Debone a Chicken Breast
Boneless skinless chicken breasts are one of the most expensive cuts of chicken at the grocery store. If you want to save money on your groceries and don't mind doing a little more work to make a meal, then follow these steps to learn to debone a chicken breast.
Steps
- Place the chicken breast with the skin side up on your cutting board. The breast should be completely thawed.
- Start cutting on the thickest part of the chicken breast using a chef's knife.
- Find where the bone starts. A whole chicken has a bone running "vertically" down the center of the chicken breast. When the breast is split, this "vertical" bone is either on one side or the other, so 1 split chicken breast will have more bone in it than the other.
- Cut down beside the breastbone. Make scraping cuts close to the ribs and push the meat back gently with your hand.
- Follow the bone all the way over to the other side of the piece of meat. Most chicken breasts only have one bone.
- Trim off any unwanted skin, fat or cartilage from the meat.
Tips
- Be careful how much meat you throw away with the bone. If you are throwing too much meat away, then buying deboned chicken breasts may be just as economical.
- Save the bones in a plastic resealable bag in the freezer. When you have a few, boil them to make home-made chicken stock.
- Debone the chicken breast as soon as you get home from the grocery store. Then, you can freeze the breast portions or refrigerate them if you plan to use them immediately.
Warnings
- Always wash your hands after handling raw chicken.
Things You'll Need
- A chef's knife
- A cutting board
- A chicken breast
