Let's settle it once for all: How many adults can big chicken feed?

[LondonFox]

I am talking about chicken as main protein in a dish in normal 1 to 2 course eating. Not 8 course meal.

My guess when cooking would be 1/4 chicken per adult so four people.
2 x breast and wing
2 x leg quarters

Person in my family suggests 10 easily:
2 x wings
4 x white
2 x drumsticks
2 x tighs.

AIBU chicken can easily feed 10.
AINBU ten people will be very polite and say nothing but stay hungry. Share among 4.

4 people, 5 at a stretch if it's a very large chicken

Have just remembered that when I've online shopped for meat then actually I would look at size categories first if any chunk/whole chicken, with any meat that are sold one price for S, M..., and then I would pick the largest size possible in that "group" price, if that makes sense. I haven't bought a whole chicken in quite some time so no idea if usually is one price per size or different prices within category.

And I take the skin off (which I put looooads of salt and pepper on at the start) and I put it back in with the roast potatoes to crisp up. The teens go nuts for it 😁

In our house a chicken feeds DH and I plus 4 year old DD with good appetite. With enough leftovers to do a couple of sandwiches or a salad/pasta.

So I’d say 3-4 healthy adults that don’t eat like sparrows maximum.

We have a leg each, and some breast. DD has some breast. Then we have the rest of the breast and wings for leftovers.

I don’t want to eat at any house where lunch is 1/10 of a chicken.

In our house a large chicken will feed 2 adults, 2 toddlers and curry from the leftovers for the next day. Or chicken sandwiches for lunch.

1 chicken for two adults, a preteen (who would
live on chicken if I let him), a dog and a cat.

I carve the chicken up before it’s served. Cat and dog get all the crappy bits with tendons and veins.

Whole wings (as they end up like cardboard, unless you butcher your chicken and cooking each part separately), carcass and veg peels go into a stock pot.

Fin.

As part of a roast, 4 adults. There would probably be 'picky bits' left over which would make a curry or soup.

We had a roast chicken last night - 2 adults, one adult sized teen and a 8 year old. We ate about 1 1/2 breasts between us (we tend to have a lot of veg / Yorkshires etc). There’s enough left to feed us all again with a pie or curry. So for us it would do 6 adults and 2 children.

If there is loads of other stuff on the plate then I'd say 8. But if it's just the meat, one veg and one carb then maybe 6. In my house it does 3 people 2 meals each.

Whenever I roast a chicken, it's for 3 adults. The vast majority of it goes during the meal. There might be some odds and ends left that I fry up the next day with the leftover veg etc. So at a push, I could feed 4 adults with a large chicken. 10 people? No way. Unless you're having literally a spoonful of meat each.

I always buy a "large" chicken as tbh, the standard size I would call a meal for 2.

1 x large chicken does 3 meals for 2 adults in our home, and the carcass for stock so I’d say 6 adults for the one meal?

Though conversely 1x extra large chicken between two adults means we’re eating chicken all damn week and who can be arsed with that much chicken??

Assuming a 1.8-2KG chicken...two adults (me across two meals) and three dogs!

But if I have a roast chicken then I only eat the breast meat. I hate how slimy the wings/legs are and will not touch them. Once the chicken is cold I portion off the other breast and have it the next day then debone the chicken and all leftover chicken goes to my dogs. Carcass is used to make stock for butternut squash soup 😍

Sounds rather wasteful, what was the point in cooking whole chickens then? Just cook chicken breasts if that’s all you want.

We had a 1.4kg chicken yesterday, 3 adults, one of whom is a small eater. There is a leg, a drumstick and some scrappy bits left. This will easily feed the three of us in pittas with salad for lunch.

Roast = feeds four adults breast meat 2 to 3 ##slices each - I do carve thin - I don't like chunks

Cold with chips = 3 adults with combo of breat and leg/thigh.

Risotto or the like for three poss four adults - picked over carcas.

Dog = random bits

I big chicken = 3 main meals for 2 to 4 adults.

Well I wouldn’t want to eat at your relative’s house. I’d be pretty disappointed being served one chicken wing.

I would serve a 2yr old more meat than one chicken wing.

Unless they are buying some super steroid chicken!!

Chickens are expensive, an organic whole chicken costs us around £17-18 (approximately 1.5kg). We would tend to have the two breasts between 2 adults and a 2yr old on one night. A leg and thigh per adult another night (again, shared with the toddler), then use the carcass for stock and all the scraps off the carcass in a soup or rice dish.

I think a lot of people don't fully appreciate the difference in size between a small and a large chicken. A small chicken would feed the four of us (3 adult sized portions and one child), with plenty of sides and there might be enough left over for a couple of sandwiches.

A large chicken would easily do 2 meals for the four of us, plus some sandwhiches. The breasts alone on a large chicken are massive, vs tiny on a small one.

I completely appreciate the difference in the size of chickens. A small chicken would just about feed two of us at a pinch but my husband would moan that I was being stingy. I could get a second meal for two from a very large chicken.

Yeah, I was about to science the science on that post. First the poster says that when you remove skeleton and water bakes out, it’ll still be 1.0-1.2. No. It’ll be 1.06, so closer to 1. And that’s if you completely strip the carcass bare by hand. And how do I know this? Because someone on MoneySavingExperts got bored and did it with a Morrisons chicken that weighed 1.5kg to begin with and got 800g.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1625669/net-weight-of-meat-on-a-chicken

Then let’s discuss serving sizes. See image attached. Now, 2008 iPhones were actually much smaller than the ones we use now - 13s, 14s, or 15s (they were 22% shorter, not including Pros or Pro maxes or whatever). And a 100g serving would be roughly 3.5 oz, so between that serving that’s smaller than the iPhone in the image and the one that’s just the same size. As you’ve pointed out, @LondonFox, people often eat chicken in larger amounts because it’s low in calories and high in protein, to help meet daily protein needs if they enjoy meat. So 10-14 servings just isn’t going to happen unless they’re slightly smaller than a playing card and you’ve stripped every bit of the carcass and not paid the dog or cat tax.

Depends on the size of the chicken, the requirements and preferences of the adults etc.

I would usually say one "normal" chicken (we source ours locally, so they may be a bit smaller than an average supermarket chicken) should feed at least 4 people.
Probably more than four but I want our guests to feel comfortable. Which is why a 1:4 ratio of chicken to adults would be best IMO.

reminds me of the time my aunt considered the goose´s tail (so basically fat without any actual meat) one portion...

that was a lovely Christmas party

While your reasoning seems sound overall, I'd expect that the meat:bone ratio will increase with the size of the chicken - so a 2kg chicken will have a higher proportion of meat than a 1.5kg chicken.

No joke - I actually cooked a whole chicken for the dog (Labrador) the other day.
For context he has has a bad tummy and chicken and rice 'binds him up.
Doggo isn't complaining.

Oh my sound delicious 😂

The discussion on Mumsnet always seems to be about chickens - out of interest, what size steak would people usually eat? I would always cook an 8oz/225g steak per person.