it up a little, try these options:

Add the leaves from a sprig of fresh thyme or rosemary when mixing the butter
Add a pinch of dried sage and/or lemon zest when mixing.
Stir in a couple of cloves of crushed roasted garlic (or one small clove of fresh garlic, or add a pinch of garlic powder or garlic salt) when mixing.

Nutritional information is approximate, per tablespoon.
I’ve based this on each chicken skin being approx 68 calories (calorie calculator estimations range from approx 49-70 cals per skin)

Nutrition

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links – which means if you buy the product I get a small commission (at no extra cost to you). If you do buy, then thank you! That’s what helps us to keep Kitchen Sanctuary running. The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on several factors. For more information please see our Terms & Conditions.