We are pleased to announce that on March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor will be introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the upcoming changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!

Whole chicken calories

ramsjigga72
ramsjigga72 Posts: 2 Member
edited December 2024 in Food and Nutrition
So I’m throwing together a whole roasted chicken recipe tonight and it calls for a 4 pound whole chicken which ticks in at like 3,200 calories. Yet the recipe says it yields just 4 servings! With veggies and potatoes the meal comes in at like 1,200 calories per serving. Am I missing something on the calories in a whole chicken? Does this seem right?! Thanks!

Replies

  • freda666
    freda666 Posts: 338 Member
    edited October 2020
    A pound of chicken per person is a lot of chicken unless of course that includes the chicken bones?

    When I eat chicken I tend to have 100g to 150g of breast meat, which comes in at 165 to 245 calories approximately.
  • ramsjigga72
    ramsjigga72 Posts: 2 Member
    Yea same here. I’m wondering if because it’s a whole chicken the weight of things I’m not eating like bones and excess water over inflate the numbers?
  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
    My cat ate a whole chicken, but then he can handle the skin, gristle and bones and lap up the liquid. Other than that, I doubt anyone ever ate a whole chicken. Weigh what you roasted, weigh what you have left from the meal and apply the proper roasted chicken (cooked) calorie per gram from the USDA.
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    ROFL ^^^ :D
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    edited October 2020
    ramsjigga72 wrote: »
    So I’m throwing together a whole roasted chicken recipe tonight and it calls for a 4 pound whole chicken which ticks in at like 3,200 calories. Yet the recipe says it yields just 4 servings! With veggies and potatoes the meal comes in at like 1,200 calories per serving. Am I missing something on the calories in a whole chicken? Does this seem right?! Thanks!

    I usually manage to pull enough meat off one of the grocery store rotisserie chickens for ~10-11 servings. 2 thighs [ETA: + 2 drumsticks] + 2 breast pieces cut in half (each is 2 servings worth) + pair of wings to go with a bunch of the inner portions of meat (good for soup/stirfry and usually quite a pile of it).
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    (that being said, chicken is often served out in such a way that a lot of it goes to waste - and is likely for the type of recipe you are doing...while a chicken has a lot of meat on it, much of it stays on the bones on the plate during the meal. I get as much out of a chicken as I do because it has been slow cooked such that the meat pulls right off the bone, and carve the entire thing and pull off all the inner meat as soon as I get home from the grocery store and place in baggies/containers).
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,128 Member
    ramsjigga72 wrote: »
    So I’m throwing together a whole roasted chicken recipe tonight and it calls for a 4 pound whole chicken which ticks in at like 3,200 calories. Yet the recipe says it yields just 4 servings! With veggies and potatoes the meal comes in at like 1,200 calories per serving. Am I missing something on the calories in a whole chicken? Does this seem right?! Thanks!

    Do the other people dining want calorie counts on their meals? If not, can you just weigh your portion and find an appropriate database entry (chicken meat or of cooking, white/dark/mixed/, flesh only/flesh + skin, etc. -- check against the USDA nutrient database)?
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 9,064 Member
    SMH. If you’re getting 10-11 servings out of one measly chicken, I don’t know whether to salute you, or call your bluff!
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    springlering62 wrote: »
    SMH. If you’re getting 10-11 servings out of one measly chicken, I don’t know whether to salute you, or call your bluff!

    It breaks up close to what I listed above if you keep the chicken portion per meal no more than 3oz. And you can get every last morsel of meat off those bones on a properly done rotisserie chicken. (I wouldnt be able to do the same on one I cooked in the oven) (and I tend to carefully watch the serving size on those when I carve it up and divvy out the servings... The extra fat calories in a whole chicken versus a pack of skinless breasts add up pretty quick).
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,055 Member
    springlering62 wrote: »
    SMH. If you’re getting 10-11 servings out of one measly chicken, I don’t know whether to salute you, or call your bluff!

    Ya, the rotisserie chickens here in Massachusetts are pretty small. When I debone I get every scrap of flesh off, and don't come anywhere near 10 servings. (I like 100 g cooked chicken per serving and he likes more.)
This discussion has been closed.

Categories