Chicken Leg Quarters
Chicken in the Midwest · up 40% this week
Per a typical 140g serving, scaled from the per-100g figures in USDA FoodData Central (Chicken, broilers or fryers, leg, meat and skin, raw).
- 1 SouthwestCheapest $0.78/lb
- 2 Southeast $0.81/lb
- 3 Southcentral $0.91/lb
- 4 Midwest $1.10/lb
- 5 Northeast $1.14/lb
Buying chicken leg quarters in the Southwest saves about 32% versus the Northeast this week.
- How to pick a good one
- Thigh and drumstick still joined, often sold in large bags and frequently the cheapest chicken per pound in the entire store. Look for intact skin and check the bag for excessive ice crystals if frozen, which suggests it has thawed and refrozen.
- What a good price looks like
- The cheapest meat in the shop by a wide margin, often 79 cents to $1.50 a pound, and the 10 lb bag regularly lands under a dollar a pound. Under $1 is a good price. For feeding people on a tight budget, leg quarters are the single strongest answer in the meat case.
- What you actually get
- Bone and skin run about 35%, so a 10 lb bag of leg quarters gives roughly 6.5 lb of raw meat and about 5 lb cooked. One quarter is a generous single serving. The bulk bag is a lot of stock bones as well as a lot of dinner.
- How to store it
- One to two days refrigerated. Large bags are worth breaking down and freezing in meal-sized portions on the day you buy them.
- In the kitchen
- A drumstick and thigh still joined, which is the cheapest way to buy chicken almost anywhere. Roast them at 200 to 220°C for 40 to 45 minutes, skin side up, and they largely look after themselves. They are easy to separate at the joint with a knife if a recipe wants the pieces apart — the joint is a soft spot, not a bone to cut through.
- Getting the most out of it
- Pound for pound, this is usually the best protein value available. Separating the thigh from the drumstick takes seconds — cut through the joint, not the bone. Roast them hard, or braise them and pull the meat, which stretches one cheap bag across several meals.
- Chicken Quarters with Shallots and Olive SaladRecipe by The Modern Proper~$2.10 / serving 2 in-season
- Za'atar Chicken Sheet Pan DinnerRecipe by The Modern Proper~$2.25 / serving 3 in-season
Price from the USDA weekly retail meat report (conventional, per lb). Nutrition per typical serving, computed from USDA FoodData Central.
Chicken Leg Quarters — FAQ
What's the price of chicken leg quarters this week?
As of the week of September 4, 2026, the price of chicken leg quarters in the Midwest is $1.10/lb, up 40% from last week. Prices come from the USDA's weekly retail meat report.
Which region has the cheapest chicken leg quarters right now?
The Southwest has the cheapest chicken leg quarters this week at $0.78/lb — about 32% less than the Northeast, where it runs $1.14/lb.
How much protein is in chicken leg quarters?
A typical 140g serving of chicken leg quarters has about 23g protein and 300 calories (22.4g fat), per USDA FoodData Central.
What can I cook with chicken leg quarters?
SeasonSort indexes 2 recipes using chicken leg quarters, each priced per serving from this week's data — starting from about $2.10 a serving. The cheapest are listed on this page, with a link to the full filtered list.