With this meat guide, I’ll show you how to save money by breaking down whole chicken wings into flats and drumettes.
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One of the easiest ways to save money on meat is to learn how to break down larger pieces of meat yourself. For instance, a whole chicken costs so much less per pound than skinless boneless chicken breasts.
That’s because the meat companies don’t have to pay someone to do the processing. If you’re willing to take on that task yourself, the savings get passed onto you.
With this step-by-step guide, I’ll teach you how easy it is to separate whole chicken wings into wing flats and drumettes. The savings passed onto you can be as much as $2 per pound compared to buying pre-cut wings.
Table of Contents
Different parts of a chicken wing
This is a picture of the top side of a whole chicken wing. It’s made up of three parts:
- Drumette: This is the part that looks like a tiny chicken leg. It’s the section that connects the upper wing to the body of the chicken. Most of the meat is concentrated toward the top. Sometimes it’s called a drum or drummie.
- Flat: This is the middle section of the wing. It has two bones similar in size and the meat runs more evenly. Sometimes it’s also called a flap.
- Wing Tip: This is the little piece at the bottom of the picture. There is very little meat on this piece. It’s usually discarded or saved to make chicken broth.
Where to cut chicken wings
If you flip the fresh chicken wings over, you’ll see the joints. This is where the different sections of the wing connect.
The lines below show where to make the cut marks.
When looking at your raw chicken wings, you may also notice some spikes coming out of the skin. This is part of the feather, called the pin feather.
If you see it on the wing tips, you can ignore them because you won’t be serving this piece anyway.
If you notice a pin feather on the flat or drum, you can grip it with a paper towel and usually pull it right out. If it’s stubborn, use a pair of tweezers.
You may also see what looks like little hairs. These are called filaments and are actually baby feathers that are just starting to grow.
Most of the time, these will burn off in the cooking process, but if they don’t, they’re perfectly safe to eat.
Separating the wing drumette
To cut the chicken drumette, place the wing on a cutting board. Slice along the joint where it connects with the flat.
If you have a hard time finding the exact spot, you can grab the whole wing by the flat and the drum and bend it backwards until you hear a slight snap or pop.
Then, run the blade of the knife through that spot where it cracked for a nice, clean cut.
Sometimes your knife will just glide through the joint with no problem. If however, you feel a little resistance, you may be hitting bone instead of cartilage. To adjust for this, just slide your knife to the left or right until the resistance is gone.
Separating the flat wing
Next, you need to remove the wing tip from the flat. Just like before, find the joint where they connect. Then, run your sharp knife along that joint to separate them.
Now, you’ll have your separate portions of drums, flats and tips.
You can cook them right away or store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 1-2 days. You can also freeze them in a freezer bag or vacuum seal bag for up to 9 months for a future cook.
You can discard the separated wing tips. Or a great way to use all of the raw meat is to boil the wing tips with some water, onion, carrots and celery to make chicken broth.
Frequently Asked Questions
I recommend using a sharp chef’s knife. You want a knife with a heavy straight blade. You can also use a cleaver.
The best way to cut chicken wing parts is with a knife. Nut, if you have a pair of kitchen shears or poultry shears, you can use those to separate wing parts. Look for the joint and run the scissors along that area.
Nope. You can grill whole chicken wings or grill the pieces separately.
Chicken wings are considered to be white meat. Chicken breasts are also white meat. White meat is leaner compared to dark meat. However, there is more skin-to-meat ratio with wings, so they do have more calories than skinless chicken breast.
A French cut chicken wing is when you take the drumette part of the wing and remove the meat from the bone so it looks like a lollipop. View my Asian sticky chicken recipe to see the simple steps.
