Cheap chicken recipes

Budget chicken dinners using thighs, drumsticks, breasts and whole chickens, from traybakes to curries.

Chicken thighs and drumsticks are usually much cheaper than breasts and stay juicier when cooked, so lots of these recipes use them. A whole chicken can give you a roast plus a second meal from the leftovers.

88 recipes, cheapest first. Prices are per portion for a family of 4.

Money-saving tips

Thighs are cheaper than breasts and much harder to overcook.
Use leftover roast chicken in a pie, curry or soup the next day.
Always cook chicken through, with no pink meat and juices that run clear.

Questions

Which recipe is the cheapest?

Lebanese-style chicken & rice, at about £0.74 a portion for a family of 4.

How much do these dinners cost?

From about £0.74 to £2.12 a portion, with most around £1.18, based on typical UK budget supermarket prices. What you pay depends on where you shop and the brands you choose.

Can SupperSmart plan a week of these for me?

Yes. Tell it your weekly budget and how many people you're feeding, and it picks a week of dinners, writes the shopping list in whole supermarket packs and uses up what's already in your cupboards. It's free to use.

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