rotisserie chicken
A whole chicken cooked on a rotating spit until browned and juicy, most often bought already cooked from a grocery store rather than roasted at home from raw. A fast source of cooked chicken meat for other dishes; the skin and dark meat carry noticeably more salt and fat than the breast, since store versions are usually brined or seasoned before cooking.
Buying guidance
Buy one that's still warm or freshly cooked when possible, with skin that looks glossy rather than dried out. Because these are pre-seasoned, taste a bit of the meat before adding more salt to whatever it's going into.
Substitutions
- Leftover roasted or poached chicken -- similar texture, but usually less salty, so season separately.
- Canned chicken -- shreds similarly but has a softer, wetter texture and a blander flavor; useful mainly where exact texture isn't important.
Tips & common mistakes
Don't stop at the breast meat -- the leftover bones and skin make a flavorful stock with almost no extra effort, and the dark meat from the thighs and legs, richer in fat than the breast, shreds well into soups, casseroles, and sandwiches where breast meat alone can taste dry.
Storage
Because it's typically bought still warm, it's already had a head start toward the temperature range where bacteria grow fastest -- get it into the refrigerator soon after buying rather than leaving it out, and pulling the meat off the bones into a shallow container helps it cool faster than storing the whole bird intact.