How to Break Down a Chicken

Step 1

Make a slit between the drumstick and the rest of the chicken, cutting only through the skin to expose the meat underneath.

Step 2

Then pull the leg quarter away from the chicken to pop the thigh bone out of its socket. Cut with a knife just past the joint, getting as much meat as possible.

Step 3

To separate the drumstick from the thigh, cut along the fat line, right between the joints. If you feel resistance, shift your knife around to find the joint until it slides through fairly easily.

Step 4

Lift one of the wings and look/feel where the joint connects the drumette to the rest of the chicken. Cut through the skin to expose the joint, and cut through the joint to disconnect the wing from the rest of the chicken.

Step 5

With the chicken breast-side up, place your chef’s knife or cleaver knife across the cavity, between the breast and backbone. Cut through the skin and then the delicate rib bones, until you reach the top of the chicken, to separate the breast from the backbone.

Step 6

Then make cuts on either side of the neck to separate the chicken back from the breast. You’ll have the full chicken breast, and a chicken back including the neck and tail (unless the neck has already been removed during processing).

Step 7

Flip the whole breast on the cutting board so it is breast side down, and firmly cut the cartilage and soft bone down the middle to cut the breast into two halves.

Step 8

Place the whole chicken breast on the cutting board breast-side up. Cut on one side of the breastbone, between the breast bone and the meat, and continue to the top of the breast until you hit the wishbone. Cut along one side of the wishbone, using it as a guide.

Step 9

Continue the cut down to the lower part of the breast as well. Hold the chicken breast with one hand, and the breast bone with the other, and pull. You should be able to pull the breast meat away from the bone in a whole piece. The chicken tenderloin should come with it, but if it doesn’t, you can also pull that off easily. Repeat on the other side.