This is all about the easier way of how to cut up a full chicken with pictures and step-by-step. Also, no boning knife needed. So, discover how to have anywhere from 6 to 12 pieces in total. Also, this is a part of our Food Guides & Cut Food categories.

Introduction of How To Cut Up A Full Chicken

See how to cut up a full chicken, fryer, hen, or whatever is similar. And it can be raw or cooked. So, keep reading and you’ll learn the knowledge of what restaurant cooks and butchers know, in the comfort of your own home. And you’ll save money doing it. Also, the best part is you don’t need a special boning knife.

Can You Buy A Whole Chicken Already Cut Up?

Yes, you can buy a whole chicken already cut up. But, they’re not always available. And that’s because it’s a low volume seller in a grocery store these days. Because everyone’s very busy, most people will select bulk cutup breasts, leg quarters, or wings. So, with that said, the whole uncut raw chickens are still available because cooking a whole bird remains popular. Therefore, the whole raw chicken that’s fully cut up is not profitable enough for grocers.

It’s demand has been replaced by specific chicken pieces in bulk. So, why do we want to expend our energy to cut one up? There are 2 reasons. First, we sometimes want the full variety of chicken pieces in a meal or casserole. Second, because overall, it’s cheaper most of the time. That assumes, of course, you’re going to consume all the chicken pieces you’ve cut up so, there’s no waste.

How To Cut Up A Full Chicken: Steps & Pics

Here’s how to cut up a full chicken with steps and pictures.

Regardless of how many pieces you end up with, you always start the same with these initial preparations. Here are the starting steps of how to prepare to cut a whole chicken before cooking.

Begin with clean, washed hands.
Then, remove the store packaging and discard. Take note of the weight if needed for a recipe.
Then, rinse the entire chicken in cold running water.
Now, reach inside both ends of the chicken and remove any organs or packaged items, including the neck bone, as available. Set them aside for other usage in recipes, as desired.
Then, rinse the entire chicken again in cold running water, inside and out.
After that, place the whole, raw chicken on a cutting board and have your preferred cutting knife ready.
Then, you can pat the chicken somewhat dry to make it easier to handle for the first cuts.
Proceed forward with the section that shows how many pieces you want to end up with.

remove outer chicken pkg and rinse — 1. Remove outer chicken pkg and rinse

remove chicken innards — 2. Remove chicken innards

How To Cut Up A Whole Chicken Into 12 Pieces

Here’s how to cut up a full chicken into 12 pieces. In summary, you’ll cut the leg with thigh, then the full wing, the back is separated, the breasts are split, and finally the other individual parts are further cut into pieces. Now, we’ll begin with those steps.

You’ll end up with 2 breasts, 2 drumettes, 2 wings, 2 legs, 2 thighs, and 2 back pieces.

Cutting the Chicken Leg with Thigh

Cut into a chicken leg with thigh.
Then, leave the thigh attached for now, and cut completely into the leg joint to separate it from the chicken body.
Repeat with the other leg and thigh. Then, set both aside.

how to cut up a full chicken starting with leg — 01 Cut into chicken leg with thigh

how to cut up a full chicken continuing with thigh — 02 Cut into chicken leg with thigh

03 cut into chicken leg with thigh — 03 Cut into chicken leg with thigh

04 cut into chicken leg with thigh — 04 Cut into chicken leg with thigh

Cutting the Full Wing

Cut into a chicken wing area.
Remove then entire wing, repeat with other side, and set both full wings aside.

01 cut into chicken wing area — 01 Cut into chicken wing area

02 cut into chicken wing area — 02 Cut into chicken wing area

Cutting the Back

The back is cut along the sides to separate it fully. You want to emphasize cutting more towards the spine in order to retain more ribs on the body of the chicken. If needed, stand the chicken up to have a safer or stronger cutting action.
After the back is separated, cut it in half, with one side being mostly bone and little meat. After that, discard the lesser half. The better half also won’t have much meat but it will be noticeably of better usage for broths or soups. This retained better half is then split in half, if desired. Note: It sometimes is difficult to actually split so you can optionally cut out and discard the central column of this better half.

01 cut to separate chicken back area — 01 First, cut to separate chicken back area

02 cut to separate chicken back area — 02 Then, cut to separate chicken back area

03 cut to separate chicken back area — 03 After that, cut to separate chicken back area

04 cut chicken back in half — 04 Then, cut chicken back in half

05 cut chicken back in half and discard lesser half — 05 Cut chicken back in half and discard lesser half

06 split in half the chicken better back half — 06 Finally, split in half the chicken better back half. Or, cut out spinal center.

Splitting the Breasts

The remaining main portion of the chicken is the breast cage. Just turn it upside down (viewing interior side) and use the knife to pierce the very center bone. It takes a firm pushing inward to puncture the bone and then lower the blade downward but strongly to perform a breaking cut, continuing down this middle section. Then, use the knife to cut all the way down the middle, to fully separate the two breasts. You can then optionally, remove the skin from the breasts, if desired.

01 pierce bone center of chicken breasts — 01 Pierce bone center of chicken breasts

02 cut chicken breasts into two — 02 Cut chicken breasts into two

03 optionally remove chicken breast skin — 03 Optionally remove chicken breast skin

How to Cut a Whole Chicken Wing

Take each whole chicken wing to prepare to cut. So, each wing has two joints, giving a potential of 3 pieces per wing. For this, we only cut the joint to separate the largest, meatiest end (drumette) from the folding wing portion. The very end of the wing, the tip, has little or no meat. However, it’s usually left alone and not removed because it serves as a “handle” while consuming the rest of the wing. Also, some do like nibbling on the wing tip for its skin flavor.

01 cut chicken wing — 01 Cut chicken wing

02 cut chicken wing — 02 Cut chicken wing

Separating the Leg from the Thigh

Now, take each leg quarter section and cut into the joint to separate the leg from the thigh. Sometimes, you can just cut into the joint a bit and then use your hands to bend it backwards to finish the joint separation. All that remains is to cut the meat and skin still joining the leg to the thigh. At other times, as an alternative, you can maneuver the knife blade to find that softest area and it cuts right through the bone joint to easily separate.

01 cut chicken leg from thigh — 01 Starting to cut chicken leg from thigh

02 cut chicken leg from thigh — 02 Cut chicken leg from thigh by maneuvering knife into softest part of joint

So, you now have 12 pieces of an entire whole chicken. However, due to all the handling, I usually put it all in a colander at this time and give all the pieces a final rinse over cold tap water. Then, I either begin the cooking steps or prep them for storage in the fridge or freezer in a plastic food storage bag.

all cut chicken 12 pieces shown — All cut chicken 12 pieces shown

How To Cut Up A Full Chicken Into 10 Pieces

Here’s how to cut up a full chicken into 10 pieces. Just like the earlier 12 pieces instructions, we cut the leg with thigh, the full wing, the back is separated, the breasts are split, and then the other individual parts are further cut into pieces. However, here are the differences:

The wings are left alone after cutting them away from the chicken body, i.e., they are not cut again.
When finished, you will have 2 breasts, 2 full wings, 2 legs, 2 thighs, and 2 back pieces.

01 cut into chicken leg with thigh — 01 Cut into chicken leg with thigh

02 cut into chicken leg with thigh — 02 Cut into chicken leg with thigh

How To Cut Up A Full Chicken In 9 Pieces

Here’s how to cut up a full chicken into 9 pieces. Just like the earlier 12 pieces instructions, cut the leg with thigh, the full wing, the back is separated, the breasts are split, and then the other individual parts are further cut into pieces. However, here are the differences:

The wings are left alone after cutting them away from the chicken body, i.e., they are not cut again.
The back is one solid piece and is not cut further.
When finished, you will have 2 breasts, 2 full wings, 2 legs, 2 thighs, and 1 back.

How To Cut Up A Full Chicken Into 8 Pieces

Here’s how to cut up a full chicken into 8 pieces. Just like the earlier 12 pieces instructions, cut the leg with thigh, the full wing, the back is separated, the breasts are split, and then the other individual parts are further cut into pieces. However, here are the differences:

The wings are left alone after cutting them away from the chicken body, i.e., they are not cut again.
Then, the back is cut away and discarded.
When finished, you will have 2 breasts, 2 full wings, 2 legs, and 2 thighs.

How To Cut Up A Full Chicken Into 6 Pieces

Here’s how to cut up a full chicken fryer into 6 pieces. So, these are where the chicken has the largest pieces of any method of cutting a whole hen. Just like the earlier 12 pieces instructions, we cut the leg with thigh, the full wing, the back is separated, the breasts are split, and then, here are the differences:

The wings are left alone after cutting them away from the chicken body, i.e., they are not cut again.
Then, the back is cut away and discarded.
The left is not cut away from the thigh, i.e., the leg and thigh are served together as one piece.
When finished, you will have 2 breasts, 2 wings, and 2 leg-thigh quarters.

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More About Chicken as a Food

The history of Chicken as a Food goes back to starting in India. When it was available in the United States, it was sought out by the wealthy as it cost more than common meats. But, by the end of World War 2, the pricing was much different and there were shortages of pork and beef. In Europe, around 1996, chicken became more popular than beef and pork. And that was due to consumers becoming aware of mad cow disease.

How Much Does a Whole Raw Chicken Weigh?

A whole raw young chicken weighs around 5 pounds in the store. They vary often between 4.5 to 6.5 pounds. If the cost per pound is nominal, you end up saving by cutting up your own. The hen, however, is usually smaller in weight and is about half of that.

Which Chicken Parts are White or Dark?

While there is a little overlap, the parts of the chicken for white and dark meat are defined well. So, the breast and wing are white meat. The leg and thigh are dark meat.

Conclusion

So, you’ve now seen a significant set of choices of how many parts to have from a whole chicken fryer or hen. Also, you’ve got anywhere from 6 to 12 pieces to choose from. Therefore, you decide your cuts based on your recipe or grilling needs. Plan ahead, save money, and add whole chickens to your grocery list. Then, cut them up and store or cook for your chicken meals. Read further and check out this barbecue chicken recipe on the grill!

How To CUT UP A FULL CHICKEN