Even if you're not a Costco member, you've no doubt heard about Costco's rotisserie chicken.
Here's everything you need to know about them from what's really in them, to how they stack
up to competition, to what to do with it once you get it home.
The ingredient list for a Costco rotisserie chicken is actually pretty simple: a whole
chicken, water, and seasonings including salt, sodium phosphate, modified food starch, potato
dextrin, carrageenan, sugar, dextrose and spice extractives.
"These are pre-seasoned in factories.
They arrive at the supermarket so an employee can put it on the skewer and cook it."
Some of those chemical-sounding words might seem unusual, but there's nothing too terribly
scary here.
Sodium phosphate is an additive that helps keep meats moist and maintains freshness.
Modified food starch is an additive typically used for thickening, stabilizing, or emulsifying.
Potato dextrin is a thickener and a sweetener, but can also be used to enhance crispness
in foods.
Dextrose is a simple sugar made from corn.
Carrageenan a preservative made from seaweed that, in chicken, helps to retain water is
probably the most controversial ingredient here.
Though it's FDA-approved, there is some evidence to suggest that it triggers negative health
effects in some.
For the most part, it seems these additives ensure maximum tenderness, and provide that
always-winning combo of salty and sweet goodness.
Most likely, you probably eat plenty of foods with way scarier labels that don't taste anywhere
near as good.
Costco's rotisserie chicken is missing something that's typically pretty common among other
grocery store rotisserie chickens: monosodium glutamate, or MSG.
Although MSG tends to get a bad rap, there's no doubt that it makes food taste amazing
with all its flavor-enhancing abilities.
But that's neither here nor there, because Costco's chicken just doesn't need it to taste
amazing.
Another thing you don't have to worry about with Costco's rotisserie chicken?
Gluten.
A company representative confirmed that the chickens are gluten-free, which is not always
the case with grocery-store rotisserie chickens.
If there's one knock on any brand of rotisserie chicken, it's the high sodium content.
"There's a lot of salt in a rotisserie chicken.
There's probably more salt than if you were roasting a chicken at home."
Costco's comes packed with its fair share, but it's certainly not the worst.
Nutritionist Bonnie Taub-Dix told Today that a 3-ounce serving of rotisserie chicken can
have as much as 600 milligrams of sodium.
The same serving size of Costco's rotisserie chicken comes in at 460 milligrams; a Sam's
Club's rotisserie chicken has around 550 milligrams for a three-ounce serving.
Some chickens have less sodium, though.
Publix's, for example, has around 250 milligrams per three-ounce serving.
And let's be clear: None of these rotisserie chickens come close to the sodium level of
a fast-food burger.
A McDonald's Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese has 1,310 milligrams of sodium.
A Wendy's Baconator has 1,630 milligrams.
According to the FDA, the recommended daily value of sodium is less than 2,300 milligrams.
So you can have five servings of Costco's rotisserie chicken or one Baconator.
And as long as we're talking nutrition, here's what else you get with that 3-ounce serving
of Costco rotisserie chicken: 140 calories, 7 grams of fat, and 19 grams of protein.
The big appeal of Costco is great deals on supersized products, like that giant stuffed
bear they sell.
And you should expect no less with Costco's rotisserie chicken.
For the bargain-basement cost of $4.99, you get a monster of a bird whose price and weight
beat the pants off competitors' offerings.
Coming in at a weight of at least 3 pounds after cooking, Costco's rotisserie chicken
dwarfs those sold by other stores.
According to The Wall Street Journal, a 1-1/2 to 2 pound bird is what you'll typically find
elsewhere, and you could pay $7 or more for it.
You don't need to be a math whiz to see that paying $5 for a 3-pound chicken is better
than paying $7 for a 2-pounder.
Not only is it a steal for its size, but Costco typically ranks number one in rotisserie chicken
taste tests, which is unsurprising if you've ever tried one.
Whether it goes up against Sam's Club, Walmart, Kroger, or Whole Foods, Costco is tops.
Even knowing the value proposition, you still want to pick the best, freshest bird from
what's available.
And once you know what to look for, it's easy.
Bon Appétit Senior Food Editor Rick Martinez says that picking the heaviest bird also means
picking the freshest, because a heavier chicken indicates that its juices haven't yet evaporated
under the heat lamps.
Martinez explains:
"You'll feel a noticeable difference between the birds that just came out of the oven and
ones that have been sitting there all day,"
The skin also tells a tale.
You want evenly browned and taut skin, because, Martinez says,
"As the juices leave the meat, the chicken's skin begins to shrivel and becomes discolored."
A former Costco meat department manager shared another useful tip on Reddit, advising, "look
for ones that touch the top of the lid; they weigh the most."
Also, be sure to grab your Costco rotisserie chicken at the end of your shopping trip.
It's easy to get lost in the maze of aisles, and for safety's sake, the USDA recommends
that cooked food be refrigerated within two hours to prevent bacteria growth.
One downside to be aware of if you've never tried a Costco rotisserie chicken before:
The skin will almost certainly not be crispy.
After it's roasted to tender perfection, that rotisserie chicken gets placed into its plastic
container, waiting to go home with you.
By the time it makes its journey to your kitchen, that skin is more soggy than crisp.
But don't worry.
It's still utterly delicious, and you will definitely have to restrain yourself from
stripping each and every last bit of salty, brown skin off in one sitting.
It's just... not crispy.
Costco's rotisserie chickens are a well-known loss leader.
If you're not familiar with the term, Costco is willing to sell those chickens at $4.99
even if they're not making any money on them, because chances are anyone who makes the trip
to Costco to buy one is going to buy other stuff, too.
"The chickens are a lure to get customers in the door.
They're placed strategically in the back of every Costco so customers might pick up other
items along the way."
How often do you run in, grab a hot rotisserie chicken, and beeline it to the registers without
grabbing anything else?
Nine times out of 10, you're leaving Costco with a whole lot more than that $4.99 rotisserie
chicken and a whole lot less money in your wallet.
Costco might be willing to sell you a delicious chicken for under $5, but it's certainly not
doing it for philanthropic reasons.
As with many grocery store offerings, Costco's rotisserie chickens come packaged in a plastic
clamshell.
And that seems like a fairly logical and inexpensive way to get that steaming hot chicken from
the warehouse store to your kitchen, right?
But it turns out there is another option that uses a lot less plastic.
In May 2019, The Takeout reported that Whole Foods would begin selling its rotisserie chickens
in bags rather than hard plastic clamshells, a move, the company says, that along with
other packaging changes "will reduce an estimated 800,000 pounds of plastic [waste] per year."
Wegman's had already made the change for its rotisserie chickens, and claims to use 75
percent less plastic than the standard domes.
With 64 million Costco rotisserie chickens sold each year, you can imagine how much plastic
waste all those clamshells add up to, because they're not recyclable everywhere.
Something to think about next time you pick up a Costco bird.
According to deal-seeking Redditors, at some Costco locations, unsold rotisserie chickens
are chilled and repurposed into packs of eight leg quarters, which include the thigh and
the drumstick, for $4.99, the same price as a whole chicken.
Yes, you're not getting the two breasts or the two tiny wings, but the six additional
thighs and drumsticks are certain to more than make up for that.
In-the-know Redditors advised that certain times are better than others to score this
deal, saying that early mornings are best, particularly Tuesday through Friday.
The chickens have a greater chance of selling out on the weekends, meaning there won't be
any leftovers to be sold.
Want to get the most meat off your Costco rotisserie chicken?
According to Rachael Ray Every Day, "It's all about that wishbone, baby."
The wishbone is good for more than making wishes once you've carved your bird.
Pulling it out before you start to carve is the key to success.
The publication describes the simple three-step process, saying,
"Feel for the Y-shaped wishbone between the neck and the breast.
Make a small cut behind the bone and then use your fingers to loosen it from the flesh.
Run your fingers along the backbone and under the breast meat to remove the breast in one
piece."
That's it.
You'll save time and spare yourself the aggravation of wrestling with the carcass to get every
last scrap of breast meat off.
Winner, winner, as it were.
Stock recipes typically call for the bones and scraps leftover after breaking down raw
chicken.
But if you're not using the carcass from your Costco rotisserie chicken to make your stock,
you're missing out.
According to Bon Appétit, when you use the bones from an already-roasted bird, you'll
actually be left with a darker stock than from raw chicken, which ultimately means more
flavor will be added to whatever dish you add the stock to.
The process for making stock with pre-cooked rotisserie chicken is the same as using raw
chicken parts just add water, vegetables, and aromatics like garlic, then simmer for
an hour or more and strain.
While spending the time to make stock from a convenience item like rotisserie chicken
might seem like a lot of work, think about it this way: You paid just $4.99 for that
bird, which is a steal to begin with, and now for a few pennies worth of veggies, you're
also getting a pot of rich, dark stock.
Isn't that worth the trouble?
Say you want to make a recipe a pot pie or some fried rice, perhaps with your Costco
chicken.
But your recipe calls for a certain amount of meat, and you have no idea how much a rotisserie
chicken will actually yield.
Well, don't worry.
It's a lot.
According to Betty Crocker, the average rotisserie chicken is about two pounds, and will yield
three cups of meat: two cups white, one cup dark.
That translates to about one pound of meat and a pound of scraps.
But Costco's rotisserie chickens are substantially larger than the average bird, so how much
can you expect from them?
Food blogger Judy Wright broke down two Costco chickens and got more than seven-and-a-half
cups from them.
That's a whopping five pounds total, or about two-and-a-half pounds from each.
That's a lot more than your standard rotisserie chicken, and should be plenty for whatever
recipe you've got in mind.
"Have a little taste of chicken!
Just a bit!
Just a taste!
Chicken, chicken, chicken!"
"Mmmm."
"Delicious, right?"
There's no worse sin than taking a perfectly cooked rotisserie chicken, bringing it home,
sticking it in the refrigerator until dinnertime, and then completely ruining it when you reheat
it.
All that beautifully tender meat gets turned into chicken-flavored shoe leather after a
couple minutes in the microwave.
But take comfort: There is a way to successfully reheat your Costco rotisserie chicken without
rendering it inedible.
According to Elana Karp, head chef and culinary co-founder at Plated, you've got to use the
oven for best results.
And the key is adding some liquid to the situation.
Grab a high-sided baking dish, plop your rotisserie chicken inside, and pour about a quarter of
an inch of chicken stock or broth into the dish.
Reheat the chicken at 400 degrees until the stock is bubbling and the chicken is warmed
through.
Karp promises that the liquid will ensure a moist reheated bird.
It takes a little more time, but you'll be glad you exercised a little patience rather
than trying to choke down a dried-out, microwaved mess.
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