How to Cut Up a Whole Chicken

Stop paying extra dough for chicken that is already cut up for you – buy those fryers whole and learn how to cut up a whole chicken yourself! Not only will you save a ton of money, but you’ll also be able to cut portions that are tailored for your purposes. Best of all, you can salvage ALL of the leftover parts for flavorful broths and stocks!But if you're stillnervous about how to wrangle that bird, then fear not – this handy F.N. Sharp guide will break it down step-by-step!

Here's what you'll learn:

The Best Knives for Cutting Chicken

How to RemoveChicken Legs and Thighs

How to RemoveChicken Wings

How to SeparateChicken Wings

How to RemoveChicken Breasts

How to DeboneChicken Breasts

How to DeboneChicken Thighs

How to Make Your Own Ground Chicken

12 Chicken Recipes for Practice

The F.N. Sharp Guide to Breaking Down a Chicken

Any recipe is only as good as its ingredients, but the best recipes are prepared with the best tools. At F.N. Sharp, we have a selection of quality knives that can help you tackle any kitchen task, especially when it comes to those expensive cuts of meat!

Getting Your Workspace Ready

Before we get into how to cut up a whole chicken, let’s talk tools and safety first.

The most important thing to remember in any kitchen, whether it’s a home or professional kitchen, is that safety and sanitation cannot be compromised. Nothing is worse than knife accidents or food poisoning.

When it comes to practicing kitchen knife safety, the first step is making sure your knives are sharp enough for the job. A dull knife can slip and slide all over your ingredients, requiring you to apply more pressure to make a full cut. This leads to higher chances of losing control over your knife and cutting into something other than your ingredients (like your fingers) – not to mention a clean cut from a sharp knife heals much better than a rigid cut from a dull knife. If you’re not sure your knife is up to the task, then check out these top signs of a dull kitchen knife

If you’re working with raw meat, then working on a clean, sanitized work surface (or cutting board, in this case) in a well-lit space with the proper tools will set you up for success. Also be sure to keep the chicken separate from other ingredients, like vegetables, and either use a different cutting board or sanitize between breaking down your bird and cutting up anything else.

Choosing the Best Knives for Cutting Chicken

To choose the best knives for the task at hand, first, determine how you want to ‘fabricate’ your chicken. Do you want the wings separate from the drumsticks or the thighs? Or do you want the thighs connected to the drumsticks for a casserole like Chicken Cacciatore?Always have your ‘mise en place’ (French for a mental plan before executing anything in the kitchen) ready so you can feel confident like a true chef! Now onto the best knives for cutting chicken.

The Chef’s Knife

The mainstay tool in any kitchen is the chef’s knife. Depending on hand size and comfort level, most professional and home-chefs alike prefer a chef’s knife for nearly all of their cutting needs. A solid chef’s knife has the right sized blade for cutting into larger chickens or even carving a turkey!

The F.N. Sharp Chef’s Knife, for example, is a stand-out not only for its sheer quality of design, but for its ease of use and performance – a must when breaking down a bird. Whether you’re cutting raw chicken or slicing a roasted-to-perfection bird, using the F.N. Sharp Chef Knife will give you 13.5” inches of high-grade performance.

Knife Knowledge 101: How to Use a Chef’s Knife

The Boning Knife

The ultimate knife for cutting raw chicken is definitely a boning knife. This specialty knife has the proper curve and blade thickness for cutting around joints and sinew, as well as removing fat. A boning knife also has the heft required for precision cutting but isn’t too big or heavy to hold.

For example, the F.N. Sharp Boning Knife blademeasures 5.5 inches long with a max thickness of only 2 millimeters. With a full tang housed in a sturdy G10 handle, the F.N. Sharp Boning Knife gives you the stability and precision you need for cutting between the joints of chicken legs and wings.

Knife Knowledge 101: Top Uses for a Boning Knife

The Paring Knife

Due to its mini size and short blade, the paring knife is not only great for in-hand detailed work, like peeling apples and potatoes, hulling strawberries and coring tomatoes, but also comes in handy for trimming off extra fat and/or removing skin from chicken breasts, legs and thighs. It’s also great for cutting pockets into chicken breast to create a stuffed chicken dish.

Take the F.N. Sharp Paring Knife, for example: this handy little knife comes with a 3.375-inch blade crafted with the same quality materials and unique feathered Damascus steel pattern as its larger counterpart (the chef’s knife), making it a must for any kitchen.

Knife Knowledge 101: Top Uses for a Paring Knife

TheBread Knife

Did you know the bread knife isn’t just for bread? Granted it has the right edge, it actually comes with many other uses and may even be the best knife for leveling cakes, breaking up blocks of chocolate, slicing standing rib roasts, carving Thanksgiving turkey, and – you guessed it – cutting up a whole cooked chicken!

Often the only serrated knife included in a kitchen knife set, the bread knife blade features saw-like teeth (serrations) along the cutting edge, which is designed for cutting through tough ingredients with delicate interiors like crusty loaves of bread and dense fruits and vegetables. The serrations also differ from bread knife to bread knife, offering two different cutting edges: pointed vs. scalloped.

Pointed edges may be effective for cutting harder ingredients, but at the expense of ripping and tearing through your ingredients, whereas scalloped edges feature more rounded serrations that are spread further apart to offer a cleaner cut. Take the F.N. Sharp Bread Knife, for example: featuring an 8” scalloped blade, this is the best bread knife for cleanly carving meat into uniform slices while also retaining the flavorful juices.

Now back to the word – the bird.

Get All of the F.N. Sharp Essentials:

Removingthe Legs and Thighs

To remove the legs and thighs from the rest of the bird, follow these steps:

Step 1: With the chicken placed on your cutting board breast side up, grab onto one of the legs and use your chef’s knife to cut away at the skin to expose the joint.

Step 2: Set your knife down and use your hands to pull back on the thigh until the joint pops out of the socket.

Step 3: Using the natural curvature of the bird as a guide, use your knife to cut the thigh away from the popped joint. This will leave you with the leg and thigh still attached.

Step 4: Repeat the process on the other side.

Step 5: Separate the thigh from the leg by turning the leg upside down to locate the exposed bone, which will point in the direction of where it meets the joint.

Step 6: Using the natural curvature of the leg as a guide, start cutting down until your knife hits the joint, then you can either continue cutting through the joint slowly using gentle downward pressure – you should feel slight resistance, but the knife should effortlessly cut through the joint for you –or you can use your hands to pop the joint apart, then continue cutting to separate the leg and thigh.

Step 7: Repeat the process on the other leg, then set the four separated pieces aside to work on the next step.

Removingthe Wings

Toremove the wings from the rest of the bird, follow these steps:

Step 1: Grad the main part of the bird with one hand and grab a wing with the other, positioning your hand so that you’re grabbing underneath the wing where it connects and pop the joint.

Step 2: Grab your knife and start cutting away to expose the joint, then continue cutting while pushing the wing from behind, popping the joint up as you work your knife all the way through.

Step 3: Repeat the process on the other side.

Separatingthe Wings

To further separate the wings into drumettes and winglets (drums and flats), follow along with these steps and/or the video below:

Step 1: Lay your wing out on your cutting board and angle the blade of your chef’s knife along the natural path of the drum portion of the wing.

Step 2: Cut into the skin between the drum and wingette until you hit the joint and use slight pressure to cut through.

Step 3: Use the same process to cut through the joint connecting the wingette and tip and set the tip aside.

Step 4: You can either trim off any excess skin or leave it on for extra crisp.

Step 5: Repeat the process on the other side.

Check out this video to see how to break down chicken wings in action:

Removing and Separating the Breasts

To remove the breasts from the rest of the bird, follow these steps:

Step 1: Locate the curvature of the breast. You should see a fat line running down underneath the bottom side of the breast, which will be used as a guide for where to place your chef’s knife.

Step 2: Start cutting along the line of fat to remove some of the rib cage from the breast.

Step 3: Repeat step 2 on the other side to continue cutting away the rib cage to expose both breasts on either side, leaving the rib cage and backbone still attached to the breastbone.

Step 4: Next, you’ll separate the rib cage and backbone from the breastbone, which takes a little extra finagling. Pull the breasts back from the rib cage and use your chef’s knife to start cutting until you find a little give.

Step 5: Set down your knife and use your hands to gently pull the rib cage and backbone apart, then use your knife to cut away the skin to completely separate the breasts.

Next, you’ll want to separate the two breasts by following these steps:

Step 1: Turn the breasts so the breastbone is facing up, then use your chef’s knife to cut right down the middle. You’ll feel some resistance when slicing through the bone, so you’ll need to use a little pressure to push the knife down into the breastbone

Step 2: Slice away at the skin underneath to finish separating the two breasts.

Now you’ll have two bone-in breasts (also referred to as “split chicken breast”), along with your bone-in wings, legs and thighs. But if your recipe calls for boneless breasts or thighs, then let’s move on to the next steps!

Deboning and Butterflying the Breasts

Deboning your own chicken breasts is another great way to save some money, whether you buy a whole chicken or bone-in breasts, while butterflying is great for evening out the thickness of the breasts for more even cooking or for laying ingredients in between for stuffed chicken breast recipes.

Another optionfor stuffing boneless chicken breasts is using the tip of a knife to cut3-to-4-inch “pockets” into the thickest part of the breasts so they stay together better while cooking.

To remove the bones from chicken breasts, follow these steps or check out the video below:

Step 1:Place the breasts on a cutting board with skin side up.

Step 2: Angle your knife horizontally to the breast and slide the blade between the meat and the ribcage, then make several long strokes to cut away the meat, pulling the breast away as you go.

Step 3: Trim off any excess fat and connective tissue from the breast and set aside to repeat the process on the other breast. and now you’ll have boneless chicken breasts!

If your recipe calls for butterflying your boneless chicken breasts, then follow these steps:

Step 1: Lay the chicken breast flat on your cutting board with skin side up.

Step 2: Locate the thickest part of the breast and angle your knife about halfway in between, then begin cutting horizontally while using your non-dominant hand to open it up as you cut.

Step 3: Repeat the process with the other breast.

Check out this video to see how to debone and butterfly chickenbreasts!

Deboning the Thighs

Boneless thighs are great for cooking up all kinds of chicken recipes, from the oven, skillet or grill to the air fryer, pressure cooker or slow cooker. But you’ll pay a little extra for those boneless chicken thighs, of course.

Save yourself some money by deboning those chicken thighs yourself! With only one bone to remove, it’s super easy and worth the extra step.

To remove the bones from chicken thighs, follow along withthese steps and/or the video below:

Step 1: Trim off any excess fat and skin to square off the chicken thighs into a pillow shape.

Step 2: Place the chicken thigh on your cutting board skin side down and feel for the bone that runs through the middle of the thigh.

Step 3: Using your boning knife, start cutting along the bone on either side, making several short strokes as you work right up against it.

Step 3: Once you’ve exposed most of the bone, angle your knife perpendicular to the bone and use your fingers to hold up one end up to cut away the meat underneath, again making several short strokes as you go.

Step 4: With the bone still attached at one end, pull the other end up vertically and make a few more cuts to remove it from the meat and voila – you’ve got a boneless chicken thigh!

Check out this video to see how to debone chicken thighs in action:

How to Make Ground Chicken

While it’s super easy to purchase ground chicken from the store, it’s actually just as easy to grind it up yourself using nothing but a sharp knife! Plus, you can determine the type of meat to include, whether it’s white or dark meat, or a combination of both as recommended by chefs.

Using lean white meat for grinding can leave you with dry and tough results, but using a combination of white and dark meat offers just the right amount of moisture and flavor. When grinding up your own chicken, try using a combination of breasts and thighs, like 3 pounds of breast to 2 pounds of thighs, or vice versa. Also be sure to remove the skin and any connective or tough bits that may not cook very well (or taste very good).

To grind up your own poultry using a knife, follow along with these steps:

Step 1: Trim off any excess fat and skin, then place the meat in the freezer for about an hour so it’s easier to slice.

Step 2: Remove the meat from the freezer and place on a cutting board.

Step 3: Angle your knife about 45º and begin making slices measuring ¼ of an inch in width and without cutting all the way through. You’ll want to leave about ¼ of the meat still intact on the other side.

Step 4: Flip the meat over and repeat the slices in the opposite direction.

Step 5: Create a checkered pattern by making vertical slices into the meat.

Step 6: Repeat the process with all breasts and thighs you plan on using.

Step 7: Gather all of your sliced up pieces together in a pile on your cutting board and perform a rough chop in different directions and voila – you’ve got ground poultry!!

Winner Winner, Here Are Some Chicken Recipes for Dinner!

Need some ideas for what to do with that chicken? Here are some F.N. Sharp recipesto give yousome inspiration and plenty of chicken-cutting practice!

Basil and Ricotta Stuffed Chicken Breast

Practice your chicken breast prepping skills with this stuffed chicken recipe!

Boneless chicken breasts, roughly chopped fresh basil, creamy ricotta cheese, grated parmesan, diced onion, lemon juice, salt and pepper all come together in this skillet-to-oven recipe!