21 Rotisserie Chicken Recipes To Add To Your Dinner Rotation

Rotisserie chickens are a major source of business for grocery stores, as an estimated one in two Americans purchased one in 2017, while 623 million were sold in the U.S. in 2020 alone. They are so popular with consumers that grocery stores are willing to take a financial hit for the sake of the traffic that these deliciously seasoned, ready-made birds generate. Costco, for example, makes one of the most beloved rotisserie chickens on the market. It's such a big draw that the grocery giant has accepted an annual estimated loss of $30 to 40 million over its resolutely cheap chicken because they more than make up for that loss with the other goods rotisserie chicken shoppers buy once they're through the doors.

Pricing competition between stores means that you can often find rotisserie chickens that are cheaper than raw chickens. Buying rotisserie chicken is also a no-brainer for many consumers because it's a lean and filling source of protein that can be included in a wide range of recipes. To many, if you're looking for a quick meal, buying a rotisserie chicken is like purchasing restaurant-quality entrees for the whole family, but at a fraction of the price. With our rotisserie chicken love affair burning stronger than ever, we've rounded up some of our favorite rotisserie chicken-based recipes so you can explore the full potential of this deli section staple.

Rotisserie chicken is a great substitute for uncooked chicken when you want to whip up a quick, healthy soup. Instead of having to cook the meat separately, you can simply sautee some veggies and add the fully cooked, seasoned meat from a rotisserie chicken.

This recipe takes just 40 minutes to make and will surely chase away any cold, hangover, or low mood you bring to the table. With plenty of veggies, protein, and carbohydrates, it's the complete nutritional package, too. Serve the soup immediately after the pasta has reached the perfect al dente texture.

Recipe: Leftover Rotisserie Chicken Soup

The major stumbling block when making chicken salad is the chicken. When lunch rolls around, most of us need something that we can make quickly instead of spending an hour and a half roasting an entire bird.

Using meat from a rotisserie chicken is the fastest way to make a chicken salad short of purchasing pre-sliced cubes of meat. Plus, with buttery avocado and a creamy Dijon dressing, this salad gives restaurants a run for their money and only takes six minutes to make.

Recipe: Simple Rotisserie Chicken Salad

There are worse ways to assess the overall quality of a grocery store than by taking a look at its take on rotisserie chicken. Most chains have their signature spin on the staple, and so the internet is full of rankings and opinions. Ours was unequivocal: Costco's chicken reigns supreme. So, of course, we had to try to replicate it.

The formula is surprisingly straightforward, but the key is to let the bird dry brine in paprika, garlic, and lots of salt for a minimum of 30 minutes. This draws out as much moisture as possible for extra crispy skin.

Recipe: 5-Ingredient Copycat Costco Rotisserie Chicken

Italian-inspired recipes are crowd-pleasers, and when they only require a casserole dish, they can prove to be slam dunks for the cook, too. These stuffed shells are chock-full of rich ingredients like ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella, but the rotisserie chicken gives them the umami flavor and hearty meatiness they need to be truly filling and nourishing.

When assembling the dish, sandwich the shells between layers of creamy, garlicky sauce, add some fresh basil for serving, and marvel at the results. Whether you're serving your picky eater kids or a group of sophisticated adults, this dish is bound to delight. 

Recipe: Creamy Chicken Stuffed Shells

One of the best parts about making a whole chicken at home is the broth you can make from the leftover bones, gristle, and uneaten skin. But if you aren't interested in cooking up a raw chicken, know that you can still make broth out of a rotisserie chicken that you bought at the store. This recipe provides an easy, flexible, and thrifty framework for making a delicious broth that you can use in future recipes.

All you need is the leftover chicken carcass (as unappetizing as it may sound), a variety of dried herbs, water, garlic, some vegetables, and a type of acid to brighten up the stock. Lemons have a more interesting flavor, but vinegar works too.

Recipe: Classic Chicken Stock

Regardless of your thoughts on turkey, it's no secret that, for many diners, the best part of Thanksgiving dinner is the array of side dishes. Stuffing, with its buttery, bready, herby deliciousness, is up for contention as the best of the bunch. This recipe celebrates the dish in a big way, promoting it from a supporting player to the main character.

To make a main dish out of stuffing, recipe developer Patterson Watkins created a chicken-based casserole using rotisserie chicken, cream of mushroom soup, stuffing mix, eggs, and sour cream. It's just as good as it sounds.

Recipe: One-Pan Chicken And Stuffing Casserole

Greasy, crispy taquitos are the stuff of snacking dreams, but you don't have to sacrifice your health to indulge in these treats. Instead, you can make them at home with none of the additives found in the store-bought kind. And, with the right equipment and a handy rotisserie chicken, it won't even cost you an afternoon of work.

Thanks to your air fryer, you can have these on the table in 15 minutes flat. All you need are corn tortillas, shredded rotisserie chicken, garlic, cheese, refried beans, and salsa. Once you've made this recipe, you'll no longer be tempted by the ultra-processed ones.

Recipe: 15-Minute Air Fryer Chicken Taquitos

Slow cookers and chicken stock are a match made in heaven. Even when you make chicken stock on the stovetop, it needs at least an hour to cook, though more is better in order to extract as much flavor as you can from the chicken bones, herbs, and vegetables. In short, the longer you leave it, the tastier it will be.

When you use a slow cooker, you can let the ingredients steep for hours without having to worry about checking the pot every half hour to ensure nothing is burning. This uses the leftovers from a whole rotisserie chicken — set aside the shredded meat for another recipe on this list!

Recipe: Slow Cooker Chicken Stock

Aside from the obvious buckets of fried chicken, one of KFC's most highly-ranked menu items is its pot pie. Made with fried chicken and veggies, covered in a creamy sauce, and encased in a buttery crust, it's flaky, salty, velvety, and full of tender meat.

Recipe developer Kristen Carli has found a way to replicate KFC's tasty pies from the comfort of your own home, and while it may not be as quick as picking it up from the drive-thru, this pot pie is still surprisingly fast to make thanks in part to the inclusion of ready-cooked rotisserie chicken. All you need is eight minutes for prep and 30 minutes for cooking.

Recipe: Copycat KFC Chicken Pot Pie

When you hear that a recipe only has five ingredients, you might assume that the results will taste just as simple as that list, but in this case, the result is anything but. These tacos are made with Costco rotisserie chicken, mashed avocado, fresh pineapple, corn tortillas, and salsa.

It can be challenging to make tacos at home that taste just as delicious as the ones you buy at restaurants and food trucks, but this recipe is the real deal. Quick and straightforward, it's easy to make but so full of delicious flavors and satisfying textures that you'll feel like a professional.

Recipe: 5-Ingredient Costco Tacos

Whether you're suffering from a head cold or are looking for something cozy and comforting to eat on a winter's evening, chicken soup is a go-to meal. Full of nourishing vegetables and broth, it will have you feeling better in no time. But the standard formula can become dull, so recipe developer Angela Latimer has created an alternative that will add some variation to your meal plan.

Alongside the rotisserie chicken, fire-roasted green chilis and a jar of salsa verde are all it takes to transform the classic recipe into something completely different. Add some lime juice and cilantro for even more flavor.

Recipe: Green Chili Chicken Stew

If you saw the finished product of this chicken ramen recipe, you would be forgiven for thinking that it had taken hours to make. But thanks to some masterful strokes of efficiency from recipe developer Ksenia Prints, it only takes half an hour.

Three store-bought broths, one rotisserie chicken, some colorful veggies, and generous portions of ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and soy sauce create a dish that is bursting with flavor and color. To take the impressive results to even greater heights, top each bowl with chopped scallions, julienned carrots, a soft-boiled egg, and a fresh jalapeño.

Recipe: 30-Minute Chicken Ramen

What makes Southern chicken salad different from other forms of chicken salad? The inclusion of hard-boiled eggs, an addition that creates a softer texture and adds a creamy flavor courtesy of the yolk, making this the perfect recipe for those who can't decide between egg salad and chicken salad for lunch.

Recipe developer Erin Johnson has also included onion powder, garlic powder, sweet relish, and lots of Duke's mayonnaise to create a deluxe sandwich ingredient that you'll never believe takes less than 10 minutes to make.

Recipe: Fast And Easy Southern Chicken Salad Sandwich

The best chicken tacos have one thing in common: deliciously spiced, perfectly cooked chicken. While this might be easier said than done, it doesn't have to be a time-consuming and ultimately unsatisfying endeavor. With this recipe, you'll be able to repurpose a rotisserie chicken with a carefully calibrated spice blend to produce restaurant-quality tacos in less than 45 minutes.

The spice blend consists of salt, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, smoked paprika, and chili powder, but chef and recipe developer Laura Sampson notes that you can always adjust the ratios to suit your taste.

Recipe: Easy Chicken Tacos

A classic Waldorf salad consists of lettuce, apples, celery, and mayonnaise, but with the addition of chicken, you can have a much more substantial and well-rounded meal. Recipe developer Kristen Carli has taken an even bolder direction, adding grapes for more sweetness, walnuts for a crunchy, buttery texture, and Dijon mustard for a touch of heat.

This is the lunchtime treat you've been waiting for. Because it uses ready ingredients like rotisserie chicken, it only takes 15 minutes to make and is an easy upgrade from a run-of-the-mill chicken salad sandwich.

Recipe: Waldorf Chicken Salad With A Sweet Twist

Making enchiladas takes time, so you want to make sure that your efforts will lead to tasty results. This recipe does, and also uses as many pre-made ingredients as possible to shorten the process to just 30 minutes without losing the punchy flavors you've come to know and love from this dish.

You'll need canned green chiles, black beans, rotisserie chicken meat, salsa, tortillas, enchilada sauce, and shredded cheese. Assembling each enchilada is the most laborious part of the process, but with pre-made ingredients, it's still relatively quick and painless. Make sure you have all the fixings ready before you serve.

Recipe: Easy Chicken Enchiladas

There is something inherently soothing about soup, no matter the weather. It warms your insides and is an easy way to fill up on vegetables without worrying about it. Plus, with a nearly infinite number of ways to make the broth, it's hard to get bored of the many options.

Chicken soup is a classic of the category and this recipe provides a hearty spin on the most common version. Instead of using pasta, it calls for rice. As a result, it has a thicker, heartier consistency, while eggs provide an unusual, creamy texture and more protein in addition to the rotisserie chicken.

Recipe: Creamy Chicken Lemon Rice Soup

Soups are a great way to blend some of your favorite foods. For example, rotisserie chicken and chips and salsa. It doesn't seem like the meaty entree would go well with the classic appetizer pairing, but thanks to the innovation of recipe developer Jaime Shelbert, it does.

Rotisserie chicken makes the process faster and adds some ready-made spice to the mix, while a blend of cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika, and salsa verde leaves your palate with nothing to be desired. As if that wasn't enough, there is also a healthy dose of kale in there to boost color, flavor, and nutrition.

Recipe: Salsa Verde Chicken Tortilla Soup

Despite their explosive flavor and tender consistency, these chicken enchiladas can be made in under an hour — including the cooking time. Recipe developer Ksenia Prints has provided a step-by-step guide for the quintessential enchiladas, skimping on nothing but that time.

The most memorable part of this recipe is the sauce. Few of us have access to the types of chilis that are used in traditional enchilada sauces, but Prints has assembled a combination of ingredients centered around tomato paste that packs a punch when it's added to the mix. You may even want to make extra to serve with other recipes.

Recipe: Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken pot pie is one of those meals that will always hold a special place in our hearts. It's comfort food that can thrive at a fancy dinner party and as a microwave meal for a solo movie night. It's rich, satisfying, and may even remind you of happy family gatherings from your childhood.

It is also, sadly, time-consuming to make. At least until you discover this 30-minute version from recipe developer Stephanie Rapone. Made with squares of puff pastry and rotisserie chicken shreds, it doesn't involve the careful rolling out and transferring of paper-thin crust onto the pie, making this all the better.

Recipe: 30-Minute Chicken Pot Pie

Forget about adding red meat to your chili and discover the oftentimes unsung benefits of using chicken instead. This recipe unleashes an overwhelming array of flavors and rivals the taste of any beef-based chili.

Shredded rotisserie chicken, chicken broth, Buffalo sauce, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, paprika, chili powder, onions, and garlic provide a creamy texture and powerful flavor that will remind you of your favorite chili recipe and spicy Buffalo wings all at once. Serve it with sour cream and cilantro for the full effect, and make sure you have some cornbread or dinner rolls on hand to make it a complete meal.

Recipe: Spicy Buffalo Chicken Chili