How to choose the right cut of chicken

Chicken is an incredibly versatile meat and this is partly down to the variety of different cuts it offers. Whatever you or your customers are looking for, you can almost certainly find a cut of chicken that will give you what you need.

Types of chicken cuts

The chicken breast is probably the best known cut, especially in domestic kitchens. It is very lean and can be cooked in many different ways. Just behind the breast is the tenderloin (or inner fillet), which is used in similar ways to the breast.

There are many more cuts to choose from: chicken wings can be split into the drumette and the wing. Who doesn’t love crispy fried chicken wings? From there we move to chicken legs, which have a darker meat than the breast. Chicken legs are a cut that can be used whole or divided into drumsticks and thighs.

That leaves us with the chicken back, tail and neck, which have in common that they all have relatively little meat on them.  Chicken neck is usually included with the giblets and chicken back is high in fat and bone marrow, meaning they’re both good for making soups and stocks. Chicken tails are rarely found in retail, but are considered a delicacy in Japanese yakitori restaurants.

Best cut of chicken for curry

We suggest you use the darker chicken meat for a curry: it has more flavour than white meat, which will add depth to your curry and stand up to the spices, and the dark meat is cheaper so it goes further.

Using chicken thighs is a great option and drumsticks work very well too. We’ve seen some great recipes using whole chicken drumsticks in a curry — now, this will create a memorable and tasty dish!

Best cut of chicken for BBQ

We’ve surveyed the experts and opinion is divided on this one. Some say chicken breast is best for barbecuing as the meat is lean and, provided you don’t overcook it, is excellent when marinated and cooked on the BBQ.

Others swear by whole chicken legs done on the BBQ, where the fattier, juicier leg meat is very tender and also looks great when served up on a platter. Dividing the leg and barbecuing the drumsticks and thighs separately also works well, especially if you keep the skin on so it goes beautifully crispy.

Best cut of chicken for soup

If you’re planning to make soup, you need to start by making chicken stock. For this you’ll want to use chicken necks, chicken backs, chicken wings and the giblets. You can also use the carcass of a roasted whole chicken, once you’ve stripped the meat from it.

These parts of the chicken include bones, bone marrow, skin and cartilage and give the stock a good flavour. In turn, it’s the quality and flavour of the stock that will determine how good your soup is.

Best cut of chicken for grilling

For grilled chicken, bone-in chicken cuts complete with the skin are great. Chicken thighs, for example, stay very juicy when grilled and usually stay more tender than grilled chicken breast. Chicken drumsticks are also fantastic when grilled, especially if you leave the skin so it has a chance to go crispy.

For the same reasons, grilling chicken wings also works really well. You almost always have the skin left on chicken wings and in our experience crispy skin, spicy sauces and sticky glazes make chicken wings into a guaranteed crowd pleaser.

What is the healthiest cut of chicken?

Most people automatically assume that the white meat of the chicken breast or the chicken tenderloin is the healthiest cut of chicken. It’s true that the breast and tenderloin are lower in fat than the wings, drumsticks and thighs, for example there is approximately 3.5g fat per 100g chicken breast and 7.8g of fat per 100g of skinless chicken drumstick [source]. The difference is even greater when you compare skinless chicken breast with skin-on versions of the other cuts.

From the point of view of calorie and fat intake, then, chicken breast and tenderloin are healthiest. However, the darker meat of the chicken legs contains more vitamin B12, iron and zinc than the white meat [source]. These are also important for a healthy diet.

What is the fattiest cut of chicken?

According to the US Department of Agriculture’s FoodData Central database, the fattiest cut of chicken is skin-on chicken wings, at 16.87g of fat. They contain 141 milligrams of cholesterol per 100g of cooked chicken wings. The next fattiest cut of chicken is skin-on thigh, coming in at 14.71g of fat per 100g of cooked chicken thigh.

The fattiest cuts of chicken, with the darker meat, tend to be those with the most flavour. If flavour is important, but you’re concerned about calorie and fat intake, then chicken drumettes may be a good option. Most people think drumettes are dark meat, because they look like mini-drumsticks, but they’re actually white meat because the muscle fibres are not very developed.

Cheapest cut of chicken

The answer to this question varies a little, depending on who you speak to. It also depends on availability and the exact prices for chicken at any given time. In general, chicken legs will be significantly cheaper than chicken breast or chicken tenderloin. This is still the case even after you’ve taken into account that the boneless chicken breast will have more edible meat per 100g than the same weight of bone-in chicken leg.

Some people argue that a whole chicken is the cheapest cut, partly because you can use the chicken back, chicken neck, bones and giblets to make stock. If you do plan to make use of the whole chicken, this is an economical choice. If you only need the edible meat, whole chicken legs or chicken thighs are a better option.

If you’re looking for a bargain, why not check our Diamond Dave’s daily deals?

Most expensive cut of chicken

Boneless skinless chicken breast is the most expensive cuts of chicken and is also one of the most popular. Chicken breast is very lean and has a gentle flavour, making it ideal for stir-fries, a chicken Caesar salad or roasted in the oven.

At Meatex we pride ourselves on offering the best possible prices for all our customers, so the following isn’t a line of business we’re planning to go into, but the most expensive chicken in the world can fetch as much as $5000 (or roughly £4200) per bird. This is for a breed called the Ayam Cemani from Indonesia. It’s also completely black, including the meat and bones, making it an unusual creature and probably less appetising on the plate than what we’re used to.

Check our products page to get the latest deals on wholesale chicken.