Leftover Rotisserie Chicken

Rotisserie Chickens are a fantastic convenience-food option at a Shoestring Budget price. You can usually get a fully-cooked chicken for somewhere around $5. That’s a great price for a dinner with no prep and no mess, with the possibility for leftovers.

Eat what you want for dinner one night, then pick the rest of the meat from the bones for a head-start on a future dinner. Freeze it in freezer bags, or toss it in the fridge for a few days. You can even fill a big pot with water, throw in the picked-off carcasses, and simmer for a few hours to make your own chicken stock! Strain out the bones, add chicken, cooked noodles, and veggies, and you’ll have some delicious homemade soup, either for the next night’s dinner or to freeze for a future meal.

Here are some other ways to use leftover rotisserie chicken:

Mix with mayo, grapes, and whatever else you like for chicken salad
Chop into small pieces and sandwich between 2 tortillas with a little sour cream, shredded cheese, and taco seasoning for chicken quesadillas (I make these on my big pancake griddle). Or check out this Chicken & Black Bean Quesadilla Recipe.
Use in casseroles like Chicken broccoli rice casserole , Chicken Pot Pie, Chicken Cheddar Pie
Use in soups such as Chicken and Gnocchi soup.
Store-bought pie crust + bag of frozen mixed veggies + simple white sauce + chicken = yummy (but pretty quick & easy) chicken pot pie. You can also make your own Chicken Pot Pie.
Mix a can of cream of chicken soup with a scoop of sour cream, pour over chicken & frozen mixed veggies in a 9 x 13 pan, then top with prepared stuffing mix and bake—an easy 1-dish dinner
Spread pesto on some italian bread, add chicken & cheese, and make a panini.
Make a quick stir-fry or rice dish. Here’s are two tasty recipes that would work well Honey Garlic Chicken recipe or Hawaiian BBQ Chicken.
Make a quick appetizer or side with Rotel Chicken Dip.
Crack open a jar of gravy and a tube of cheap Pillsbury and have chicken gravy & biscuits—not gourmet, but it’s a hot meal that’s cheaper than takeout.

Tons of options, and nice to have on hand when you need to get dinner on the table in a hurry. Any other suggestions for using pre-cooked chicken? We’d love to hear them and share them with our fellow Sisters and Misters!

All these ideas will work with any kind of leftover chicken, not just rotisserie. That’s why I like to cook up some extra chicken any time we bake or grill chicken, and just toss it in the freezer for a future meal. These plans will come in handy when I get my 4o lbs. of Zaycon chicken. I’m thinking pre-cook about half of it and putting it in 1-2 pound portions for future use!