How to Carve a Chicken

We’ve all seen people hack away at a chicken and totally destroy it!

There is a simple process to carving a chicken, so it looks attractive on your plate. Here are our tips on how to carve a chicken:

Ensure your chicken is cooked well until the juices are no longer pink and run clear. Use a meat thermometer if you have one. Find out more about this.

Use a sharp knife and a roasting fork to carve, a solid board, and always cut away from yourself.

• Remove your roast chicken from the roasting dish, or oven bag, and leave your cooked chicken to rest on a large chopping board for 5-10 minutes before carving. Place the chicken so the breasts are facing upwards on the chopping board.
• Remove the legs and drums by cutting between the thigh and breast, all the way through to the board. Once you have cut off the first leg and drum, do the same on the other side. Often the leg and thigh will separate quite easily, and you’ll only need to cut through the skin to separate from the chicken.
• Remove the wings the same way. Carve as close to the breast meat as possible.
• Carve the breast meat in the same direction as the breast bone to make slices of chicken.
• Turn the chicken over as there may be some meat which can be carved.

Your chicken is now ready to serve.

That chicken frame can be used to make a delicious stock. If you haven’t got time immediately, allow it to cool and pop it in the freezer. When you have a few frames stored up, make your  stock then.

We sell whole free-range chickens for roasting and we deliver free in the Wellington CBD!