How to Make a Costco Rotisserie Chicken Even Better

Whole Foods and Costco have sold Americans on the grab-and-go rotisserie chicken. Americans bought more then 625 million pre-cooked rotisserie chickens in 2017, and if the internet’s archives — which are littered with millions of recipes and hacks — are any indication, at least part of the draw (in addition to the loss-leader pricing) is the ability to repurpose the chicken throughout the week, giving the you, eater, the perception that although you might be busy, but still have time to do a little bit of cooking.

In this new column, Eater Young Guns reveal their go-to chicken hacks. First up is Shuai Wang (’16) of Charleston’s “untraditional Japanese” food truck Short Grain, who admits “I have a really bad guilty pleasure for rotisserie chicken.” Wang’s hotly anticipated new restaurant, Jackrabbit Filly, won’t have a supermarket-fresh roast chicken on the menu (it’ll essentially be an extension of Short Grain’s menu of rice bowls, with a Japanese raw bar added come dinnertime). But when it comes to how Wang eats one at home, he breaks that chicken down into at least four meals:

“I don’t buy it too often, but when I do — insider tip, Costco has the best rotisserie chicken in the whole entire world. It’s $5, and there’s more bang for your buck at Costco than any other grocery stores. I don’t know what they sprinkle on it, but it’s just delicious. When I get it home, first thing I do is I eat the chicken wings.

Then I take off all the skin and take off all the meat. I save skin and bone and I’ll make stock with that, so I use it for soup or I’ll make ramen with it. Then usually I’ll pick off all the white meat, chop it up, and I’ll save it for chicken salad or I’ll make stir fry with it or curry. The leg, I’ll grill it up the next day. I’ve been super obsessed with chimichurri, and I add a ton of lime juice and fish sauce to it. I stretch it pretty far.”

• Why Whole Foods Is Banking on Rotisserie Chicken [E]
• Why Costco Will Never Raise the Price of Rotisserie Chicken [E]