How-To Butterfly Chicken Breast
How-To Butterfly Chicken Breast
A whole chicken breast can be more than we need. The butterfly cutting technique, in a nutshell, is to open the chicken breast, creating a thinner surface area.
Think of a book when closed, what it looks like when it opens up. It’s essentially what we’re doing with our chicken breast. We start with a boneless chicken breast unlike our other How-to with bone in chicken quarters.
WHY ARE WE LEARNING ‘HOW-TO’
Learning how to butterfly chicken breast will make it easier to cook and open the door for a multitude of recipes.
Learning how to butterfly will help create a chicken breast that is easier to cook. It brings down the cooking time because it’s thinner.
The cut allows us to maintain and produce a consistent product. Butterflying chicken breast opens up the door for a multitude of recipes.
MEET THE PLAYERS
There are really only two tools we need to butterfly.
A Chef’s Knife
A chef’s knife is easy to work with for boneless chicken breast. Whatever knife you use, the most important thing is your comfort level with your knife and that it’s sharp.
Unlike butterflying bone-in chicken quarter, the boneless chicken breast is way easier and has more surface area to work with. I like using the chef knife for this job because it makes for a more even cut.
Use a knife that is sharp and familiar. The confidence in the tool you have and the ability to maneuver it is more important. A dull knife is a scary thing to have in the kitchen, especially for this technique. Sharpen your knife and make sure it’s easy for you to grip.
Cutting Board
Cutting boards that you can properly sterilize is the most important. Using plastic or acrylic is easy because after scrubbing they can go in the dishwasher to be sterilized.
Handling raw chicken, means we want a cutting board that we can sterilize. Salmonella and chicken aren’t something you want to accidentally feed yourself. After scrubbing your cutting board, cleaning your sponge, and still feeling a little skeptical, you can throw it in the dishwasher with the heat drying cycle.
It will put your OCD to rest and sterilize whatever you missed. Wood shouldn’t go into the dishwasher, this is why I recommend plastic or acrylic. It’s even better if you have a dedicated meat cutting board.
SPECIAL TIPS
Stable cutting board
Silicone baking mat helps to ensure the cutting board stays sealed to the surface area.
A cutting board that moves, makes it difficult to focus on the task at hand. We want it to grip, lay flat to the counter or cutting station. If you have a cutting board that slides, place a silicone baking mat underneath.
If you don’t have a silicone baking mat use a wet paper towel. Slightly wring out your wet paper towel and place it underneath the board on top of the counter.
Seam
If you think of a book, it always has a seam. You can cut more than once to butterfly, just make sure it has a seam. Leave enough space to open up the chicken breast by not cutting all the way through.
FINAL THOUGHTS AND NOTES:
Chicken has a ton of bacteria. Make sure to handle with care and sterilize. Keep the chicken chilled while working with it. Know your purpose for butterflying.
Chicken skewers made from butterflying chicken breast before cutting into strips.
If you’re planning on making katsu, or skewers, it will give you an idea of how far you want to butterfly the breast. This technique is rather quick and easy so pull your chicken from the fridge when your station is set up.
LET’S GET STARTED!
Simple Butterfly
To simply butterfly start with the thickest part of the breast facing you and the shortest part farthest away. Your cut should start from the outside of the breast where it was attached to the wing and move towards the straightest part of the breast that was attached to the chest.
The breast should be facing you, while the bottom of the breast (attached to the leg) is opposite.
Pressing the breast towards the cutting board with your hand, guide your knife horizontally and steadily between. Your knife should be moving towards the center of the chicken breast.
The center of the chicken breast is where the chicken was attached to the sternum. This will give us a larger surface area when butterflying. Make sure to leave ½“ at the ends to be able to open it up.
Move your knife horizontally, from the outer portion of the breast towards the center (where it was attached to the ribs). Leaving ½ inch at the ends.
Butterflying for Skewers/Kebabs
Once you’ve butterflied your breast to your desired thickness, cut them into 1½ - 2 inch wide strips for easy skewering.
This chicken breast was butterflied three times to get the thinness desired, for easier skewering.
