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Step 1
Place the whole chicken breast side down with the drumsticks pointing towards you. The backbone is now on top, and you can feel it running down the center of the chicken.
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Step 2
Hold the tail, or flap of skin, that is pointing towards you and cut along each side of the backbone with a pair of kitchen shears. Cut all the way through, from end to end on each side, and remove the entire backbone. You are cutting through ribs, which is the reason for the crunching sound.
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Step 3
Turn the now open chicken 180 degrees so the drumsticks point away from you.
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Step 4
Use a paring knife to make a cut through the piece of white cartilage, or gristle, covering the breastbone. It's located in the cavity of the chicken on the end facing you.
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Step 5
Grasp each side of the chicken and bend the carcass backwards at the line of the cut made in Step 4. Bend until you hear a crack. This exposes the breastbone.
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Step 6
Run a finger along each side of the breastbone all the way to the end of it to separate the bone from the meat. The breastbone runs down the center of the chicken. Once separated, remove the entire breastbone.
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Step 7
Push flat to butterfly the chicken and remove any excess fat.












Comments
presnick said
on 3/4/2008 Thank you! I've done a LOT of cooking, but I'd never butterflied a chicken.
I had a little trouble getting the breastbone out; I wasn't sure whether to cut it crosswise or lengthwise.
It DID come out, in any case.
I would have to say, having good poultry shears made this incredibly easy.
I'll be doing it again soon! It's in the oven now, resting on a bed of stuffing. Between the stuffing and the chicken, it was all in the oven in 20 minutes!