Pasture-Raised Chicken vs. Store-Bought Chicken: Is There Really a Difference?

Let’s talk about chickens.

Chicken is one of those things most of us have bought from the grocery store our entire adult lives without really thinking much about it. You grab a pack of chicken breasts, thighs, or maybe a whole chicken, put it in your buggy, and go on.

But then I started going down that rabbit hole with products and food, and it got me thinking.

What actually is the difference between chicken at the grocery store and chicken raised outside on pasture? Is there actually a nutritional difference? And what do all those labels on the chicken at the grocery store actually mean?

I wanted to start with how chickens are raised because I think that helps everything else make a little more sense.

Most conventional meat chickens in the United States are raised inside large poultry houses with a lot of other chickens. They’re protected from the weather and predators, and their environment is managed by the farmer, but generally those chickens don’t spend their time outside on pasture. They aren’t out scratching through the grass, pecking at bugs and plants, and getting direct sunlight like a chicken living outside on pasture will.

So obviously, those are two very different ways of raising a chicken.

But then you’ve got organic chicken too.

And honestly, this is where those labels can get confusing.

When you hear “organic chicken,” what do you picture?

I think a lot of us picture a chicken outside walking around on green grass, but that’s not necessarily what organic means.

USDA organic poultry has requirements for things like certified organic feed, medications, and outdoor access, but organic doesn’t automatically mean that chicken spent its life walking around on green pasture.

Organic and pasture-raised aren’t the same thing.

Then there are all the other things written on chicken packages, like “no antibiotics” and “no added hormones.”

Okay...what does that actually mean?

Because you’ve probably seen “no added hormones” on a package of chicken and thought, I’m getting that one.

Here’s something I learned while researching this: hormones aren’t approved for use in raising poultry in the United States.

And learning things like that is what makes me ask even more questions.

What’s in their feed? What are they being given? What went into raising that chicken that I’m eventually putting into my own body?

What is that chicken eating if it’s not being a chicken?

That matters to me.

And I think it’s okay to ask those questions.

Proverbs 18:15 says, “The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out.”

Ask questions. Learn. Look into things yourself.

Because sometimes you start looking into one thing and end up with ten more questions.

At least that’s what’s happened to me. 😂

Raising my own chickens has also completely changed the way I look at all of this because now I can tell you exactly what pasture-raised chicken looks like here at Broken Picker Farm.

My meat chickens start out in the brooder while they’re little and need the extra warmth. And yes, they get a little extra love while they’re in there because they’re so cute and cuddly. 😂 Once they’re old enough and feathered enough, usually around two to three weeks old, I move them out onto pasture.

They still have shelter and protection, but now they’re on grass. They’re scratching, pecking, eating bugs, picking at the grass and plants, getting sunshine, lounging around and just being chickens.

Nobody has to teach a chicken to scratch.

Nobody has to sit down with a chicken and explain how to look for a bug.

They just know.

God created them that way.

That doesn’t mean my chickens survive on grass because they don’t. Chickens aren’t cows. 😂 I still feed them a nutritionally complete chicken feed, but being on pasture gives them the opportunity to forage in addition to the feed I’m giving them.

Now, if you’re spending more money on a pasture-raised chicken, there’s probably another question you want answered.

Am I actually going to notice a difference?

You should notice some differences before you ever cook it. The color can be different. The amount and color of the fat can be different. The meat can feel firmer and the texture can be different.

And then there’s the taste.

One of my customers said something that summed it up perfectly:

“Chicken to cook at home that tastes like chicken.”

That’s it.

It tastes like chicken.

There’s flavor there.

I think sometimes we get so used to what we’ve always eaten that we don’t realize food can taste different.

Think about a tomato from somebody’s garden in the middle of summer compared to one from the grocery store.

They’re both tomatoes.

But come on. They don’t taste the same. 😂

And chicken can be like that too.

But taste and quality were only part of what I wanted to know. I wanted to know about the nutrition too.

If a chicken is living differently, does that change the nutritional value of the meat?

Research has found that pasture-raised chicken can have higher levels of certain nutrients, including omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, and other antioxidants in some studies. There have also been studies showing differences in total fat.

That doesn’t mean every pasture-raised chicken is going to have the exact same nutritional profile because there are a lot of things that can affect it, including what the chicken eats and what’s in its regular feed.

But I think it’s pretty amazing that how an animal is raised can affect the food that eventually ends up on our table.

And it got me thinking.

Look at how much money we spend trying to add nutrition back into our lives. We buy vitamins, supplements, omega-3 capsules and all kinds of things.

What if we paid a little more attention to our food first?

Because I think we’ve gotten so disconnected from food that sometimes we forget food is supposed to nourish us.

And the more I learn about it, the more amazed I am by the way God designed all of this.

The grass. The animals. The plants. Us tending them. And eventually food coming from it.

There’s a whole system there that we didn’t create.

God did.

And that’s also part of why knowing your farmer matters to me.

You can ask questions.

What are your chickens eating? How are they cared for? Where are they raised?

When you buy chicken from me, you can ask me those exact questions. You can also come here and see where they’re raised.

That’s what Broken Picker Farm is about.

Knowing where your food came from.

But I don’t want you to read all of this and think you have to go home and change everything you eat tomorrow.

That would be overwhelming.

That’s not how any of this happened for me either.

The more I’ve asked questions, the more I’ve learned. And the more I’ve learned, the more I’ve changed things little by little.

Maybe the only thing you do differently is turn the package over the next time you’re buying chicken and actually read it.

Maybe you find a local farmer and ask them a few questions.

Maybe chicken isn’t even the thing you change right now.

Just start somewhere.

Learn what you can. Ask questions. Decide what makes sense for your family.

And whether the chicken on your table came from your own backyard, a farmer down the road, or the grocery store, be thankful for the food God has provided.

You don’t have to change everything overnight.

Just keep learning.