Breaking Down a Whole Chicken
Eight pieces, no crying, one bird's worth of dinner.
Buying a whole bird is cheaper and better. If you can break one down into eight pieces you can make three meals from one chicken and a proper stock from the carcass. This is the single most useful skill in a home kitchen.
Watch a demonstration
A very Beginner's guide to breaking down a whole chicken.
hosted by YouTube
How to do it
- 01
Sit the bird breast-up
Dry the skin well with kitchen paper. Wet chicken slides. Position it with the legs facing you. Have your bowl close by for the carcass.
~1 min - 02
Take the legs off
Pull a leg away from the body and slice through the skin between leg and breast. Bend the leg back until the ball pops out of the socket. Cut through the joint — never through bone. Repeat the other side.
~3 min - 03
Split leg from thigh
Feel for the joint between drumstick and thigh — there's a soft strip of fat that marks it. Cut clean through that line. If your knife hits bone, you're a millimetre off. Move it and try again.
~2 min - 04
Take the wings off
Pull the wing out, slice through the skin, and cut through the shoulder joint. Save the wing tips for stock; keep the two useful joints for eating.
~2 min - 05
Remove the breasts
Run your knife straight down one side of the breastbone, following the ribcage. Peel the meat back as you go. Keep the skin on. Repeat the other side. You should be left with a clean carcass.
~4 min - 06
Trim and portion
Trim any big flaps of fat. If a breast is huge, cut it in two on the diagonal. You now have 8-10 pieces plus a carcass for stock.
~3 min