How to Cut Up Chicken for Soup

Cut a whole chicken into eight parts and use only what you need for soup.

Cut a whole chicken into eight pieces with only 10 cuts of the knife. The process takes approximately 10 minutes and yields smaller individual pieces of chicken that cook evenly and thoroughly when making soup. It also makes it possible to use only what is needed for the soup while reserving the remaining pieces for use another day in another recipe. The individual pieces of chicken are simpler to cool down, debone and cut up into pieces when making soup. Does this Spark an idea?

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Cutting board
Chef's knife

Instructions

- 1
  
  Wash the thawed whole chicken inside and out under cool running water, pat it dry with paper towels and lay the chicken on its back on a nonskid cutting board.
- 2
  
  Grasp one leg and move it away from the body of the chicken. Use a sharp chef's knife to cut through the skin that binds the leg to the body. Repeat the same process on the other leg.
- 3
  
  Hold one leg in each hand while the chicken is lying on the cutting board and bend the legs under the chicken until the joints connecting them to the body break.
- 4
  
  Cut through the joints severing the legs from the body. Lay the legs skin side down and find the seam of fat that runs across the intersection where the leg joins the thigh. Cut directly over the seam of fat and through the joint, separating the two pieces.
- 5
  
  Lay the chicken on its side and lift the wing away from the body. Move the wing about to find the joint and cut through the joint removing the wing. Repeat on the other side.
- 6
  
  Place the chicken on its back, lay the knife on top of the backbone and cut forward toward the neck of the chicken until you slice through the two joints connecting the breast to the top of the backbone.
- 7
  
  Lay the whole breast skin side down on the cutting board and push it flat. Place the knife at the V at the top of the breastbone. Rock the knife back and forth cutting straight down the breastbone, separating it cleanly.

Tips & Warnings

Boil the backbone and freeze the resulting broth for use in soup or recipes calling for chicken stock.
Leave the skin on when boiling the pieces of chicken for richer flavor when making soup.
Freeze unused chicken immediately for use for another meal.
Wash and sanitize your hands before and after handling the chicken. Wash and sanitize the workplace, cutting board, knives and utensils by washing in soapy water and wiping or immersing in a solution of one part chlorine bleach to nine parts water.
Treat scratches or cuts with an anti-infection remedy immediately.