Split Chicken Breast
Chicken in the Midwest · steady this week
Per a typical 140g serving, scaled from the per-100g figures in USDA FoodData Central (Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, meat and skin, raw).
Buying split chicken breast in the Midwest saves about 15% versus the Southeast this week.
- How to pick a good one
- Bone-in, skin-on breast — usually much cheaper per pound than boneless, and part of that weight is bone. Look for intact skin covering the whole breast, since skin is what protects the meat during roasting.
- What a good price looks like
- Usually $1.50 to $3 a pound — often less than half the price of boneless breast. Even after the 30% bone loss, it is meaningfully cheaper per pound of meat, and it tastes better. Under $2 a pound is a good price. Boning it yourself takes two minutes and gives you the frame for stock.
- What you actually get
- Bone and skin are about 30% of the purchased weight, so a pound gives roughly 11 oz of raw meat and 8 to 9 oz cooked. The bones are worth keeping for stock, which recovers some of that. Two split breasts feed three.
- How to store it
- One to two days refrigerated, up to nine months frozen.
- In the kitchen
- Dry the skin thoroughly and salt it several hours ahead if you can; a dry surface is the whole difference between crisp and leathery. Loosen the skin at the wide end with a finger so you can slide butter or seasoning underneath. To bone it out, run a knife along the ribcage and the meat lifts off in one piece in under a minute.
- Getting the most out of it
- Even accounting for the bone, this is normally the better value than boneless breast, and it cooks into far juicier meat because the bone moderates the heat and the skin keeps moisture in. Roast it skin-side up at high heat. Boning it out yourself takes a couple of minutes and the bones make stock.
- Slow Cooker Hearty Chicken SoupRecipe by Half Baked Harvest~$1.42 / serving 4 in-season
- Air Fryer Bone-In Chicken BreastsRecipe by Spend With Pennies~$1.89 / serving 0 in-season
- Baked Bone In Chicken BreastRecipe by Well Plated~$2.16 / serving 2 in-season
- Roasted Chicken BreastsRecipe by Budget Bytes~$2.97 / serving 1 in-season
- THE BEST Homemade Chicken Noodle SoupRecipe by Foodie Crush~$3.13 / serving 4 in-season
- Lebanese Chicken FattehRecipe by The Mediterranean Dish~$5.57 / serving 2 in-season
Price from the USDA weekly retail meat report (conventional, per lb). Nutrition per typical serving, computed from USDA FoodData Central.
Split Chicken Breast — FAQ
What's the price of split chicken breast this week?
As of the week of September 4, 2026, the price of split chicken breast in the Midwest is $2.22/lb, unchanged from last week. Prices come from the USDA's weekly retail meat report.
Which region has the cheapest split chicken breast right now?
The Midwest has the cheapest split chicken breast this week at $2.22/lb — about 15% less than the Southeast, where it runs $2.62/lb.
How much protein is in split chicken breast?
A typical 140g serving of split chicken breast has about 29.1g protein and 241 calories (13g fat), per USDA FoodData Central.
What can I cook with split chicken breast?
SeasonSort indexes 6 recipes using split chicken breast, each priced per serving from this week's data — starting from about $1.42 a serving. The cheapest are listed on this page, with a link to the full filtered list.