Go Back
Square image of Peri Peri butterflied chicken garnished with chopped herbs, served with lemon wedges, red onion, chilli peppers, and a jar of peri peri sauce on dark serving plate
Print Recipe
No ratings yet

How to spatchcock chicken

Spatchcock Chicken delivers juicy meat with perfectly golden-brown skin. Mastering this simple technique results in perfectly even cooking, whilst cutting down the overall cooking time.
Prep Time10 minutes
Total Time10 minutes
Course: Tutorial
Cuisine: Global
Keyword: Cutting technique, tutorial
Servings: 6 (around 123g each - cooked weight)
Author Nicky Corbishley
Cost: £6 ($8)

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 1 whole chicken (I usually use a medium chicken around 1.4kg-1.6kg (3lbs-3.5lbs))

Instructions

  • Place chicken breast-side down on a sturdy chopping board, with the legs towards you.
    1 whole chicken
    A raw whole chicken, ready to spatchcock on a red chopping board with a pair of kitchen scissors beside it.
  • Using heavy-duty scissors or poultry shears, cut along both sides of the backbone. It's a little fiddly, as you have to cut through each of the rib bones as you go. So it's better to go slowly, rather than trying to cut through multiple ribs at once.
    A raw butterflied chicken, partially spatchcocked with kitchen scissors, lies on a red chopping board against a light background.
  • Once you've cut through both sides of the backbone, discard the bone (or save it to make stock).
    Raw butterflied chicken spatchcocked on a red chopping board, with poultry shears placed beside it.
  • Turn the chicken over, pull the legs out a little, then press down with both hands on the breastbone to flatten the chicken.
    A raw whole spatchcocked chicken lying breast-side-up on a red chopping board against a light grey background.
  • The chicken is now spatchcocked and ready to use.

Video

Notes

Nutritional information is approximate.

This is based on a 1.4kg chicken providing 980g meat (approx 70% yield of meat).
Once cooked, the meat will weigh approx 735g (when cooked, chicken meat weighs approx 25% less due to water evaporation).

Nutrition

Serving: 123g | Calories: 207kcal | Protein: 31g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 93mg | Sodium: 93mg

QR code

Scan this QR code with your phone's camera to view this recipe on your mobile device.

qr code