Chicken feet are eaten as food in dozens of countries, used to make rich stocks and broths, processed into commercial gelatin, sold as pet treats, and valued for their exceptionally high collagen content. What looks like kitchen waste in one culture is a prized ingredient or a health food in another. Here’s a closer look at the surprisingly wide range of uses.
A Staple Ingredient Across the Globe
Chicken feet show up on menus from East Asia to the Caribbean to Southern Africa, prepared in wildly different ways depending on the region.
In China, they’re so popular they have their own poetic name: “phoenix claws.” In Guangdong and Hong Kong, the classic dim sum preparation involves deep-frying, then steaming the feet until they puff up before braising them in a sauce of fermented black beans, bean paste, and sugar. Mainland snack bars sell marinated versions simmered with soy sauce, Sichuan peppercorn, star anise, garlic, clove, cinnamon, and chili flakes. A cold preparation called bai yun feng zhao marinates the feet in rice vinegar, rice wine, sugar, salt, and minced ginger. Southern Chinese cooks also simmer them with raw peanuts into a thin soup.
In the Philippines, chicken feet are a street food staple known as “adidas” (a nod to the shoe brand). Vendors marinate them in calamansi juice, spices, and brown sugar, then grill them over charcoal. They also turn up in Philippine adobo. In South Africa, chicken feet go by “amanqina” or “runaways” and are seasoned and grilled in townships across all nine provinces. In Trinidad, they’re boiled with seasonings and soaked with cucumbers, onions, and peppers into a cold party dish called chicken foot souse.
Portugal’s Azores islands fry them into rice dishes with spices and olive oil or stew them with beans. In Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and Moldova, boiled chicken feet help set aspic, a cold jellied meat dish called kholodets or piftie. Thailand works them into green chicken curry served over rice noodles. Even Egypt got in on the trend around 2022, when the country’s National Nutrition Institute highlighted chicken feet as a budget-friendly, protein-rich alternative.
Why Chefs Add Them to Stock
Professional and home cooks prize chicken feet for one thing above all else: they make stock incredibly rich. The feet are the most gelatinous part of the chicken, packed with collagen that dissolves into the liquid during a long simmer. Once refrigerated, a stock made with chicken feet firms up into a jelly you can scoop with a spoon. That gelatin translates to a silky, full-bodied mouthfeel when the stock is reheated and used in soups, sauces, gravies, and risottos. If you’ve ever wondered why a restaurant’s chicken soup tastes more luxurious than yours, chicken feet in the stock pot are often the secret.
Collagen, Joint Support, and Skin Health
Chicken feet are essentially skin, tendons, cartilage, and bones, which makes them one of the richest whole-food sources of collagen. That collagen is the reason they’re associated with two health claims: better skin and healthier joints.
On the skin side, evidence suggests that dietary collagen may improve skin hydration, elasticity, and density. A six-month study of 105 women with moderate cellulite found that regular collagen intake significantly reduced cellulite and skin waviness compared with a control group. A review of 11 studies covering 805 people showed promising results for both wound healing and skin aging. Collagen appears to work in part by boosting levels of hyaluronic acid, a molecule that helps skin retain water. In many East Asian food cultures, eating chicken feet for better skin is a long-held tradition, and the research is starting to back up the logic behind it.
For joints, chicken feet cartilage contains two compounds that are widely sold as supplements for joint health: glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate. Researchers have successfully extracted both from chicken feet cartilage using a simple boiling method, yielding roughly 8% glucosamine and 2% chondroitin sulfate by weight. These are the same compounds found in popular joint supplements, and the daily recommended intake typically cited is 1,500 mg of glucosamine and 1,200 mg of chondroitin. An animal study found that chicken feet extract showed anti-inflammatory properties relevant to gouty arthritis. While eating a bowl of braised chicken feet isn’t the same as taking a standardized supplement, the cartilage does deliver meaningful amounts of these compounds.
Industrial and Commercial Uses
Beyond the kitchen, chicken feet serve as raw material for commercial gelatin production. Chicken-derived gelatin is considered a suitable alternative to gelatin made from mammals or fish, and it’s used in food manufacturing, pharmaceuticals (like capsule shells), and biomedical applications such as wound dressings. For companies and consumers looking to avoid pork or beef gelatin for religious, dietary, or ethical reasons, chicken feet offer a viable substitute.
Chicken feet are also sold as natural chew treats for dogs. The dried feet give dogs something tough to gnaw on while providing a collagen-rich snack, and they’re marketed as a single-ingredient, minimally processed alternative to synthetic chews.
A Massive Global Trade
Chicken feet aren’t just a curiosity. They’re a serious commodity in international trade. China is by far the world’s largest importer, with demand driven by snack food companies, foodservice, and ready-to-eat processing. China’s primary suppliers are Brazil, the United States, Thailand, and Russia, with Brazil traditionally accounting for more than half of total imports.
The trade is significant enough to be affected by geopolitics. U.S. frozen paw exports to China have declined in recent years due to restrictions tied to avian influenza outbreaks, and Brazilian supply has also faced export limitations. As of 2025, the total tariff China applies to frozen U.S. chicken claws sits at 55% plus a per-kilogram fee, reflecting layers of trade retaliation. U.S. exporters have pivoted toward heat-treated paws, which are cheaper and can be re-fried or further prepared after arrival, though those shipments now face tighter inspections.
This trade exists because chicken feet are a low-value byproduct in countries like the United States (where consumer demand is minimal) but a high-value product in China and other importing nations. American poultry processors can sell feet for export revenue that would otherwise be lost, while Chinese consumers get a product they consider a delicacy.
How to Prepare Them at Home
If you want to try cooking chicken feet yourself, preparation is the most important step. Start by clipping off the toenails with kitchen shears, then scrub the feet thoroughly. Blanch them in boiling water with a few slices of ginger, green onion, and a splash of cooking wine. This draws out impurities that rise to the surface as scum. Drain and rinse the feet clean after blanching.
From there, the simplest approach is braising. Combine the blanched feet with soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, garlic, green onion, Sichuan peppercorn, star anise, sugar, and water. Bring everything to a simmer, cover, and cook for about an hour. The feet are done when the skin is tender and pulls easily from the bones. You can eat them warm or chill them in the fridge for a couple of hours, which firms up the texture. For stock, just simmer the blanched feet in water with aromatics for several hours, strain, and refrigerate. You’ll have a pot of jiggly, collagen-rich gel ready to use as the base for any soup or sauce.