|
10 Weeknight Meals To Make With A Rotisserie Chicken
By Laura Wheatman HillUpdated: May 23, 2024 1:35 pm EST
I was just reading an article (in a magazine that shall remain nameless) which had a variant on the headline I've seen countless times as a busy parent: "Easy Weeknight Meals." However, all of the recipes require at least 30 minutes of prep or cook time, and by the time we get home from tae kwon do or whatever, no one's been home all day to have prepped anything. The kids are melting down and, frankly, I am too. I need dinner on the table STAT!
Advertisement
This is why I often buy a rotisserie chicken at the store (even though, news flash, it's not the healthiest option in the universe). These chickens are famously five bucks at Costco, but are usually under ten at regular grocery stores. Since it comes already seasoned and cooked, I've learned to build a lot of meals upon the foundation of a rotisserie chicken.
You might say this list of meals is too easy. Consider it as a reference point for when your brain stops braining at the end of the day and you need a list of things that can get in your belly with hardly any thinking.
Preparation
Ronda Kimbrow/Shutterstock
First, a note on preparation. I've found the best way to separate the meat from the bone on these chickens is to do it when it's warm, and to do it with your (clean) hands. Once your chicken is picked clean, you can freeze the meat if you know you won't eat it all, and I do like to separate the light from dark, but it's not necessary. If you're really on top of your game, you can put the carcass to use in a batch of homemade chicken stock, which is great for soups and can be frozen for later use.
Advertisement
Salads
from my point of view/Shutterstock
This is the fastest and easiest way to get dinner happening immediately on weeknights. I even opt for bagged salads because then there's no chopping or deciding on what to put in it—I'm too hungry to make executive decisions. Just dispense the salad into a bowl, toss with your dressing of choice, and plop some of your shredded rotisserie chicken on top. Done.
Advertisement
Wraps
MariaKovaleva/Shutterstock
The easiest version chicken wraps is to take the directions for rotisserie chicken salad above and place it in a rolled-up tortilla, pita, or lavash. This works well with chicken Caesar salad; you can also go with a combination of chicken, hummus, and lettuce; make a club with mayo, lettuce, tomato, and bacon if you have it; or do one with tzatziki, peppers, crunchy romaine, tomatoes, and slightly warmed chickpeas, like these pre seasoned ones from A Dozen Cousins or the harissa lemon ones from Heyday Canning. You can use whatever you have in your fridge that vaguely goes together. Wraps, unlike burritos, can be served cold, making this a nice low-effort meal.
Advertisement
In a bowl
Freer/Shutterstock
You can take the chickpea chicken wrap from above, warm it up a bit more, stick it in a bowl, and call it dinner. During the pandemic when groceries were weird I made infinity bowls with whatever we had on hand. A Dozen Cousins and Fillo's have great Cuban black beans that can be paired with the rotisserie chicken and some rice; if you don't have a rice cooker or Instant Pot, a lot of flavorful rice dishes (like this kind from Trader Joe's or this one from A Dozen Cousins) can be steamed in the microwave. Top with some salsa, cheese, and peppers and onions if you have them, and you'll have a restaurant-quality burrito bowl.
Advertisement
Burritos
freeskyline/Shutterstock
Follow the previous instructions for a black bean chicken bowl and stick it in a tortilla. If you're feeling fancy you can pop the rolled burrito in a frying pan for a minute to seal the edges, giving the whole thing a warm, toasty crunch. You can also make tacos, but after leaning on them pretty heavily as a weeknight option, I'm personally sick of tacos.
Advertisement
Quesadillas
Sapunova Svetlana/Shutterstock
Chop or shred the rotisserie chicken into small pieces and mix with cheese (along with fresh peppers, if you have any) to make a quesadilla in under five minutes. Top with salsa and sour cream; plain Greek yogurt works great as a sour cream stand-in if you don't have any. I don't expect you to have guac or even acceptable avocados at the ready, but if by some miracle you do, this is the moment to use them.
Advertisement
Trader Joe's pairings
Corinna Haselmayer/Shutterstock
Trader Joe's has seemingly endless prepared sides. Toss the chicken with any of TJ's bags of frozen vegetables or veggie-and-rice mixes or quinoa and you have a protein infusion for the previously vegetarian fare. Adding fresh rotisserie chicken to any of TJ's pastas also beefs chickens them up.
Advertisement
Pizzas
VisualArtDesign/Shutterstock
Seasoned chicken on a pizza, especially when paired with some peppers and onions and a lot of garlic, is a great weeknight flavor combination. You can use a premade pizza crust, or roll out a bag of prepared pizza dough from the store, or even add these toppings to one half of a frozen cheese pizza (since at least one of the kids is inevitably going to opt for a plain cheese pizza, and you can't win 'em all).
Advertisement
Dip it
Toyakisphoto/Shutterstock
My kids are most likely to eat rotisserie chicken with a side of barbecue sauce or sometimes ketchup. I like any number of other dips, and, who knows, maybe a kid will accidentally eat a vegetable if it's served along with some interesting sauces. Bottled marinades are your friend here: they can create any number of two-ingredient dips that your kids can taste test with their poultry like they're judges on an episode of Chopped. To infuse extra flavor into the chicken itself, you can toss it with some marinade and heat it on the stove before serving.
Advertisement
Stir-Fry
Waen Atjima/Shutterstock
You can add shredded or sliced rotisserie chicken to any stir-fry you make on the stove, either one composed of your own fresh veggies and sauce or one that you've prepped from a bag. However you make your stir-fry, it's a good way to use up some of that hoisin sauce.
Advertisement
Soup
Thomas Francois/Shutterstock
Remember in the preparation step when I told you to make chicken stock? If you did, now's the time to use it. Or just use store-bought stock; it's fine. The first time I got COVID, I had a bunch of frozen broth and rotisserie chicken on hand, so I made chicken noodle soup with whatever else I had in the kitchen: chopped-up baby carrots, random egg noodles, etc. It was pretty good, but then I lost my appetite because COVID sucks. Anyway, not having to cook chicken when prepping a scratch soup saves a lot of time, which is great not only when you're sick, but when you're in the throes of a new school year.
Advertisement
Recommended
Reviews
Menu Items
Review: Jimmy John's Firecracker Wrap Brings The Heat But Not Much Else
jimmy john's firecracker wrap
Dennis Lee / Static Media
By Dennis LeeMay 21, 2024 1:19 pm EST
Jimmy John's just released a fiery new limited-time item, the Firecracker Wrap, along with a new flavor of house-brand potato chips called Firecracker Jimmy Chips. If the "Firecracker" name didn't give it away, both items are indeed meant to lure you in with spiciness, a trend which has been a mainstream selling point for novelty fast food items lately.
Advertisement
The Firecracker Wrap brings the heat from the outside in, because it all starts with a red jalapeño tortilla as a base. It's filled with turkey, salami, ghost pepper cheese, garlic aioli, Jimmy Peppers, and more, but the real gimmick is that the new Firecracker Jimmy Chips are crushed up inside the wrap as well.
How does the Jimmy John's Firecracker Wrap taste?
jimmy john's firecracker wrap
Dennis Lee / Static Media
The Firecracker Wrap ($11.29 at the location nearest me) is a loud, flamin' hot shade of red. It's not particularly heavy on the cheese and meat but still has some physical heft to it thanks to the weight of the tortilla.
Advertisement
Upon my first bite, I was puzzled — for all the color, there's a troubling lack of actual flavor in this thing. Most of it comes from the acidic punch of the Jimmy Peppers, but otherwise, even the saltiness of the salami barely breaks through. I even plucked out a piece of ghost pepper cheese to see how it tastes by itself; it's also strangely bland.
But to my surprise, a creeping heat started to kick in after a few bites, and it hung around at a medium-high level through the duration of my lunch. The Firecracker Wrap at least brings the spice it advertises, but I still can't get over its comprehensive lack of flavor. The chips, however, are a nice touch. It's mainly due to their texture, since they add a nice crunch to each bite, but that comes at a tradeoff. You've got to eat the wrap pretty quickly to enjoy it at its peak.
Advertisement
How do the Firecracker Jimmy Chips taste?
jimmy john's firecracker jimmy chips
Dennis Lee / Static Media
Maybe I'm just brand-conditioned to the flavor of Flamin' Hot Cheetos, but the fire engine red color of the chips seems like sort of a red herring. Instead of being tart, spicy, and salty like Flamin' Hots, the Firecracker Jimmy Chips ($2.19 at my location) lean toward salty and sweet. They are, however, on the spicier end for potato chips, which I like. I'd also liken them to a medium-high heat.
Advertisement
I'm not so sure I'm a fan of the sweetness here, unfortunately. Again, it could just be that mental Flamin' Hot expectation due to the chips' bright color, but so far, nothing's gotten anywhere near dethroning my favorite Salt & Vinegar chips from Jimmy John's. If the chain were to spice-enhance those, however, I might actually change my tune someday.
Overall, the Firecracker Wrap and Jimmy Chips combo is a mixed bag. Both deliver on their selling point of spice, but the wrap itself miraculously (in a not-so-good way) manages to dodge all other flavor, while the potato chips are worth a novelty nibble at most. This fireworks display is one quick, underwhelming flash — and that's all you're going to get.
Read More: https://www.thetakeout.com/costco-rotisserie-chicken-easy-weeknight-meal-ideas-1850754305/
|