How Much Chicken? Converting Between Pounds, Grams and Cups for Recipes - The Nessy Kitchen (2024)

Published: Mar 10, 2023, Last Modified: Mar 10, 2023 by Janessa.

So a recipe calls for a cup of chicken? Or a pound of chicken is on your ingredient list and you're wondering what the exact amount of pieces of boneless chicken breasts you need is? The next time you're looking at a recipe and wondering "but how much chicken is that??", this post is here to help you figure out the exact amount- no kitchen scale required.

Types of Chicken Meat

Let's first start off by talking about the most commonly used types of chicken in recipes.

Boneless

Boneless chicken means that the bones (and usually the skin) have already been removed.

Therefore, the weight of chicken listed on the package is essentially what you will yield for meat.

Your options for boneless are:

• Chicken breasts (white meat)
• Chicken thighs (dark meat)
• Ground chicken (can be a combination)

The advantages of using boneless chicken are:

• Convenience
• Chicken cooks faster
• Can easily be added to recipes (like this Yellow Thai Chicken Curry)

However, it does tend to be more expensive.

Bone In

When buying bone-in, the weight of chicken on the package includes the bone, so you won't yield that amount of meat like you will with boneless.

Your options for boneless are:

• Chicken breasts (white meat)
• Chicken thighs (dark meat)
• Drumsticks (dark meat)
• Wings (considered white meat)
• Whole Chicken (combination)

The advantages of using bone-in chicken are:

• Often more flavorful
• Cheaper

However, it does have a longer cook time and is a bit more work.

How Much is One Serving of Chicken

A single serving of chicken meat is generally considered to be about approximately:

• 100 grams
• ¼ pound
• 4 ounces
• ¾ cup

While it can be easy to figure out with boneless chicken meat, it can be a bit trickier with bone in meat.

A good rule of thumb is that you need twice the amount (by weight) of bone-in chicken to yield the same amount of meat. So for bone-in chicken meat, one serving is equal to approximately:

• 200 grams
• ½ pound
• 8 ounces

How Many Servings Per Pound of Chicken

So based on the above sizes for servings, we can calculate the amount of servings per pound (450 grams) or chicken.

Boneless- 4 servings

Ground- 4 servings

Bone-In- 2 servings

*Note: servings does not necessarily mean it will serve 4 people. It depends on the dish the chicken is being used in and dietary needs. I am referring to serving size as a standard measurement that is typically used on nutrition labels.

How Many Cups per Pound of Chicken

Now what if your recipe is calling for a number of cups of chicken (like in this Chimichurri Chicken Sandwich). How much meat do you need to buy in order to have the right amount?

Whether your recipe calls for chicken that is shredded or diced into bite-size pieces, they have around the same volume and weight.

An average pound of uncooked chicken equals approximately:

Boneless- 3 cups of cooked meat

Ground- 2 and ½ cups of cooked meat

Bone In- 1 and ½ cups of cooked meat

How Many Pounds (and Grams) In a Cup of Chicken

Boneless-

• ⅓ pound
• 5 ounces
• 150 grams

Ground-

• ⅖ pound
• 6 and ½ ounces
• 180 grams

Bone In- (Weight including bone that will yield 1 cup of meat)

• ⅔ pound
• 10 ounces
• 300 grams

How Many Pieces Per Pound

One pound of chicken equals (assuming medium sized pieces- this can definitely vary depending on the size of the chicken!):

• Boneless:
  • 2 average sized chicken breasts
  • 4 average sized chicken thighs
• Bone In:
  • 1 chicken breast
  • 2 thighs
  • 4 drumsticks
  • 8 wings

How Much is a Single Piece of Chicken (by type)

• Boneless:
  • Chicken breasts- ½ lb, 2 servings
  • Chicken thighs- ¼ lb, 1 serving
• Bone In:
  • Chicken Breast- 1 lb, 2 servings
  • Thighs- ½ lb- 1 serving
  • Drumsticks- ¼ lb- ½ serving
  • Wings- ⅛ lb- ¼ serving

How Many Per Serving (by type)

It may be helpful to envision the size of a deck of cards to give yourself an idea of a what a serving size looks like for boneless meat.

In order to have one serving, you would need the following amount of pieces of chicken.

• Boneless:
  • Chicken breasts- ½
  • Chicken thighs- 1
• Bone In:
  • Chicken Breast- ½
  • Thighs- 1
  • Drumsticks- 2
  • Chicken Wings- 4

Summary

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
• 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

Printable Reference Chart

Want to print this to reference for later? Download this chart! >>>

Frequently Asked Questions

Chicken Recipes

These different recipes are the perfect way for you to put your extra chicken to use!