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School has started again and for many families the rush to dinner has become, well, more hectic. Weekend meal prep is great when you can squeeze in the time between all your other commitments and activities. Still, it won’t always happen, even with the best intentions. There are takeaway meals and ready meals, but if you pay attention to price and nutritional value, they are not an everyday solution.
So how about something in between? This is where the ubiquitous fried chicken comes into play. You can find it in almost every grocery store, warm and full of potential to feed your entire family for a pretty reasonable price.
Buyers agree. The National Chicken Council estimates that 1 billion fried chickens are sold in the United States each year. (Last year a man from Philadelphia ate 40 in 40 days alone!)
To inspire you and help you get dinner on the table faster, my colleagues and I have developed a few new recipes using rotisserie chicken. You can find these here, as well as a few pocket tips on how to get the most out of these supermarket staples.
What is the best fried chicken? We tried 11 birds from the supermarket.
Buy the chickens in their freshest condition
“Supermarkets prepare fresh rotisserie chickens every two to four hours from 8 or 9 a.m. until about 4 to 6 p.m.,” wrote Perry Santanachote for Consumer Reports. The best selection typically occurs during peak evening hours, Anne-Marie Roerink, founder of food market research firm 210 Analytics, told Santanachote. Some stores offer guaranteed hot chicken at these times, and if it’s not available, you may be able to score free chicken on your next visit. If you want to know when the chicken was cooked, look for a time stamp on the packaging or ask at the deli counter.
Roast chickens may already be cheaper than buying a whole, raw chicken, although they tend to be smaller. To get more bang for your buck, pay attention to the vending machines or the loyalty app on your phone, where you may have to clip the coupon to get the discounted price. Consider buying an extra chicken and freezing the meat to use in the next month or so. While not everyone likes the texture of thawed chicken on its own, it still makes a great addition to soups, stews, pies, and other dishes where it melds with other ingredients. Case in point: mine Thai style chicken curry.
Watch out for added ingredients
Broiler chickens are typically injected with a solution to improve moisture and flavor. Ingredients can include sugar and sodium, as well as natural flavors, gum, and carrageenan, a common food additive derived from red seaweed. Read the label to see what has been added to the chicken you buy, or contact the store’s deli counter. To best assess the flavor and texture of chicken before using it in a dish, try it at room temperature, recommended former Washington Post staff writer Bonnie Benwick. (If you’re breaking up the chicken at home, that’s the ideal time to try.)
Know which flavor you’re reaching for
In addition to plain fried chicken, the supermarket may also sell other flavors, including lemon pepper or rosemary garlic. Be sure to purchase the correct recipe, especially when a recipe has its own flavor profile, like Aaron Hutcherson’s Grilled Chicken Quesadillas. A regularly seasoned bird is more versatile than some of the other options.
Pull the meat off the bones when you get home
While it’s a little more work upfront, the meat is much easier to work with while it’s warm. And when it comes time to whip up quick meals on a weeknight, you’ll always be one step ahead of the competition.
Make broth from the bones. Simmer the carcass with leftover vegetables in a pot on the stove or use the Instant Pot for a quicker, more hassle-free process. If you don’t want to use the broth right away, store it in bags or deli containers in your freezer (make sure to leave enough room for the broth to expand). Don’t have time to prepare the broth right away? You can also freeze the carcass and use it straight from the freezer.
Most fried chicken skin is unappealing once you get around to eating it, and many recipes don’t even use it. But that doesn’t mean you should throw it away. While you can certainly fry the shells in oil, like in this Benefits Chicken Soup recipe, I’ve gotten incredibly crispy results using the air fryer without the need for additional oil. The time can vary depending on the thickness of the skin and the type of cutting (I prefer thin strips), but for me the optimal time was 7 to 8 minutes at 320 degrees. Use the crispy skin as a garnish for casseroles or pasta, eat it out of hand like chips, or use it to make a delicious dip.
How long does fried chicken last?
The USDA recommends using cooked chicken within four days or freezing it. For the best flavor, use frozen, cooked chicken within four months.
You can always roast your own chicken
Of course, any time you see a recipe that calls for rotisserie chicken, you can substitute it with a chicken you make yourself. May I suggest that? Easy fried chicken? Because some store-bought birds are seasoned more heavily or have been injected with the above solutions, you may need to adjust the salt in your finished dish if you have been more conservative when frying the chicken.
Combine fried chicken with other short ingredients
Be extra efficient by thinking about how else you can make your kitchen even more efficient by using more store-bought staples. In her Hand pies with chicken and black beans, Ann Maloney combines the chopped meat with jarred salsa, canned beans, and ready-made pie crusts for a fun and easy air fryer meal (they can also be baked in the oven). My curry recipe uses jarred curry paste and frozen vegetables, while Aaron’s quesadillas are a great way to serve your favorite store-bought barbecue sauce. Other options: Make a quick pizza or calzone with store-bought dough. Make mini pot pies with puff pastry or puff pastry. Stock up on some wraps and slaw mix (cook first!) for homemade egg rolls, which I’ve been making a lot in the air fryer lately too. The list goes on.
Recipes in which you can use fried chicken
Of course we have lots of suggestions. Here you will find a selection of recipes that call for cooked chicken, organized by category.
Chicken salad/salads with chicken