I Tried 5 Grocery Store Rotisserie Chickens and Choosing the Best One Wasn’t Even a Contest

What is it, exactly, that makes a rotisserie chicken so dang good? Is it simply the browned, seasoned skin atop the warm, plump flesh? Or is it more than that? For instance, the inevitable hypnosis that occurs when the smell wafts out of the hot line and into your nostrils when you enter the store? Or the subconscious effect of knowing that dinner is taken care of that adds to the ability to savor it?

Whatever the draw, a rotisserie chicken is a handy and economical purchase for a quick lunch or dinner. On average, a measly five to eight bucks will get you not only what you need for today, but at least one more day as well (depending on your family size). That's a heck of a happy meal, if you ask me.

How I Judged the Grocery Store Rotisserie Chickens

That said, deciding what makes one rotating wonder superior to the next seemed a daunting task. If this marvel of smell, taste, and convenience is inarguably a good and tasty thing, and the offerings from store to store fluctuate by a mere measurement, it's got to come down to nuance and personal preference, right?

Wrong. The differences were absolutely night and day. And you couldn't color me more surprised. Each bird I sampled was different in taste and texture. In all honesty, I left the skin out of the judging process. The majority of rotisserie chicken is purchased for the purpose of shredding to add to a pasta dish, casserole, salad, or dip (shout out to buffalo chicken dip!), so the skin is a moot point.

If you are cutting the chicken into sections for serving as the focal point of a meal, have at it, but you may want to utilize an air fryer to crisp it up a bit. Those heat lamps holding your poultry before you do aren't very kind to the chicken's skin in terms of texture. Ultimately, rotisserie chickens are like humans—it's what's on the inside that counts. And that's what we're measuring here.

The Best Grocery Store Rotisserie Chickens, Ranked

#5 Sam's Club Seasoned Rotisserie Chicken - $4.98

Simply put, and at the risk of being overly cheesy, this bird is the opposite of the word. When assessing the color and the flavor, one term sums up both: drab. It sounds harsh, but it's a valid thing to be perplexed at the mention of "seasoned" in the name, as there wasn't so much as salt gracing the flesh of this chicken. True, shredding it, seasoning it, and throwing it in a stew will do no harm, but it's certainly ideal to have the chicken start out tasty before it ever sees the other parts of a dish.

Above all, the biggest offense committed by Sam's Club rotisserie chicken is in its freshness. It tasted like it had been submerged in month-old fryer oil, even though the very cooking method dictates this couldn't be so. I don't know about yours, but stale chicken isn't on my grocery list.

#4 Whole Foods Classic Rotisserie Chicken - $7.99

The meat on the Whole Foods bird was brighter, indicating a fresher situation than the one from our buddy Sam. What lay beneath the skin was still unseasoned, though, leaving it miles away from my top pick. The flavor and texture was perfectly fine, but far from incredible. If you just need a simple bird to toss in a stew, tuck into tortillas for enchiladas, or add to a Buffalo chicken dip, saunter out of the store with one of these bad boys—no shame. But keep in mind, you can get better chicken for less money elsewhere. And if you're piecing it out as a main course, or even sprinkling it on a salad, it's best to shop elsewhere.

#3 Walmart Traditional Rotisserie Chicken - $6.97

Sam's Club's smaller, yet older brother cooks up a substantially better bird. The flavor is what you'd expect from a rotisserie chicken, with a moist and tender texture. The herbal seasoning on the skin manages to reach into the meat, though that seasoning relies heavily on dried herbs; this wouldn't be a negative on principle, but in this case the particular flavor leaves behind an unpleasant note that is borderline astringent. Nonetheless, if you use it in a dish, or even smother it in a ladle of gravy, you'll be golden.

#2 Kroger Home Chef Savory Seasoned Fresh Roasted Chicken - $7.99

The Kroger near me utilizes the company Home Chef for its rotisserie chicken. It's tasty and savory, but that good flavor doesn't manage to permeate much further than the top part of the meat under the skin. It bears noting that this was the driest of the bunch, but I'm choosing to ignore that due to unknown factors like how long each chicken sat under heat lamps before purchase.

This is the rotisserie I am used to—a fine showing of moderately more than mediocre meat existing purely for convenience, saving me steps (aka precious time) in a recipe or adding needed protein to a salad or otherwise veggie-heavy dish. You're not gonna call up mom to brag about it, but it'll do the trick.

#1 Costco Kirkland Seasoned Rotisserie Chicken - $4.99

My parents swear by Costco. For almost everything. It seems I nary have a conversation with them where Costco and its latest food deal doesn't sneak in. And this beautiful bird stands as a beacon as to why.

The entirety of the meat is moist—both the light and the dark—with a noticeably fresh (there's a reason for that!), bright color to it. Happily, the meat is seasoned, perfectly salty on its own, and salivatingly savory throughout—I'm talking ALL the way through the meat. Come to think of it, I don't believe I've ever had a rotisserie chicken where this was the case. Costco's rotisserie chicken is anything but bland, and the clear choice for tearing up and serving as-is or for adding to a salad (seriously—I can't stop eating it).

Adding to its overwhelming superiority, Costco's chicken is notoriously inflation proof. $4.99 is the end-all be-all for this impressively sized chicken, only seeing a $1 price increase for less than a year during the hard times of 2008.

Costco finds a way into our hearts (and stomachs) more easily than we might like to admit, with quality products at affordable prices. Winner winner, (literal) chicken dinner.