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Nutritional Information: Chicken

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How to Store Chicken

How to Buy Chicken

Consider a number of factors to ensure that you buy a high-quality chicken that meets your needs.

The Signs of High-Quality Chicken

Chicken may be sold fresh or frozen, but in either case you should look for certain signs when deciding whether to buy a particular chicken or piece of chicken.

What to Look for and Avoid in Fresh Chicken

Look for: Plump chicken, whether whole or in pieces. If the chicken has skin, the skin should be supple, moist, and intact.
Avoid: Chicken that has feathers (or stumps of feathers), or that has any dry or discolored patches.

What to Look for and Avoid in Frozen Chicken

Look for: Plump chicken with intact skin.
Avoid: Chicken that appears to have dried out or whose packaging has been damaged or is covered with frost. Also avoid any chicken that has pinkish ice, which is a sign that the chicken was at some point defrosted and then refrozen.

Should You Buy Fresh or Frozen Chicken?

Generally speaking, if you plan to cook the chicken that you’re buying within 2–3 days, then it’s best and easiest to buy fresh chicken. If you won’t be cooking the chicken within 2–3 days, you’re better off buying frozen chicken.

White Meat or Dark Meat?

Chicken meat can be divided into white meat and dark meat. White meat comes from the chicken’s breast, while dark meat comes from the legs and thighs. White meat is light in color and tends to be less moist, a bit more mild, and more tender. Dark meat has a stronger flavor and has a bit of a slicker texture. Whether you should buy white meat or dark meat is entirely a matter of taste—both types of chicken meat can be cooked in the same ways. Since many people prefer white meat over dark meat, dark meat is quite a bit less expensive than white meat.

Chicken Parts

Chicken can be cut up and sold in stores in a variety of different ways. To buy the right type and amount of chicken for your needs, it helps to be aware of the most common chicken parts sold and how they’re most often used.

Whole chicken: The entire chicken, usually sold with the giblets (explained below) inside a plastic bag and stuffed into the neck cavity of the bird. Whole chickens are most often roasted, broiled, or grilled. Because a whole chicken costs less than an equal amount of chicken parts, you can also save money by buying a whole chicken and cutting it into pieces yourself.
Half chicken: Made by splitting a chicken along its breast and backbone, a half chicken contains half a chicken breast, one wing, one thigh, and one drumstick. Half chickens are usually roasted, broiled, or grilled.
Breast quarter: A breast and attached wing of chicken. It is usually roasted, broiled, or grilled. Actually contains just a bit more than a quarter of the meat on a whole chicken.
Leg quarter: A thigh and attached drumstick. It is usually roasted, broiled, or grilled. It actually contains just a bit less than a quarter of a whole chicken.
Chicken breast: The entire breast of the chicken. May be sold bone-in or boneless, and can be skin-on or skinless. Makes a great roast.
Split breast: A chicken breast split in two. Often sold in pairs, split breasts can be bone-in or boneless, skin-on or skinless. Bone-in split breasts can be cooked in a wide variety of ways, including broiling, roasting, and grilling. They can also be used to make chicken soup. Boneless split breasts are usually broiled, grilled, or sautéed. Boneless breasts can also be cut into strips or cutlets, which are often sautéed, stir-fried, or breaded and panfried.
Wing: Often sold in packs of multiple wings. Chicken wings are usually broiled or grilled.
Thigh: The portion of the chicken attached to the drumstick. Chicken thighs are often fried, grilled, broiled, roasted, braised, or stewed.
Drumstick: The leg of the chicken, the drumstick may be fried, grilled, broiled, or roasted, and is also often used to make chicken soup.
Giblets: Giblets are the gizzard, heart, liver, and neck of the bird. They often come stuffed into whole chickens but can also be bought separately. These items are often used to make gravy or sauces.

How Much Chicken to Buy

To make sure you're buying enough chicken to serve your family or guests, use this table:

Chicken Part		Amount Needed
Whole chicken		3/4 to 1 pound of chicken will feed one person. So a 1- to 2-pound Rock Cornish hen would serve 1–2 people, while a 4- to 7-pound roaster would serve 5–8 people.
Bone-in chicken breast		1 pound for every 2 people
Boneless chicken breast		1 pound for every 4 people
Drumsticks		1 pound for every 2–3 people
Wings		1 pound for every 1–2 people

Organic vs. Nonorganic Chicken

In recent years, many people have become uncomfortable with the way that the mainstream poultry industry treats chickens. Some critics maintain that the chicken industry’s methods, which include keeping chickens cooped up in cages, sometimes in the dark, for their entire lives, are inhumane. Others argue that because the chickens are treated with antibiotics and hormones, and are given feed other than what they would eat in the wild, chicken produced by the mainstream poultry industry isn’t actually healthful to eat. The organic movement has emerged as a response to these concerns. Organically grown chickens are not given hormones or antibiotics, and are usually free-range, meaning that the chickens are allowed to roam outdoors as they would in nature.

Though there is no definitive answer to the question of whether organic chicken is more healthful to eat than nonorganic chicken, many people feel more comfortable eating it. Many people also think that organic chicken tastes better. However, organic chicken is typically more expensive than regular chicken. (For more on organic poultry, see the Quamut guide to Organic Food.)

Acknowledgments & Disclaimer