Cuts

Poultry — Breakdown & Cuts

Spatchcock / Butterfly (Poultry)

Also: butterflied chicken, spatchcocked bird, poussin spatchcock, crapaudine

Remove the backbone, crack the keel, flatten the bird — and you've halved the roasting time while doubling the skin exposure.

Spatchcocking (also called butterflying) is the technique of removing the entire backbone of a whole bird using kitchen shears or a heavy knife, then pressing the carcass flat by cracking or removing the keel bone (sternum), producing a uniform single-layer bird. The flattened form dramatically reduces oven, grill, or spit cooking time, exposes the maximum possible skin surface for crisping, and allows more even heat penetration across breast and thigh simultaneously.

In photos

Spatchcock / Butterfly (Poultry) in its raw whole-cut form on a butcher's board — Spatchcocking (also called butterflying) is the technique of removing the entire backbone of a whole bird using kitchen shears or a heavy knife, then pressing the carcass flat by cracking or removing… Identifying traits: Reduces roast or grill time by 30–40% compared to a trussed whole bird, Entire skin surface faces heat simultaneously — maximum crispness, Thigh and breast temperatures converge during cooking, reducing overcooking risk.
Spatchcock / Butterfly (Poultry) in its raw whole-cut form on a butcher's board — Spatchcocking (also called butterflying) is the technique of removing the entire backbone of a whole bird using kitchen shears or a heavy knife, then pressing the carcass flat by cracking or removing… Identifying traits: Reduces roast or grill time by 30–40% compared to a trussed whole bird, Entire skin surface faces heat simultaneously — maximum crispness, Thigh and breast temperatures converge during cooking, reducing overcooking risk.
Where the spatchcock / butterfly (poultry) lives on the source. Applied to the whole bird — typically chicken (1–2 kg), Cornish hen (poussin), turkey (3–7 kg), or quail.
Where the spatchcock / butterfly (poultry) lives on the source. Applied to the whole bird — typically chicken (1–2 kg), Cornish hen (poussin), turkey (3–7 kg), or quail.
Spatchcock / Butterfly (Poultry) prepared the canonical way — Spatchcock roast chicken. STEP 1 — Remove the backbone: place bird breast-side down. Using sturdy kitchen shears, cut along both sides of the backbone from tail to neck. Remove the backbone and reserve for stock.
Spatchcock / Butterfly (Poultry) prepared the canonical way — Spatchcock roast chicken. STEP 1 — Remove the backbone: place bird breast-side down. Using sturdy kitchen shears, cut along both sides of the backbone from tail to neck. Remove the backbone and reserve for stock.

Where it comes from

Applied to the whole bird — typically chicken (1–2 kg), Cornish hen (poussin), turkey (3–7 kg), or quail. The backbone runs the full dorsal length and is cut free on both sides with kitchen shears or a thin-bladed knife following the vertebral column. Once removed, the bird is turned breast-side up and pressed firmly at the breastplate until the keel bone cracks and the bird lies flat. For maximum flatness, the keel can be completely excised with a paring knife.

Reduces roast or grill time by 30–40% compared to a trussed whole birdEntire skin surface faces heat simultaneously — maximum crispnessThigh and breast temperatures converge during cooking, reducing overcooking riskFlat profile is ideal for stovetop browning followed by oven finish (one pan)Allows even weight/brick application for pressed cooking (pollo al mattone)Essential for tandoor cooking — the flat form sits on the skewer rack evenlyBackbone yields excellent stock with roasted fond from the pan

Best for

High-heat oven roastingGrilling over direct and indirect heatTandoor or wood-fired ovenShawarma spit (whole flattened bird on a vertical spit)Pollo al mattone (brick-pressed stovetop)Jerk chickenButterflied Cornish hen for individual plating

How to cook it

  1. 1STEP 1 — Remove the backbone: place bird breast-side down. Using sturdy kitchen shears, cut along both sides of the backbone from tail to neck. Remove the backbone and reserve for stock.
  2. 2STEP 2 — Score the keel: flip the bird breast-side up. Locate the keel bone (pinkish cartilage running down the center of the breast). Score both sides with a paring knife, or press firmly down on both breasts simultaneously with your palms until you hear and feel the breastplate crack flat.
  3. 3STEP 3 — For complete keel removal: use fingers to peel back the keel bone and cartilage wings for a fully flat bird — this produces the flattest possible result and is standard in restaurant prep.
  4. 4STEP 4 — Season: generously salt under the skin and on all surfaces. Dry-brine uncovered in the refrigerator at least 1 hour, ideally overnight, for crispest skin.
  5. 5STEP 5 — Roast at 230°C (450°F) on a wire rack over a sheet pan, or grill over a two-zone fire starting thigh-side down over direct heat before moving to indirect. A 1.5 kg chicken is done in 35–45 minutes vs. 60–75 minutes trussed. Target 74°C (165°F) at thigh.

Prep & butchery

  • Chill the bird thoroughly before spatchcocking — cold poultry holds its shape and the skin doesn't tear
  • Use dedicated heavy-duty kitchen shears — chef's knives are less safe on backbone cartilage and can slip
  • Pull up on the backbone with one hand while cutting with the other to create tension against the shears
  • If the keel bone refuses to crack by pressing, score it more deeply with a paring knife along the centerline cartilage — don't force it blindly

Substitutes

  • Whole bird (trussed)

    The non-spatchcocked alternative; longer cook time, uneven skin exposure, harder to achieve crispy thighs and moist breast simultaneously

  • Bone-in chicken pieces (8-piece cut-up)

    Same even-cooking benefit via pieces rather than a single flat bird; better for braising applications

  • Butterflied leg of lamb

    Analogous de-bone-and-flatten technique applied to lamb leg for grill or oven; different protein, same geometry logic

Related cuts

  • Chicken Suprême

    The premium individual portion derived from the breast of the same bird after breakdown

  • Poultry Breakdown — 8-Piece & 10-Piece

    Alternative to spatchcocking when individual pieces are the goal

  • Pollo al Mattone (brick-pressed chicken)

    Classic Italian application of the spatchcock technique cooked under a heavy weight

Appears in

Spatchcock roast chickenJerk chicken (Jamaican)Pollo al mattone (Tuscan)Piri piri chicken (Portuguese-Mozambican)Tandoori murg (adapted flat form)Crapaudine (French classical — pressed quail or poussin)

References

  1. 1.Samin Nosrat — Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
  2. 2.J. Kenji López-Alt — The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science
  3. 3.Jacques Pépin — La Technique
  4. 4.The Culinary Institute of America — The Professional Chef (9th ed.)

Confidence: high

Notes

Etymology

The origin of 'spatchcock' is disputed. One theory traces it to 18th-century Anglo-Irish culinary slang: 'dispatch cock' — a bird killed and quickly prepared (dispatched) for immediate cooking, usually by splitting. Another theory links it to the Irish 'spatch' (a dispatch). What is clear is that the technique predates the word: records of flattened grilled birds appear in Roman, Persian, and Indian texts centuries before the English term was coined. The French classical equivalent 'crapaudine' (toad-style) refers to the flattened bird's visual resemblance to a toad splayed on a rock.

Tandoor and shawarma applications

In South Asian tandoor cooking, a whole chicken is sometimes spatchcocked and marinated before being threaded directly onto the iron skewer rack inside the tandoor wall — the flat form gives even char and allows the extreme radiant heat (300–400°C) to cook the bird in under 15 minutes. For vertical spit shawarma, a whole marinated spatchcocked bird is stacked flat onto the spit as one layer among many, a common practice in Lebanese and Turkish shawarma stalls when using whole birds rather than deboned meat slabs.