• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • meet the team
  • blogger resources
  • Contact Me
My Account
Member Dashboard
40 Aprons Premium (Ad Free!)

40 Aprons

Delicious, Healthy-ish Meals for the Whole Family

  • All Recipes
  • Course
    • Appetizers
    • Cooking Basics
    • Breakfast
    • Condiments
    • Dessert
    • Main Course
    • Meal Prep
    • Side Dishes
    • Soups
  • Method
    • Air Fryer
    • Baking
    • Crockpot
    • Grilling
    • Instant Pot
    • Sous Vide
  • Dietary Needs
    • Dairy Free
    • Gluten Free
    • Keto
    • Low Carb
    • Paleo
    • Vegan
    • Vegetarian
    • Whole30
  • Cuisine
    • American
    • Asian
    • Indian
    • Italian
    • Mediterranean
    • Mexican & Latin
    • Southern
Home Blog Course Main Course

How to Truss a Chicken

Sam Guarnieri
Sam Guarnieri Posted: 08/09/21 Updated: 01/02/23
Leave a Comment
Jump to Recipe
DF Dairy Free GF Gluten Free K Keto LC Low Carb P Paleo 30 Whole30

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.

Pin graphic for how to truss a chicken
Pin graphic for how to truss a chicken
Pin graphic for how to truss a chicken
Pin graphic for how to truss a chicken
Pin graphic for how to truss a chicken
Pin graphic for how to truss a chicken
Pin graphic for how to truss a chicken
Pin graphic for how to truss a chicken
Pin graphic for how to truss a chicken
Pin graphic for how to truss a chicken
Pin graphic for how to truss a chicken

This simple method for how to truss a chicken takes just a few minutes! Once done, your chicken will cook more evenly and extra crispy.

showing how to truss a chicken on two sheets of parchment paper with scissors and butcher's twine

Why You Should Master This Cooking Method

  • Struggling to get your chicken to cook evenly or can’t seem to achieve the super crispy skin your heart desires? Well, this quick and easy trick will help with both of those things! Once a chicken is trussed, it will bake more evenly and the skin will get a whole lot crispier.
  • It takes no more than a couple minutes to do! This method on how to truss a chicken is super fast and convenient. All you need is a whole chicken, some butcher’s twine, and very little effort.
  • You can add this step to any whole roast chicken recipe you’d like! I chose to to simply season my chicken with a little bit of ghee, salt, and pepper (following this recipe) after I trussed it. However, you can season and cook your trussed chicken any way your heart desires!

Other Must-Know How-Tos

How to Freeze Broccoli (with 3 Cooking Methods)

How to Dice an Onion… the Easy Way!

How to Brine a Turkey

What You Need to Truss a Chicken

Whole Chicken – Any sized bird will work here. I used a 3 ½ pound chicken and had great results, but you can truss any sized chicken you’d like. You can even use this how to truss a chicken method on a turkey! Come back to this post around the holidays and simply follow the same steps to truss your Thanksgiving turkey.

Butcher’s Twine – This 100% cotton, unbleached string is completely oven-safe. Do not try to use any other kind of string when cooking. Butcher’s twine is the only twine that is totally safe for culinary use. I recommend purchasing a large spool of butcher’s twine to last you years! You’ll have plenty of twine to truss all your chickens and for any other twine-necessary recipes that comes your way.

Chef’s Tips

  • Practice this how to truss a chicken method a few times before tying and securing the twine. I always do one practice run on my bird before committing to a knot! However, if you do feel like you might’ve messed up – simply cut off the twine and try it again.
  • Remember that you will get better with time! Trussing a chicken becomes almost muscle-memory after your first few tries. And once you see how much more evenly and crispy your chicken bakes when trussed, you’ll never want to not truss a chicken again.
  • Trim the ends of your twine once you’ve tied the bow. Depending on the size of your chicken, you might have quite a bit of twine leftover. Remove any extra string with a simple snip of your scissors before baking!
showing how to truss a chicken with a roasted chicken in a baking dish

Whole Roast Chicken Recipes You’ll Love

  • Slow Cooker Garlic Butter Whole Chicken with Gravy
  • 30 Whole Chicken Recipes
  • Spatchcock Chicken with Garlic Herb Butter
  • Best Ever Easy Roast Chicken
  • Quick Chicken Brine
  • Mango Habanero Wings

Hey – you’ve made it this far, so now we’re basically best friends! If you make this recipe, I’d love for you to give it a quick review & star rating ★ below. Make sure you follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, and Facebook, too!

showing how to truss a chicken with a roasted chicken in a baking dish

How to Truss a Chicken

Prep:15 minutes
Cook:0 minutes
Total:15 minutes
This simple method for how to truss a chicken takes just a few minutes! Once done, your chicken will cook more evenly and extra crispy.
Print Save Saved! Click Here to Remove Ads
6 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 whole chicken

Equipment

  • 3 ¼ feet (approximately 1 meter) butcher's twine

Instructions 

  • Place a piece of kitchen twine about 1 meter long in the center of your work surface.
  • Place the chicken on top, breast up, and bring the twine up and over the legs, down along the crease where the leg meets the body.
  • Run twine under then over the ends of each leg. Bring strings toward each other and cross them over each other to form an X.
  • Take each end of twine and pull it back underneath each leg, pulling tight to bring both legs close together.
    How to truss a chicken step 3
  • Lift twine up and over legs, meeting in the center and secure with a bow.
    How to truss a chicken step 4
  • Take wing tips and pull them up and behind the body of the chicken, tucking behind the body. Cook chicken as desired.

Notes

  • I cooked my trussed chicken with the recipe from our Best Ever Easy Roast Chicken post!
  • This method will also work with a turkey! Simply follow the same steps for how to truss a turkey instead.
 
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving out of 6 from a 3 ½ pound whole chicken. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands, types, and size of chicken used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 273kcal, Protein: 24g, Fat: 19g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g, Monounsaturated Fat: 8g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 95mg, Sodium: 89mg, Potassium: 240mg, Vitamin A: 178IU, Vitamin C: 2mg, Calcium: 14mg, Iron: 1mg

Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.

 

Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.

 

To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.

© Author: Sam Guarnieri

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @40aprons on social and be sure to leave a review on the blog post!

Rate Recipe Tag Me on Instagram
Sam Guarnieri

Meet Sam Guarnieri

Sam is a travel, food, and fitness enthusiast from the New York metro area who loves creating new and inventive recipes. Her love of food goes all the way back to her early childhood, cooking alongside her mom and Nonna – the two best cooks she knows! She's a big believer that good-for-you food can still explode with flavor and (most importantly) be easy to make. When she's not in the kitchen, Sam can usually be found planning her next vacation, spending time outdoors, or bingeing the latest Netflix docu-series.

Read more...

You may also like...

  • Beer Marinated Chicken
  • Chipotle Chicken Thighs
  • Graphic for 25 Mexican chicken recipes
    25 Delicious Mexican Chicken Recipes

Reader Interactions

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Have a question? Submit your question or comment below.

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

What’s Popular?

Reusable meal prep trays with sweet potato, scrambled eggs, and sausage for a whole30 breakfast

Whole30 Breakfast Meal Prep

Crispy, golden air fryer tater tots in a large white serving bowl next to a small ramekin of bright red ketchup.

Air Fryer Tater Tots

Overhead view of marry me chicken in a cast iron skillet

Marry Me Chicken (Chicken in a Sun Dried Tomato Cream Sauce)

Instant pot chicken and rice in a bowl

Dreamy Instant Pot Chicken and Rice

In Season

Whole30 In-n-Out burgers close up

Whole30 Burgers – Burger Joint Style (Paleo, Low Carb)

Overhead photo of keto chicken tortilla soup in a rustic bowl

Keto Chicken Tortilla Soup (Low Carb, Gluten Free)

Air fryer chicken wings on a platter with sauce

Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Wings in Buffalo Sauce

Instant pot frozen chicken breast - easy chicken recipes for dinners with few ingredients

Instant Pot Frozen Chicken Breast

As seen on:

More Goodies + NO Ads!

Become a 40 Aprons Premium Member!

All the 40 Aprons content you love - now even better.

  • Member-Exclusive Recipes
  • Meal Plans & Grocery Lists
  • eBooks
  • NO ADS!
Join now

Privacy Policy

Accessibility

Disclaimers

Contact

© 2023 40 Aprons
Site Credits Designed by Melissa Rose Design Developed by Once Coupled
Back to Top
63 shares