Butterflied chicken breast and couscous on a plate

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How to butterfly chicken breasts

Butterflying a chicken breast gives it a uniform thickness, which is ideal for quick cooking. You can use this basic three-step technique for other meats, such as lamb or pork.

Butterflying is a really useful technique to create a uniform thickness throughout a piece of meat, so that it will cook more quickly and evenly. Here we’ve used chicken, but for larger cuts, such as lamb or pork, make similar incisions along the joint to open it up into one flat piece. Once you’ve mastered the technique, try your butterflied breast in our lemon chicken & couscous recipe, pictured above, or chicken tikka burgers.

Three-step guide to butterflying chicken breasts

Step one:

Put your chicken breast on a chopping board and, with your hand flat on top of it, use a sharp knife to slice into one side of the breast, starting at the thicker end and ending at the thin point. Be careful not to cut all the way through to the other side.