How to Cut a Whole Chicken Chinese-Style

If you’ve ever prepared a whole Chinese chicken, you’ve probably gotten to the last instruction: “Cut up your chicken into bite-sized pieces and serve.” You look at the chicken you worked hard for, and wonder how you’ll get it to the table without making a mess!

We understand that for some, it can be a leap, so we’re showing you how to do it from start to finish, with plenty of tips, detailed instructions, and photos.

After reading this, you’ll be able to cut a whole chicken in the style of Chinese chefs confidently and quickly, serve a beautiful plate, and keep all your fingers! 

First-timers, Fear Not!

If you have had Cantonese Poached Chicken (白切鸡, Bai Qie Ji or Bok Chit Gai), or maybe a whole Soy Sauce Chicken (See Yao Gai), chances are, it was made by someone else! 

Maybe your parents or grandparents were the ones to cut the chicken before it magically appeared on the table. Or perhaps you’ve watched a Chinatown sifu (chef) make short work of grabbing a whole bird from the window of roasted meats, swiftly cutting it into perfect pieces on a half-foot thick round pine cutting board.

But anyone can do it with the right guidance! In fact, it could become like the Thanksgiving turkey, where the honor of carving is a coveted job.

My mom would always ask my father, a professional chef, to cut the chicken, and if he was busy, she would shout out to any other elders to volunteer for the honors. Today, I am that father who dutifully cuts the whole chicken and carries on the family tradition—but now anyone can master this technique!

How Do You Cut a Whole Chicken—Chinese-style?

The answer is:

1. Very carefully! (See next line)
2. With a super sharp cleaver for a clean cut, and a thick wooden cutting board to take the impact
3. Into smaller chunks

This isn’t the same as carving a bird in the Western tradition, where pieces are served in the classic 8-piece configuration: 2 breasts, 2 legs, 2 thighs, 2 wings. Every piece of chicken should be easily grabbed with chopsticks. A sharp cleaver allows you to cleanly cut through the bones.

Also, nearly everything goes on the plate! Nothing is wasted. That said, what about the chicken head? 

My parents always used to say in Cantonese, “you tau yau mei,” which means you have a head and a tail, symbolizing a beginning and an end. For special occasion dinners, the chicken head goes on the plate—though it’s “decorative” and not meant for eating. 

I’ll keep the chicken head at one end of the platter, opposite the tail on the other side for symbolic Chinese New Year meals; but otherwise, they can be discarded per your preferences.

We like to keep a bag of collected chicken trimmings in the freezer until we have enough for a big pot of stock. 

Tips for Cutting a Whole Chicken 

We’ll share the proper steps for dismantling your chicken, but before we start, here are some important tips to consider before you start:

• Use a large, solid cutting board, preferably wood and on the thicker side. Place a moist towel under it on a very sturdy/even surface so it doesn’t slide around while you’re cutting. 
• Select your serving plate and make sure it is within reach, but not too close to your cutting board so you don’t accidentally knock anything off the counter or break something. Large oval platters are a good choice. 
• Make sure your chicken has cooled completely. If you’re making Cantonese Poached Chicken, make sure it has been brushed with a thin layer of oil so it doesn’t dry out. This makes the chicken a little slippery, so be careful. 
• Use a cleaver. More delicate knives can chip or break when cutting through bones. Make sure it is sharp…
• …And respect that fact! Work slowly and deliberately and look before you cut—no fast moves with a knife in hand or an accident may ruin your dinner! Of course, this should always be the case, but cutting through bone can make things trickier.
• A generally safe cutting technique is to cut through the chicken to the bone and give the top of the cleaver a good hit with the palm of your hand to finish the cut. This helps make a forceful, yet clean cut, helps keep the chicken in place, and also ensures fingers are out of the way. 
• Be sure the pieces are cut through completely. Even some Chinatown chefs rush and leave pieces stuck together. My mom used to say, “Wah, this chicken is cut like firecrackers—it’s still stuck together!” Don’t make this rookie mistake. 
• We’ll offer guidance on where to place the chicken pieces, but keep in mind, with a whole chicken, the right way to do it is to lay out the chicken as it was whole, from top to bottom along the length of the platter. 

Now we’re ready to get started! 

Step-by-Step Instructions: How to Cut a Whole Chicken Chinese Style

Step 1: Remove the head and neck.

Place the chicken on the cutting board. Cut off the neck where it meets the body of the chicken, and cut off the head (if attached). Put on one side of the platter. This is decorative and symbolic, but you can simply discard it if you prefer. Set the neck aside.

Step 2: Remove and trim the chicken feet.

Cut off the feet at the joint where the drumstick ends. If you have chicken feet lovers, trim off the nails and place them on the platter, alongside the head if you have it. Chinese elders love chicken feet, but if you have no takers, save it for chicken stock. 

Step 3: Split the chicken in half. 

With the chicken breast-side up, split it in half.

When your knife pushes through to the back of the chicken, cut one half off of the side of the backbone, cutting straight through the length of the chicken, leaving the tail intact. 

Next, cut the middle backbone lengthwise up through the neck, and you’ll have three pieces, as shown. Two halves, and the backbone with the tail on one end and the neck on the other. If you prefer, you can use sharp kitchen shears instead of a cleaver for this step. 

Step 4: Trim the neck, back bone, and tail pieces. 

I usually cut the neck pieces and backbone, place them in the middle of the plate, and pile the nicer pieces of the chicken on top, with the tail at the side of the platter opposite to the head. Some people, mostly older generations, like to nibble on these bony pieces. You can also save all these pieces for chicken stock instead. 

Step 5: Separate the thighs and drumsticks. 

Next, take one of the chicken halves, and make a cut in the skin attaching the thigh to the breast. Fold the thigh and drumstick backwards, and it will almost separate itself. Use the cleaver to cut through the cartilage that attaches the thigh to the body.

Separate the drumstick and the thigh by cutting through the cartilage at the joint. If you have a small family or young kids, you may want to leave the whole drumsticks intact on the serving plate. Otherwise use some solid strokes with the cleaver to cut each drumstick into halves on a slight angle/diagonal.

Do the same to cut the thighs into ¾-inch pieces.

Keep the cut thigh and drumstick pieces together, and place them on the lower end of the plate.

Step 5: Cut the wings. 

Next, cut off both whole wings at the joint where the drumette meets the body of the chicken. Next, cut each wing into three pieces: the flat, the drumette, and the wing tip. Place the pieces on one side near the top of the plate where the head is. 

Step 6: Cut the breast. 

Make a lengthwise cut to separate the rib from the breast, and cut each into 3/4-inch wide pieces. Keep the pieces together as best you can, lifting them off the cutting board with your cleaver and onto the plate.

And that’s it! How to cut a whole chicken like Chinese chefs do, at home!

This process takes some practice, but after years of family dinners, this is the process I’ve been using for years. With some careful practice (silver lining: lots of meals), you can master it too!