I Skip the Popular Costco Rotisserie Chicken and Buy This Instead

I’m a recent Costco convert. I used to live too far away to make shopping there convenient. But after my family moved to a home that’s just 10 minutes away from the big box store, my mother-in-law Sally gave me the grand tour of our local Costco.

On our trip through the store, she pointed out this ginormous bag of pulled rotisserie chicken meat in the refrigerated section, adjacent to the ready-made salads and ready-to-cook salmon filets. It was a whopping three pounds of boneless, skinless cooked chicken breasts for $15.99. “My sister Linda buys this all the time for her dog,” Sally told me in passing.

Why I Love Costco’s Rotisserie Chicken Breast Meat

I immediately wondered just how many rotisserie chickens went into filling this huge, vacuum-sealed package. Although I could see Lyra, our chihuahua-Great Pyrenees mix, enjoying this chicken, I thought about the humans in our household. It seemed like a great way to make an easy entrée to serve at a family tiki party we were planning.

When time for the party came around, I stopped by Costco and picked up two packages. I tossed those two bags into my crockpot along with a giant bottle of barbecue sauce, a regular can of crushed pineapple, a tablespoon of minced, dried onions, and two teaspoons of smoked sea salt. At the party, I served it with rice and buns. It was a smashing success.

How To Use Costco’s Hand-Pulled Rotisserie Chicken

A single bag of hand-pulled rotisserie chicken can easily feed my family of three for a week, including lunches. Because it’s a lot of chicken, I usually repackage the meat in smaller bags so I can freeze some and use it at a later date.

There are a myriad of uses for this delicious roasted chicken. The meat itself doesn’t contain any bones or skin so it’s ready to use, and it’s so much easier than prepping the chicken yourself. I’ve used the whole pieces straight out of the bag in dishes like slow cooker barbecue chicken, but it’s also quite easy to dice up or shred. 

Here are some other ways I’ve used Costco’s rotisserie chicken meat:

• The quickest, easiest way to use it is to toss it into some barbecue sauce and then dish it up on mini-brioche buns as chicken sliders. 
• I’ve taken that idea and paired it with a ready-made pizza crust, shredded cheese, and veggies for a barbecue chicken pizza that’s really rather fabulous. 
• Toss it with some ranch dressing and combine with some lettuce and tomatoes for a ranch chicken wrap. 
• The chicken is ideal for salads. Chop and use to make chicken salad or toss into Caesar salad, green salad, or Chinese chicken salad.
• Dice and toss into fried rice.
• Use as a filling for chicken tacos, burritos, or enchiladas.
• Add to casseroles that call for cooked chicken.
• Make shortcut chicken noodle soup or chicken chili.
• Dice and use as a filling for chicken pot pie.