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If you’ve stuck around The Culinary Exchange for a while, you should be able to cook a whole chicken like a pro – but that doesn’t mean you know how to carve it like one. Carving a chicken is a good skill to have, as cooking a whole chicken can often be a more economical way of feeding your family. And if nothing else, you’ll have leftovers for days, so lunch will be a snap. But back to cutting the bird – understanding the correct way to carve a chicken is important, since doing it incorrectly could mean missing out on a lot of meat stuck to a bone somewhere that you forgot. And food waste is never a good thing. So the next time you pop a chicken into the oven, use this helpful guide to carve it up like a pro.
How to Carve a Chicken
Before we start, you’ll need three things to carve your chicken: carving knife
. Place the bird breast side up on the cutting board. The first thing you want to start with is the leg. Using the carving knife, cut through the skin between the leg and the breast to loosen up the leg. Once this is done, you’ll be able to pull the leg away from the breast and use the knife to cut straight down through the joint where the leg attaches to the carcass.
Next, you want to separate the thigh from the drumstick on the leg. To do this, hold onto the drumstick end with one hand and use the carving knife to cut around the drumstick and away from the thigh. You’ll need to cut through the bird’s connective tissue to do this. Repeat this process for the other leg.
Now you’re ready to carve the meat from the breast. Start by using the carving fork to hold the remainder of the bird steady on the cutting board. Position the carving knife at the top of the breast and slice downward into a deep vertical away from the center of the breast bone.
Next, you need to pull the meat away from the breast bone. In fact, if the meat isn’t too hot, you can use your hands to do this part and make it even easier. Repeat the same process on the other side of the chicken breast. You can leave the breast meat whole or slice it into thin slices to make it easier to serve.
The last part is cutting away the wings. Pull them away from the center cavity and cut through the connective tissue to separate them from the breast cavity. Now you should be left with an empty carcass. If you’re feeling creative, you can throw this in a big pot and with some water and make your own stock.
Do you have any tips for how to carve a chicken? Share them with us in the comments!
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