Throwing a party can be complicated. Not only do you havr to contend with whom to invite and how to fit them all into your space, but you also have to worry about what to serve and how to serve it. In addition, how can you minimise the amount of food waste you generate? This helpful guide should help you determine just how much chicken to order or prepare ahead of time to ensure that enveryone leaves satisfied.
Chicken is the easiest meat to portion out as it comes in handy, ready-sized portions which are fairly even in size. This means that it is easier to count parts or pieces of a chicken than determining the ideal weights. The average adult will eat a 1/4 chicken or 2-3 pieces of bone-in chicken such as a wing and a breast or a drumstick and a thigh or 1.5 – 2 boneless chicken breasts. For boneless thigh meat, count on serving 6 ounces of cooked meat or 1/2 a pound of raw thigh meat per person. Bear in mind that men tend to eat more than women amd that the social setting can change just how much people eat… For example, at picnics, Thanksgiving or sporting events such as the Super Bowl, people will eat around 1.5x more than usual!
From this, it is easier to work back how many whole chicken are needed… if 1 person eats a 1/4 chicken, 4 people eat 1 chicken, 8 people eat 2 chickens…
This sounds complex, to let’s break it down into easy crowd sizes and portion sizes based on the crowd.
How much fried chicken do you need for a group?
There is something about fried chicken – whether it is the satisfaction of a crispy coating, or the juicines of a perfectly fried piece of chicken, people always want to come back for more. Fried chicken is a comfort or celebration food and is most often eaten in a social setting or a group activity such as a picnic, sporting event or movie night. For this reason, we recommend going straight to the 1.5x factor: 3 -4 drumsticks (legs), 4-5 wings, 2-3 thighs or 2-3 chicken breasts per person. Remember that people enjoy variety, so prepare a bit of everything for the group.
Let’s break it down into a neat lookup table:
| Number of guests | Number of chicken drumsticks | Number of chicken thighs | Number of chicken wings | Number of chicken breast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 to 4 | 2 to 3 | 4 to 5 | 2 to 3 |
| 5 | 15 to 20 | 10 to 15 | 20 to 25 | 10 to 15 |
| 10 | 30 to 40 | 20 to 30 | 40 to 50 | 20 to 30 |
| 15 | 45 to 60 | 30 to 45 | 60 to 75 | 30 to 45 |
| 20 | 60 to 80 | 40 to 60 | 80 to 100 | 40 to 60 |
| 25 | 75 to 100 | 50 to 75 | 100 to 125 | 50 to 75 |
| 50 | 150 to 200 | 100 to 150 | 200 to 250 | 100 to 150 |
| 75 | 225 to 300 | 150 to 225 | 300 to 375 | 150 to 225 |
| 100 | 300 to 400 | 200 to 300 | 400 to 500 | 200 to 300 |
While the above quanitites look like a lot, bear in mind that the table shows you the extreme number of each type of chicken you need to prepare, if everyone ate only 1 type of chicken piece. So for example, if I have 20 people, I simply look at the row for 5 people and make that amount, In other words: 20 chicken drumsticks, 15 thighs, 25 chicken wings and 15 chicken breasts will feed 20 people. as a rule of thumb, simply cater 2-3 decent pieces of fried chicken per person or subsitute 1 piece with 2 wings at least.
| Number of guests | Number of fried chicken pieces in total |
|---|---|
| 1 | 3 |
| 5 | 15 |
| 10 | 30 |
| 15 | 45 |
| 20 | 60 |
| 25 | 75 |
| 50 | 150 |
| 75 | 225 |
| 100 | 300 |
Fried chicken for children catering tip:
Children often eat half portions, leaving most of the chicken on their plates. It is far easier to only count the adults present and add in some popcorn chicken or chicken tenders for children, again keeping to the 3 pieces per person rule – just use smaller pieces!
How long will it take to prepare and cook this much chicken?
Preparing and marinading chicken pieces is not as big a deal as people think. Basically, buy the chicken pre-packaged into set pieces and marinade them. This makes the whole process much, much faster. The time taken preparing and marinading chicken for 1 person does not change too much for 100 people.
| Number of guests | Time taken for Chicken drumsticks | Time taken for Chicken thighs | Time taken for Chicken Wings | Time taken for Chicken Breasts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preparation Time | 1 hour | 1 hour | 1 hour | 1 hour |
| Marinading time | 4 hours | 4 hours | 4 hours | 4 hours |
| Total Time | 5 hours | 5 hours | 5 hours | 5 hours |
While fried chicken is traditionally fried in a large pot of boiling oil, it is healtheir these days to fry the chicken in an airfryer and simply spraying or brushing a little oil on the pieces to make them crispy. However, an airfryer can only hold so many pieces. Ours holds about 4 pieces or 6 wings comfortably, which is the basis for the table below. The table below also includes some time for tossing or turning the pieces. Using a larger arfryer speeds up the process, as will using several air fryers
| Number of guests | Hours taken to AirFry Chicken drumsticks | Hours taken to AirFry Chicken thighs | Hours taken to AirFry Chicken Wings | Hours taken to AirFry Chicken Breasts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1/2 hour | 1/2 hour | 1/4 hour | 1/2 hour |
| 5 | 1 hour | 1 hour | 1/2 hour | 1 hour |
| 10 | 1 hours 3/4 | 1 hours 3/4 | 1 hours 1/4 | 1 hours 3/4 |
| 15 | 2 hours 3/4 | 2 hours 3/4 | 1 hours 3/4 | 2 hours 3/4 |
| 20 | 3 hours 1/4 | 3 hours 1/4 | 2 hours 1/2 | 3 hours 1/4 |
| 25 | 4 hours 1/4 | 4 hours 1/4 | 3 hours | 4 hours 1/4 |
| 50 | 8 hours 1/4 | 8 hours 1/4 | 6 hours | 8 hours 1/4 |
| 75 | 12 hours 3/4 | 12 hours 3/4 | 9 hours | 12 hours 3/4 |
| 100 | 16 hours 3/4 | 16 hours 3/4 | 12 Hours | 16 hours 3/4 |
Obviously, caterers cannot wait that long to airfry so many chicken pieces, so either they opt for a larger airfryer, or multiple airfryers together or they use the faster deep-fat fryer. the table below shows how long it would take to deep-fry the same amount of chicken pieces, based on 8 pieces fitting in the fryer or 15 wings:
| Number of guests | Hours taken to AirFry Chicken drumsticks | Hours taken to AirFry Chicken thighs | Hours taken to AirFry Chicken Wings | Hours taken to AirFry Chicken Breasts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1/4 hour | 1/4 hour | 5 minutes | 1/4 hour |
| 5 | 1/2 hour | 1/2 hour | 10 minutes | 1/2 hour |
| 10 | 3/4 hour | 3/4 hour | 20 minutes | ~ 1 hour |
| 15 | 1 hour | 1 hour | 25 minutes | 1 hour |
| 20 | 1 hour 1/2 | 1 hour 1/2 | 35 mintues | 1 hour 1/2 |
| 25 | 2 hours 1/4 | 2 hours 1/4 | 45 minutes | 2 hours 1/4 |
| 50 | 3 hours 1/2 | 3 hours 1/2 | 1 hour 1/2 | 3 hours 1/2 |
| 75 | 5 hours | 5 hours | 2 hours | 5 hours |
| 100 | 6 hours 1/4 | 6 hours 1/4 | 3 hours 1/4 | 6 hours 1/4 |
Clearly, there is a reason why caterers love preparing chicken wings!
How Much Chicken Should I Make for a Barbecue with 50 Guests?
When planning a barbecue for 50 guests, it’s wise to estimate about 1/2 pound of pulled pork serving size per person. If you’re also serving chicken, aim for about 1/3 to 1/2 pound of chicken per guest. It’s always better to have a little extra than to run out!
What to serve with fried chicken?
If you are like us, you will love a true southern experience and some soft and flaky biscuits covered in gravy… Our recipes are designed to be so easy that you will never go back to store-bought. But, why not use our biscuit recipe link and find out for yourself?
