Costco $5 Rotisserie Chicken Dinners

There are so many things to love about rotisserie chicken Costco $5 rotisserie chicken (which apparently has its own Facebook page). In the best of times, it’s crispy salty skin, and a meal on the table before “hangriness” sets in. A ready made meal you can feel halfway decent about while also shopping for tires and industrial sized boxes of diapers. It’s a good thing, too, because after shlepping my little monkeys all around a big box store I’m pretty much out of energy.

But you don’t stop there. Make that chicken work extra hard and get you halfway to a truly wonderful meal. Use the meat to make chicken salad, or the more elegant chicken banh mi. Chicken noodle soup is a no brainer but what about chicken pho or rotisserie ramen to spice things up. Chicken pot pie or chicken & dumplings is JUST what your grandmother would have done. Sometimes I like to add my Costco rotisserie chicken to the deliciously easy Indonesian potato salad called gado gado; check out Chef Matt Chatfield and his adorable triplets making this on Fox 4 recently.

I love adding rotisserie chicken to a quiche or frittata, throw it in pasta like my pasta primavera, or possibly one of my favorite and most comforting applications, in a creamy chicken risotto. Feel free to throw some of those vegetables, and you’ve got a killer deal on while you were hanging around the old discount club store!

Chicken and Vegetable Risotto
Serves 8 (1½c)

1 c. onion chopped
1 c. carrot chopped
1 c. celery chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 Tb extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbs. kosher salt
1 bay leaf
1 c. dry white wine
5 c. chicken broth
2 c. shredded rotisserie chicken
2 c. Italian short-grain rice
3 Tbs. chopped fresh Italian parsley
½ c. grated Parmigiano, plus more for passing

Using food processor, mince the onion, carrot, celery and garlic all together. Pour the olive oil in the saucepan, and set over medium-high heat. Stir in the veggies, and season with 1 tsp. of the salt. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Toss in bay leaf, and the remaining salt.  Raise the heat, pour in the white wine, and cook, stirring and scraping up the browned bits in the pan, until the wine has almost evaporated.

Pour in the broth, then all the rice & chicken. Bring to the boil over high heat, cover the pan, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for about 14 minutes, or until both the rice and the chicken are fully cooked and the consistency is creamy.

Turn off the heat, then stir in the parsley and ½ c. of the grated cheese. Spoon the rice into warm bowls and serve immediately, topped with the remaining cheese.