10 Easy Steps To Cut A Whole Chicken
Chicken is a huge staple in our house. We use it in chicken curry, chicken noodle soup, chicken tikka masala, chicken masala, fajitas, chicken parmesan, and so much more. It can definitely add up in our grocery bill. One way we save every month is by buying whole chickens rather than pre-cut meats.Cutting up a whole chicken can be extremely intimidating! I know it was for me! Well, I'm here to help you. Here is a step by step guide for cutting a whole chicken.
Step One
Rinse off chicken with water. Pat dry. Grab a pair of sharp cooking scissors, cutting board, and two bowls. One bowl will be for waste and one is for chicken meat.
Step Two
Take the skin off the chicken. The easiest way to do this is start breast side up and put your fingers under the skin. Slowly pull it away from the meat. The goal here is to NOT rip the skin. It is much easier to take it off if it's in one piece. Start at the breasts, then move to the wings, then the lower half of the body, and end with the legs.If it does break, you can use a paper towel to hold it better.
Step Three
This step helped me to handle the chicken better. I broke it in half. All you have to do for this is turn it, breast side down, find the middle, and break by pushing in.
Step Four
In order to cut around the bones all you have to do is find the joints (where the bones connect) Bend the piece back and forth and you can feel where they connect. Cut right in the middle and it's super easy. Here, we are starting to cut the wings.
Step Five
Now find the second joint and cut.
Step Six
The neck bone is easy to spot. Smack dab in the middle here. Now, cut down the neck on both sides. You will be cutting small bones here, but it will be easy. You can use the neck bone for stocks.
Step Seven
You have a bit of preference that comes in for this step. If you like bone in chicken, cut it in half and you're good to go.
Step Eight
If you don't like the bones, first cut out the wish bone shown here. Then cut out the rest of the small bones under the breast.
Step Nine
Find the joint and cut the chicken legs. This part is easy enough to tear off as well.
Step Ten
This is the last bit of the chicken. There are a lot of small and large bones so be sure to feel and get them all out. I cut around and pulled off as much meat as I could.
Ta-da! Now, that wasn't as hard as you thought, was it? Once you do it the first time, it becomes easier each time.A few extra tips....
- Make sure you feel through to find any little shards of bone. I like to give mine and extra rinse at the end just to be sure.
- Hold onto the bones to make a delicious chicken stock.
- Try making a dish with the large bones in and see how much of a difference it makes.