This cold weather makes me want to roast a chicken. It’s not hard, really: Chicken + butter + seasonings + aromatics + time in the oven. I like Ina Garten’s perfect roast chicken recipe, and I’ll tinker with it if I don’t happen to have all the vegetables she calls for. Honestly, you just need some onion slices, lemon wedges and a handful of fresh or dried herbs to make a great roast chicken at home.
If you don’t have time to roast a whole chicken, there’s always the rotisserie chicken from your grocery store. Of all the convenience foods on the store shelves, this one’s a good choice—a simple roast chicken, a good tossed salad and a loaf of whole-grain bread can make a satisfying, healthful and easy dinner.
A store-bought roast chicken can easily feed a family of four—and there’s more you can do with it than simply slicing and serving. Shredded or diced roast chicken can star in all kinds of easy meals.
For SparkRecipes.com, I collected 12 awesome ways to use store-bought rotisserie chicken. And here are a few more ideas:
Mexican Chilaquiles—this hearty stew of roasted chicken, chipotle peppers and tomatoes goes over crushed tortilla chips. Um, hello!
Hearty Chicken and Wild Rice Salad—holy smokes, this is good! Hearty wild rice, bright cranberries, crunchy bell pepper, and a lovely creamy basil salad dressing. Perfect for dinner or packing for lunch.
Classic Chicken Croquettes—from The Clara Project, my collection of vintage recipe cards, this old-fashioned chicken recipe includes cooked chicken, held together with an easy cream sauce, then breaded and sautéd.
And please, for the love of Pete, use the chicken bones and skin to make easy homemade chicken stock.
Perfect timing for me this morning! I roasted a chicken the other day, and I’m heading over to Ft Wayne for a sled hockey tournament tomorrow so tonight’s the night to do something with the chicken meat and get the carcass in the freezer for a future stock session (have stock in the fridge from the last session). I can’t decide which yummy-looking recipe to make . . .
I’ve been told, but haven’t confirmed, that you can buy pre-shredded rotisserie chicken at Costco in 2-pound packages. You have to ask for it at the window. Granted, I usually have time to roast a chicken myself, but I could see packaging those into single meal portions and freezing for later use in any of the recipes above.
A lot of times, I’ll just go ahead and roast two chickens so we have lots of meat for sandwiches too. Because is there anything better than a roast chicken sandwich? It’s our favorite take to work lunch.