This Is the Best Hack for Your Costco Rotisserie Chicken
Updated: May 19, 2023
Getting every single bit of a Costco rotisserie chicken used to be a struggle, but not anymore. This hack can help maximize your bird.
The other day, I bought a Costco rotisserie chicken to make the chicken cobbler recipe that’s gone so viral on social media. As I picked the meat off the bone to make the recipe, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was a better way to do it. A Costco rotisserie chicken may always be cheap, but you still want to get the most chicken for your $4.99.
Of course, all I had to do was look on social media and voila—a rotisserie chicken hack just happened to be trending. Digital creator @abountifulkitchen posted a video on Instagram of a Costco worker named Melissa teaching her how to pick the meat from her rotisserie chicken.
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What is the Costco rotisserie chicken hack?
The most important advice Melissa at Costco offers in the video is this: “I do it while it’s hot or it will not work.”
Begin by taking the ties off the legs and then sliding your thumbs between the thighs and breast meat. “Just kinda pop those bones out of their sockets,” Melissa says, in order to separate the thighs from the chicken.
After the thighs have been removed, Melissa says to peel back the skin. Then, slide your thumbs right up the breastbone, and pull with your hands to separate the breasts from the chicken. She offers this warning, though: “There’s a couple of teeny tiny bones in there you gotta watch out for.” Now that the top of the chicken is mostly cleaned, you can then can use your fingers to pick the extra pieces of meat, then shred the poultry.
But does the hack get enough from your rotisserie chicken?
It’s a solid hack in the video, but many viewers (including me) were not satisfied, because the job isn’t totally done. First of all, she discards the skin, which for many commenters is the best part. “Stopped watching when you ditched the skin,” said a commenter.
Next, she didn’t harvest any poultry meat from the back of the chicken. “Hopefully she went back and got the other half of the meat,” said a commenter, while another implored viewers to “Turn it upside down [and] go into it from the backside. Everything comes out whole.”
Finally, a number of commenters were also upset that Melissa didn’t get the chicken’s “oysters.” Said one commenter, “Don’t forget about those oysters on the top of the hips.”
What can I do with the meat from my rotisserie chicken?
Regardless of how you get your shredded poultry meat from the rotisserie chicken, there are a number of ways to use it. You can use them for simple dinners of chicken tacos, to put on top of salads or to make chicken pot pie. The shredded chicken usually lasts about 3 to 4 days in the fridge.
