How To Cut Up A Chicken Wing

In this post, I am going to show how easy it is to cut a whole chicken wing into drums, and wingettes and remove the wing tip.

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Watch how to cut a chicken wing

Instructions to cut Whole Chicken Wings

Here are all the simple steps. You don’t have to cut them in this order, it is just the way I have always done it.

I have to cut up my own chicken wings all the time because I cut up whole chickens from the grocery store all the time.

Step 1. Cut the wing tip Off

1. Hold the wing tip away from the wingette of the chicken wing. Follow the shape down into the joint. You will be able to feel in there a knuckle of sorts. This is where the bones pivot so that the wing can move at this joint.
2. Lay the wing flat on the cutting board and slice into this joint with a sharp chef knife. I prefer a chef knife, it has a lot more strength behind the blade to cut into some small parts of bones if need be.
3. The knife should move easily through the chicken wing joint. If you are getting a lot of resistance then most likely you need to move the knife around a bit to find the area that it moves through easily.

You can now go ahead and discard the wing tip. Some might save it for chicken stock, but you really need a lot of them to make it worthwhile.

Step 2. Separate Drumette from the Wingette

1. Pull the wingette from the drumette so that it looks like a “V” and follow it down to the joint.
2. Go ahead and lay flat on the cutting board and with your chef knife slice through that joint.

If this type of thing comes easy to you then you might also want to check out my post on how to debone a chicken thigh.

The more you do this the easier it will get over time and you will be able to cut up a whole package of chicken wings with ease!

Part of Chicken Wing	Instructions
Wing Tip	1. Hold the wing tip away from the wingette. 2. Cut into the joint with a sharp chef knife.
Drumette	1. Pull wingette from drumette to form a “V”. 2. Slice through the joint to separate.
Wingette (or Flat)	Usually connected between the drumette and wing tip. Separated in the same step as the drumette.

Parts of a Cut Up Chicken Wing

Here are all three parts that make up a chicken wing. I also left them in the orientation that they are before they get cut. That is what a whole chicken wing would look like.

Drummette

This part of the chicken wing has always been my favorite. I am alone with this with my family, they all prefer the wingette.

This is connected the closest to the chicken body. The top knuckle that you see falls very close to the chicken breast of the bird.

If you are lucky with the cut that you got, you will find a bit of chicken on the top of the drum that is actually chicken breast when it is cut off the bird.

This piece by far will have the most meat on it. It tends not to be the most tender but it does get some great crispy bits if you are grilling them.

Wingette or the Flat

Yes, my family favorite. This part has the most tender chicken. it has the least amount of chicken and will carry most of the flavor from the skin, with more of a skin ratio than chicken.

This is the part that is in the middle of the wing and it connects the wing tip and the drum of the chicken wing.

It has two bones that are not as strong as the bone that is found in the drummete.

Personally, I am starting to enjoy this part more and who knows I might convert over to a wingette guy.

Wing Tip

I save this part for last seeing that it just gets discarded typically. This part is connected to the wingette and it is the furthest down on the wing of a chicken.

Some do save it for chicken stock, that’s how I use them in my chicken noodle soup recipe.

In the end, you don’t have to cut up a chicken wing at all if you don’t want to. They are just as good and can cook just as even if they are whole.