How to Cut-Up a Whole Chicken

Kitchen Tips:

How to Cut-Up a Whole Chicken

If you’re intimated by cutting up a whole chicken, not worries, I’m here to help. You’ll save money and have more meal options.

PREP

Watch a Martha Stewart Everyday Living video
Get our kitchen shears, cutting board, and sharpen your knife.
Rinse and Dry your chicken with a paper towel. Keep another towel handy for wiping your hands

Pieces You’ll Get

A 4lb8z chicken gets you about:

1lb boneless chicken breasts
1lb8oz thigh and drumsticks
5oz wings
1lb8oz bones for making chicken stock

*I use the skin because I know the quality of our chicken.

Bone-In Parts

For the Bone-in pieces, this is the only KEY POINT you need to know:

Go Slowly and Everything will remove naturally.

Main Technique: Move the piece back and forth like a hinge. cut around from front to back, and it will then give enough you can pop it out and remove without ever cutting bone.

Do not cut bone, just through the joint…And do not cut into the breast meat.

1. Remove Leg quarters

Lay chicken on back and move the drumstick. You’ll see the natural separation. Cut around and bend back and forth between the thigh and the drumstick.

This thigh bone will give, just cut more of the meat behind and eventually you’ll remove enough the thigh bone will pop out. Lay Aside.

2. Separate Drumstick

There is an obvious fat line separating the drumstick.

Cut around it and wiggle the joints back and forth. Keep cutting and then move the joints until it pops out cleanly.

3. Wings

Wiggle the wing, look for movement and cut around that shoulder joint. Wiggle again, and cut more until it pops out.

Do the same with the wing tips–here you can use shears, too, after wiggling at the joint.

Separate Breast Meat from Bone

1. Remove back for Stock

Lay chicken on it’s side and you’ll see where the front and back move. You’ll cut right between that side….On both sides.

You’re not hitting bones, just at the top you’ll cut through a little bit of bones.

Bones go in crockpot.

2. Remove breast meat

Lay chicken breast up and back bone side will be touching the table, neck side close to you. (Pull off skin only if you want to).

Cut from the bottom, center right along that bone. You want to leave no meat on the bone, within reason.

Go slowly. Turn the chicken around and continue your work.

Pull meat away from the bone as you cut. There will be a tenderloin (chicken tenders) that will be there too.

When you get to wishbone, loosen with your finger the meat holding it in place, wiggle and bend it away from the body and cut around. Breaking concerns me because I don’t want any bone pieces.

3. Chicken Stock

Put the back in the crockpot for chicken stock.

Put the chicken bone with extra meat in the crockpot for broth. Just cover the bones right over the height of the bones with filtered water.

Cook on low for 12 hours or more and strain.

There will be meat for soup/rice. You can gently separate slowly with your fingers, squeezing to make sure you feel absolutely no bones.

Mea Idea: The over baked chicken dinner used the bone-in pieces shown below + green beans. The stock was used to make a chicken and potato soup with biscuits. The breast meat was saved for panfrying and serving over butter noodles with a side of kale and sliced carrots.