How to Cut Chicken Wings
This guide will show you how to cut chicken wings and is perfect for anyone that wants to save money but hasn't chopped whole wings before.
Equipment Used
Ingredients
- 4 pounds whole chicken wings
Instructions
- Pick up the chicken wing by the wing tip. Grip the wing tip in a fist, leaving your thumb free. Using the tip of your thumb, locate the space between the two joints where the tip and the wingette come together. Push into that gap and leave a small mark if it helps you. While keeping your grip on the wing tip, use your knife and slice through that gap to remove the wingtip from the flat.
- Flip the remaining pieces of the wing over so that the drumette is closer to your non-dominate hand (the one not holding the knife). Trim off any excess skin or fat if needed. Usually the wings are already trimmed, but sometimes you’ll find a large chunk of excess skin.
- After trimming the drumette, pull the two pieces of the wing apart, almost to a 90-degree angle. Place the blade of the knife parallel and up against the drumette. From this position, the knife should be perfectly situated to cut straight through the remaining joint holding the drumette and wingette together. Slice downwards through the cartilage again. If you feel resistance, you’re hitting bone. Don’t try to chop or saw through the bone, simply lift the blade up and change the angle slightly to the left or right and try again. When you stop feeling resistance, you should be able to slice straight through.
- Continue cutting and separating the wing components until you are done. Now you can either discard all the wing tips or transfer them to an airtight freezer container and save them for another day.
Notes
1) As with all chicken preparations, do not rinse off chicken in your sink. You're more likely to spread possible bacteria around the kitchen this way.
2) I always recommend gloves when handling raw chicken. I didn't wear them here for the sake of the photos, but normally I always wear them when handling chicken. Using gloves and immediately discarding after dealing with chicken can help cut down on the chances of cross-contamination while prepping and cooking.
3) The equipment I listed above is simply what I used. Any sharpened knife you're comfortable with will do. Any type of cutting board is fine as well, though I would recommend against wooden cutting boards for raw meat as they're more porous than other options.
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