In an era when “shrinkflation” in food and beverage portions regularly commands headlines, it’s somewhat astonishing for professional chefs and home cooks alike to contend with chicken breasts that are getting bigger and bigger. Consumer demand for breast meat has, over time, led to bigger-breasted jumbo birds, which come from breeder stock prized for their breasts.

Bigger breasts mean a greater yield of America’s favorite protein—often at a lower cost—and greater versatility for foodservice chefs, which is, after all, one of the most valued attributes of chicken in the first place. “The chicken breast is an incredible carrier for flavor across the menu,” says Daniel Ernce, corporate chef, Austin Amplifies and a consultant for Mountaire Farms. “Its naturally light flavor profile makes it the perfect partner for brines, marinades and a host of menu applications. Further, breasts can be prepared to suit a number of need states, producing filets, cutlets and even boneless wings, serving multiple day parts and use cases.”

Findings from 2024 research from Datassential confirm the unremitting diner demand for chicken in general (boasting a 95 percent penetration rate on menus) and chicken breast in particular (enjoying 50.1 percent menu penetration). Chicken breast is used most often as a center-of-the-plate entrée (40.3 percent), but carries its weight (ahem) as an ingredient for hot sandwiches (36.6 percent), entrée salads (20.7 percent), cold sandwiches (15.1 percent) and many other categories.

Today’s larger, jumbo chicken breasts can deliver much of that variety in a single portion. And with 89 percent of operators reporting that the ability to cross-utilize a product affects their decision to use a new ingredient (per Datassential), a jumbo breast, with its multiple cuts and applications makes sense and cents.

WORTH THEIR WEIGHT

“A jumbo breast can be intimidating,” concedes Ernce. “After all, it’s highly unlikely that a guest would ever expect or even want a 22-oz. chicken breast for their entrée.” Nor would a foodservice operator want to diminish the value of all that meat by using it in a single dish or seeing the consequences of unimaginative or inexpert butchery that winds up feeding too much meat to the trash can.

Mountaire, with its premium, de-boned, skinless Mountaire^® Black Label Chicken Breast, stands ready to help, recommending chefs approach the jumbo chicken breast as “a primal cut, thinking of it as a whole muscle that needs to be broken down to serve, similar to a striploin or a whole pork belly,” Ernce explains. The chicken processor has created a downloadable menu profit worksheet that illustrates how to maximize every ounce of the breast, breaking it down into boneless wings, tenders, strips and cutlets.

The Jumbo Breast Menu Profit Worksheet also includes a cost calculation element. Examples allow operators to view the potential profit margin for each cut of the breast and it confirms the versatility and value of the whole product. (Costs and prices are based on a 44-oz. trimmed doubled lobe boneless breast sold for $2.76 per pound/$0.17 per ounce and average restaurant menu prices as determined by Datassential.)

“Every operation needs to maximize profit and eliminate superfluous SKUs wherever possible,” notes Ernce. “The jumbo breast solves for this by having the ability to replace a host of prefabricated items, be it boneless wings, fajita strips, cutlets or chicken sandwiches. By consolidating multiple SKUs into a single, affordable item, the jumbo breast reduces cost to the operation as a whole. It also eases the mind of the operator by having fewer SKUs to keep track of during inventory, which leads to more storage space.”

For this Green Goddess Grilled Chicken entrée, Mountaire^® Black Label Chicken Breast is brined in dill and garlic, grilled and finished with a creamy green goddess sauce.

A BIG DEAL

After running the numbers, operators can focus on the long menu runway set up by a jumbo chicken breast. Using a single chicken breast, a casual dining restaurant could serve two 6-oz. fried or grilled chicken sandwiches (or two pounded chicken cutlets for chicken Parmesan) , three to four Caesar salads with 3 ounces of grilled chicken strips each, nine pieces of boneless chicken wings/nuggets, and 8 ounces of chicken tenders chopped into chicken salad or mixed into a couple of stir frys.

Ernce offers additional suggestions—all from jumbo breasts—to kickstart the menu ideation process for different dayparts:

• Breakfast: Fried chicken biscuits, chicken and waffles, diced grilled chicken in omelets, roasted chicken breakfast bowls or hash, breakfast tacos.
• Lunch: Tacos or quesadillas, grilled or fried chicken sandwiches, Mediterranean chicken salad, a grilled chicken and quinoa bowl, buffalo chicken or chicken salad wraps, chicken Caesar salad, banh mi sandwich.
• Dinner: Curry-based entrées (e.g. butter chicken or chicken tikka masala), shawarma plates, fried chicken platters, barbecue-glazed grilled chicken piccata, chicken Parmesan, Thai basil chicken, chicken enchiladas.

If you’ve fallen into the habit of spec’ing one product for your chicken filets, another for boneless wings and still others for strips, etc., it’s time for a rethink. Consider the versatility and value advantages of the jumbo chicken breast and discover why size matters.

The Mountaire^® Black Label product line features six jumbo chicken breasts—single and double lobed, in fresh and frozen formats. Click here to learn more, download our free tools and access chef-created chicken recipes.