Rotisserie chickens are pretty amazing. Oh, sure they're delightfully convenient—all you have to do to prepare one is pick it up from the store and carve it—but what we really love about these birds is how awesome they taste. There's nothing quite like a slow-cooked chicken, with its sticky-in-the-good-way skin and juicy meat. Whether you buy your chicken or fake it at home with a faux-tisserie, you're not going to want to waste a single ounce of that meat. Here's how to get the most out of your rotisserie chicken, all the way down to the bones.
There's no way around it: A rotisserie chicken is at its tender-best when still-warm, eaten with a glass of wine and some simple roasted vegetables or a green salad. But the leftover bits from the carcass don't charm us so seductively. That said, they're perfect filler for just about any type of salad you can think of. In fact, the picked-over, shredded bits of leftover meat are ideal for grain bowls, herbaceous noodle dishes, and creamy chicken salad. Helpful hint: re-heating the chicken dries it out, so unless you plan on serving it in soup or a sauce (see: pot pies), go for a cold or room-temperature salad.
Rotisserie chickens are the best thing to happen to pot pies. But if you've already used the majority of your chicken for another recipe (or just eaten most of it for dinner), you can still pull off a great pot pie. After all, that's what veggies are for. Mix together a creamy filling with cooked potatoes, squash, onions, rutabagas, or even greens—whatever produce your heart desires. Then, before assembling the pie, fold in whatever leftover shredded chicken you've got. The meat will add heartiness and extra protein, but it's a bonus, not the main event. (When it comes to pot pie, the main event is that buttery, flaky puff pastry crust).
You know what tacos were made for? Leftover shredded meat. Okay, so maybe that's not historically accurate, but warm tortillas are inarguably great vehicles for yesterday's rotisserie chicken. You don't even need a recipe—just follow these guidelines, and load that tortilla up with avocado, salsa, queso frescoor sour cream, and all the heat you can handle.
Is a made-from-scratch chicken soup awesome? You bet. But so is a fast-and-easy chicken soup with leftover rotisserie meat. Start by sautéing some bite-sized veggies with whatever flavor combination you're into. Two great options to jump-start your creativity: Go classic with garlic and heady herbs like rosemary and sage, or choose crumbled dried chiles for a little spice. Then, add broth and simmer the vegetables until tender. Whether or not you include noodles, rice, or grains is your prerogative. Just be sure not to add the chicken until a few minutes before serving. You'll need to give it time to warm up, but simmering it with the vegetables will render it overcooked.
The last and arguably most important function your rotisserie chicken has is in giving new life to future meals—in the form of a rich, golden stock. Wait until you've eaten every last bit of meat from the bones, then simmer the carcass with carrot, onion, celery, and aromatics like garlic and herbs. Roasted bones make for a darker stock, which means your rotisserie chicken is perfect for this—the work of pre-cooking it is already done. The carcass and veggies should simmer for an hour to 75 minutes, which is, conveniently enough, ample time to make your entire house smell like a five-star restaurant. Strain the stock and (finally!) discard the chicken remains. Then cool the stock completely before storing it in the fridge. Then, use it to relive the magic with a boldly flavored rice pilaf, a vegetable-and-sausage soup, or, dare we say: more chicken?