You can save a lot of money in your grocery budget by buying a whole chicken instead of specific pieces or already cut-up birds. Of course, you have to know how to cut up a whole chicken to make it worthwhile. I’ve got you covered! I’ll walk through the process with you, step-by-step.
You can learn how to cut up a whole chicken. Just embrace the funny-shaped pieces and remember they taste the same as perfect pieces. It will only take a couple of times and you’ll be cutting up a whole chicken into your family’s favorite pieces.
My Granny taught me to cut up a chicken before I was 11. We had some funny-shaped pieces, but after a couple of tries, I got it.
Whether you buy your chickens or raise them, learning to cut up a whole chicken is an important skill to save money and time. It may seem difficult, but it’s not. Let’s take it step-by-step.
How Many Pieces Can I Get When I Cut Up A Whole Chicken?
As with most things in life, there are many ways to perform the same chore. When learning how to cut up a whole chicken, you will discover the number of pieces you can get ranges from 11-16. The range is wide because there are differing opinions on the pieces and which are used or wasted.
Cutting a whole chicken into 11 pieces yields:
two breasts, one pulley bone, two wings, two back pieces, two legs, two thighs
Cutting a whole chicken into 12 pieces yields:
two breasts, two wings, two wing tips, two back pieces, two legs, two thighs
Cutting a whole chicken into 13 pieces yields:
two breasts, one pulley bone, two wings, two wing tips, two back pieces, two legs, two thighs
Cutting a whole chicken into 14 pieces yields:
two breasts, one pulley bone, two wings, two wing tips, two back pieces, two legs, two thighs
Cutting a whole chicken into 16 pieces yields:
two breasts, one pulley bone, two wing drumsticks, two wing pieces, two wing tips, two back pieces, two legs, two thighs
You can see now, it’s about perspective. I cut up a chicken into 11 pieces. I do this mostly because it’s the way Granny taught me how to cut up a whole chicken and now it’s the way my family likes their pieces.
Now that there’s just the two of us, I get 5-6 meals out of these 11 pieces depending on what I’m fixing with them.
I usually put the lower back piece, a leg, and both wings together in a freezer bag to use for making broth for recipes or soups.
If someone in your family likes wings, you can remove the tips from them put the tips in the bag with the broth pieces. If you have small children, cut the wing in half so they can have a “drumstick” that’s a manageable size for them.
There’s a bit of a psychological trick to this. When you cut a piece of chicken into two pieces, the mind says, “I’ve had two pieces of chicken.”
When the boys were growing up, I cut the package of bacon in half. When we ate, they were thrilled to know they could each of four pieces of bacon although they were really only having two whole pieces. Their minds said, “Four pieces! All Right!” I still cut the bacon in half.
Preparing To Cut Up a Whole Chicken
- The first step is to gather your supplies. Once your hands and utensils are dirty you don’t want to be trying to open bags or tearing off wrapping materials.
- Tear off pieces of freezer paper or plastic wrap according to how many meals you have planned to get out of the chicken. This is determined by the number of people in your family and the type of meal you are fixing.
- Also, open your freezer bags. I use gallon size bags and put the wrapped portions in one bag. You can do this or you can have a separate bag for each meal portion.
- Run a sink of hot soapy water in case you need to rinse your hands or wipe something.
- Be sure your knife is sharpened. A sharp knife is the number one tip I would give you. Cutting through bone is hard on any knife so start with a good one.
- Be sure your cutting surface is clean. It’s important to have a cutting board dedicated to only meat so you don’t cross-contaminate other foods.
- Before you begin cutting, rinse the whole chicken thoroughly with cool water. I even rinse the birds we grow ourselves. Rinsing achieves two things. It cuts down the possibility of bacteria lingering on store-bought birds and removes excess blood from the cavity of the chicken.
How to Cut Up a Whole Chicken
This is how I cut up a whole chicken into 11 pieces
1. Place the rinsed, whole chicken breast side up on your cutting surface.
2. Pull the legs away from the body to expose the thin skin between the legs and the body cavity.
3. Use your knife to cut through the skin to reveal the thigh.
4. Bend the leg quarter towards the chicken’s back to pop the thighbone out of the socket so it’s easy to cut.
5. Cut through the socket and surrounding skin to remove the leg quarter from the body.
6. Repeat for the leg quarter on the opposite side.
7. Once you have the leg quarters separated from the body, feel for the joint which connects the leg and thigh.
8. Cut through this joint to separate the leg and thigh. If you’re planning to grill the leg quarters, you may want to leave them whole.
9. Next, pull the wings away from the chicken’s body to reveal the shoulder joint where the wings join it.
10. Cut through this joint to remove the wings. It’s fine if you have to rotate or turn the bird over to get it done.
11. Depending on how many pieces you decided to get when you cut up a whole chicken, you will now cut off the wing tips, separate the wing drumsticks from the wing arm, leave the wings whole, or any combination you want.
12. The next step is to remove the breast from the back. The breasts are connected to the body by the rib cage. To separate the breast from the body, we will cut through the rib cage. To do this, stand the chicken where its neck is facing down.
13. Use your sharp knife to sever the ribs on both sides of the breasts by running it down towards the neck.
14. Once you have severed the ribs from the body, you’ll find the breasts are still attached by the shoulder blades. These will usually pop out by bending them away from the body to push them backwards. If you have to cut them, bend them and slice through the exposed joint.
15. Now the breasts and back pieces are separated. Cut or pop the top back piece away from the lower back piece at the connecting joint.
16. Here again, the number of pieces you intend to get determines what’s next. To get a pulley bone piece, use your index finger to feel for a notch 1″ – 2” from the top of the breast. The size of the chicken’s breast determines the location of the pulley bone notch.
17. From this notch, cut straight down until you feel the thin pulley bone separate from the breast. This is a shallow cut so go slowly. You will feel it break free.
18. Without removing your knife, turn the blade towards the top of the breasts (towards where the neck was) and cut through the “legs” of the pulley bone or, once you’ve cut to them, you can usually break them off to separate this piece from the breasts.
19. It’s time to split the breast into two pieces. The breast bone is one of the thickest bones to cut through so it takes a little umph. Run your knife down the middle of the breast bone chopping through the breast bone as you go. I usually end up with one side a little larger than the other.
20. At this point, I usually run the knife between the meat and the bones to remove the breast meat. From here you can leave each breast piece whole or cut it into tenders.
If you do cut the breast meat from the bone, keep the bones and add them to the bag of broth or soup pieces.
Final Notes on How to Cut Up a Whole Chicken
My favorite piece of fried chicken is the upper back. If you don’t like to eat the backs, add them to the bag for broth or soup pieces.
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