How Much Duck Per Person

How much duck should you buy per person when you have a big family dinner or lunch coming up?

Duck is very special meat to serve for your big party, it requires some special cooking techniques because you want the outside of the duck in particular the duck breast cooked well so that the fat is rendered down and not raw.

However, before you even start cooking you need to have an idea of how much duck breast to buy to feed how many people.

Let’s start With Duck breasts, they are typically around 8 ounces before cooking and the most commonly used catering standard is to serve one duck breast per person.

So, How much duck per person – serve one 8 oz duck break per person.

Now in reality you are going to get a variation in the weight and size of a duck breast, just use common sense if one happens to be a little bit larger or a little bit smaller that’s fine remember you will be serving side dishes and possibly even other proteins with your meal so use this as a guideline into how much you need to buy.

So for example, if you were feeding six people and buying your duck breasts online without being able to see or select them you would want to buy approximately 48 ounces or 3 pounds of duck breast. Again we are budgeting one duck breast per person.

Remember that duck breast will lose a little weight and volume when cooking.  I always plan to have the inside of the duck breast pink and that will mean it is tasty and tender.

Another key thing to do when you are cooking duck breasts for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner is to make sure you let them rest for at least five minutes before serving or cutting.

This makes the meat a lot more tender it allows the protein to relax don’t forget to let your duck rest before carving.

A Chart Below of How Much Roast Duck per Person
A Chart Below of How Much Roast Duck per Person

Handy Table Of How Much Duck Breast Per Person

 Whole DuckDuck Breasts
How Muck Duck To Feed 10 People2 x 6 lb ducks5lb of duck breast (10 pieces)
How Muck Duck To Feed 15 People3 x 6 lb ducks8 lb of duck breast (15 pieces)
How Muck Duck To Feed 20 People4 x 6 lb ducks10 lb of duck breast (20 pieces)
How Muck Duck To Feed 25 People5 x 6 lb ducks13 lb of duck breast (25 pieces)
How Muck Duck To Feed 50 People10 x 6 lb ducks25 lb of duck breast (50 pieces)
How Muck Duck To Feed 100 People20 x 6 lb ducks50 lb of duck breast (100 pieces)
Table Of Duck Serving Quantites

How Many People Will a 6 Pound Duck Serve?

While some may say a six pound duck will serve up to 5 to 6 people when you are catering for a large group or a Thanksgiving dinner where people tend to eat more I would budget on a 6 pound duck serving 4 people. 

How Big a Duck Do I Need for 4
How Big a Duck Do I Need for 4

How Many People will a roast half duck serve?

Is half a duck enough for 2 people,  yes a half duck will serve 2 people.

How Many People will a duck breast serve?

A single duck breast will feed just one person, or another way looking at this is 1 duck breast per person

Roast Duck Breast Serving Size
Roast Duck Breast Serving Size

How Much Duck Do I Need for 5 Adults

Buy a 6 lb or larger frozen or fresh duck to feed 5 adults.

Other duck party serving ideas are duck sausages, and duck appetizers like Duck Wings Breaded and Crip, Duck and Corn Wontons, or even Duck Bao.

How Do You Calculate How Much Duck Meat per Person?

The simplest way is to use 8 ounces of uncooked duck meat per person and that calculation should enable you to serve everybody satisfactorily. In many cases, it will actually leave you a little bit extra so some people who really enjoy your dish can actually have leftovers.