Usually when you buy a whole chicken already cut up it’s often not trimmed properly or you get less chicken. One way to avoid this is to try cutting it up yourself. Here is a basic way of cutting and disjointing a whole chicken with the least amount of waste.


First, place the whole chicken breast side up on a cutting board, pulling one leg away from the body and cut through the skin between the body and both sides of the thigh. Bend the leg away from the body until the ball of eh thighbone pops from the hip socket. Cut between the ball and the socket to separate the leg. Repeat this for the other leg.

Next, divide the legs. Place the chicken, side down on the cutting board. Cut down through the joint between the drumstick and the thigh.

Moving onto the wings, place the chicken on its back and remove the wing by cutting inside of the wing just over the joint. Pull the wing away from the body and cut down through the skin and the joint. Repeat with the other wing.

After that it’s time to tackle the carcass. Cut it in half by cutting through the cavity of the bird from the tail end and slice through the thin area around the shoulder joint. Cut parallel to the backbone and slice the bones of the rib cage. Repeat on the opposite side.

In order to remove the breast cut through the shoulder bones to the separate the breast from the back. Cut the back into 2 parts by cutting across the backbone where the ribs end.

There you have it, a whole chicken all cut up. Buying the whole chicken ends up costing you less but it leaves you with more meat.