How Much Chicken to Buy When You Need Shredded or Diced Chicken? (2024)
Sara Bir
·1 min read
When you're making a recipe that calls for cooked chicken, how much rotisserie or raw chicken do you need? Here's how to convert to cooked chicken, whether diced or shredded, boneless or whole.
Do you never know how much chicken to buy when a recipe calls for however many cups of shredded or diced chicken? It can make you feel in the dark once you're at the store or putting in an order. Whether the chicken you're shopping for is uncooked or cooked, here's your key.
Shredded or Diced Chicken in Cups, Pounds, and Ounces
Cooked: The average ready-to-eat rotisserie chicken weighs between 2 to 3 pounds and will give you about 3 to 4 cups of shredded or diced meat.
Raw: 12 ounces of raw boneless, skinless chicken will give you about 2 cups of shredded chicken, weighing 8 ounces cooked. You can boil the chicken or make it in a pressure cooker.
Your yield of shredded or diced chicken will also have to do with how thoroughly you pick the meat from the bones. If you're a little short for your recipe, just roll with it.
If you have excess chicken, freeze for up to 3 months. You can also freeze the chicken bones to use for making stock later. A slow cooker or Instant Pot makes it especially easy.
We suggest 6 ounces of meat per person and guests with heartier appetites will eat more. One pound feeds approximately 2.25 people and is served with 2 buns per pound, pickles, bbq sauce, and red onions.
How Much Chicken is 2 Cups Shredded. To yield 2 cups of shredded chicken, you'll need approximately 12 ounces of cooked chicken or 1 pound raw. In terms of cooked meat, this looks like 2 chicken breasts, 4 chicken thighs, or the meat from half of a rotisserie chicken.
The general rule is that 3 ounces of chicken is roughly the size of a deck of playing cards or the palm of your average hand. If you decide to use a cup measurement (which isn't exact), the cup will be about half to 60 percent full.
Allow about 1/4 to 1/3 pound of boneless chicken per serving. Generally, 3/4 pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts will yield 2 cups of cubed cooked chicken. A 3-1/2-pound whole chicken will yield about 3 cups of diced cooked chicken.
As a rough estimate, a pound of pulled chicken could typically serve around 2 to 4 people as a main dish, assuming a serving size of approximately 4 to 8 ounces per person. However, this can vary based on personal preferences and dietary needs.
The amount of shredded chicken your breast or thigh yields will vary widely depending upon their size. Generally: 1 1/2 pounds of boneless chicken will yield about 4 cups of shredded chicken. 1 (8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breast will yield about 1 1/3 cups of shredded chicken.
A good rule of thumb is every 8 ounces of boneless chicken breasts will yield about 1 ½ cups of cooked, shredded chicken. So, this recipe will make 6-7 cups of shredded chicken.
1 serving of chicken is equal to about 4 oz/ 100 grams/ ¾ cup. There is ⅓ pound chicken per cup of meat. 1 chicken breast is approximately 1.5 cups of chicken.
A 3-ounce serving of cooked chicken is about 85 grams or just over half a cup of chicken. For 4 ounces, it would be 133 grams or about 3/4 cup. Note: measuring chicken in cups is not precise. A 3-ounce serving size of chicken breast contains 128 calories, 26 grams of protein, and 2.7 grams of fat.
A cup of cooked chicken can weigh anywhere from 2 ounces (cut into big cubes) to 5 ounces (finely diced). It will also depend on how much moisture has been cooked out of the chicken. On average I'd say it's around 3-4 ounces.
So to summarize: 1 pound of chicken meat is equal to approximately 3 cups. As a general rule, for bone in chicken you need twice as much to yield the same amount of meat.
How Much Chicken Do You Get from a Rotisserie Chicken? The average rotisserie chicken weighs about 2 pounds and yields about 3 cups of chicken (2 cups of white meat and 1 cup of dark meat).
A 3-ounce serving of cooked chicken is about 85 grams or just over half a cup of chicken. For 4 ounces, it would be 133 grams or about 3/4 cup. Note: measuring chicken in cups is not precise.
Introduction: My name is Chrissy Homenick, I am a tender, funny, determined, tender, glorious, fancy, enthusiastic person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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