HUB 03 · Guides
How to Cut Up a Whole Chicken
Breaking down a whole bird into eight pieces is cheaper than buying parts and leaves you a carcass for stock. It's all about finding the joints — no force, no cleaver.
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Buying a whole chicken and breaking it down yourself is one of the biggest money-savers in home cooking — parts cost far more per pound — and you are left with a back and carcass for stock. The secret is that you are not cutting through bone; you are finding joints and slipping the knife through the soft cartilage between them. Done right, it takes no force and no cleaver, just a sharp knife and knowing where the joints are.
The right knife for the job
A stiff boning knife is ideal — narrow and maneuverable around joints — but a chef's knife works fine for a bird this size. Avoid a flexible fillet knife here; you want control, not flex. Keep the edge off bone as much as you can — cut through the joint, not the bone — to protect it.
Step by step
How to do it
- 01
Remove the legs
Lay the chicken breast-up. Pull a leg away from the body and slice through the skin between the thigh and breast. Bend the leg back until the hip joint pops, then cut through that joint to remove the whole leg. Repeat on the other side.
- 02
Separate thigh and drumstick
Lay each leg skin-side down. There's a thin line of fat that marks the knee joint - cut through it and the leg separates cleanly into thigh and drumstick. If you hit bone, you're off the joint; shift the blade a little and try again.
- 03
Remove the wings
Pull a wing out and feel for the shoulder joint where it meets the breast. Cut through that joint to take the wing off. Trim the bony wing tip if you like (save it for stock). Repeat on the other side.
- 04
Split the breast from the back
Stand the bird up and cut down along each side of the backbone through the soft rib bones to separate the whole breast section from the back. The back goes into the stock pile.
- 05
Halve the breast
Lay the breast section skin-side up and cut down firmly through the breastbone to split it into two halves. That gives you eight pieces total: two drumsticks, two thighs, two wings and two breast halves - plus the carcass for stock.
Find the joint, don't fight the bone
Every step here works because you are cutting through joints, where the knife glides through cartilage, not through bone, where it jams and dulls. If you feel the blade grinding, stop and reposition — you have missed the joint. This is exactly why a boning knife exists, and why we say to keep any knife off bone: hard contact chips or rolls an edge. Work slowly, keep your guiding hand clear, and dry the knife well afterward — poultry is wet work. Save every scrap of bone and skin for stock and a clean-up.
Questions
Frequently asked
What knife do you use to cut up a whole chicken?
A stiff boning knife is ideal for maneuvering around the joints, but a chef's knife works fine for a bird this size. Avoid a flexible fillet knife — you want control. You don't need a cleaver, because you cut through joints, not bone.
Do you cut through the bone when jointing a chicken?
Mostly no. You slip the knife through the soft joints between bones — the hip, knee and shoulder — where it passes through cartilage with no force. The only firmer cut is splitting the breastbone at the end. If the blade grinds, you've missed the joint.
Is it cheaper to cut up a whole chicken?
Yes — whole chickens cost much less per pound than pre-cut parts, and you also keep the back and carcass for stock. Ten minutes of knife work saves real money and gives you better scraps than any package of parts.
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