How to Cut a Whole Chicken After it Is Cooked

Whether cooked at home or brought back from the grocery store, it is important that you know how to cut a whole chicken before serving. According to Regan Burns, associate food editor of CHOW.com, this process -- also known as jointing -- typically consists of cutting the chicken into eight pieces. Jointing can be performed either on a cooked or uncooked whole chicken.

Things You'll Need

• Cooked chicken
• Cutting board
• Boning knife

Instructions

1. Remove the legs and thighs. Position the cooked chicken breast side up on a cutting board. Cut the thin piece of skin that runs between the drumstick and breast. This will allow you to see the separation between the leg quarter and chicken breast. Gently pull the leg away from the breast with your hand. Use the boning knife to cut the chicken until you can see the thigh socket. Bend the chicken leg back with your hands and cut around thigh socket to remove the leg quarter. Cut down firmly through the joint of the leg and thigh to separate the two pieces. Repeat the process for the other leg quarter.

2. Remove the wings. Cut inside the wing just over the joint. Pull the wing away from the carcass and cut down firmly through the skin and the joint. Repeat the process for the other wing.

3. Remove the breasts. Pull the breast apart from the back. Cut through the shoulder bones to remove the breast from the back, then cut across the backbone where the ribs end to separate the back into two pieces. Cut downward along the length of the breast to the wishbone. Pull the breast away from the body while you use the knife to cut around the wishbone and separate the breast from the carcass. This will leave a fairly clean carcass with little excess meat left on the bone.

Tips & Warnings

• Use excess meat in another dish or soup.

References

• Kitchen Daily; How to Cut Up a Cooked Chicken; The Culinary Institute of America
• CHOW.com; How to Cut a Chicken into Eight Serving Pieces; Regan Burns, August 2006