Rotisserie Chicken 8 Ways

“You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces, just good food from fresh ingredients.” — Julia Child

I’m sure that many of you can relate with how life can just get hectic some days and you need something quick and easy to fix for lunch or dinner. On one of my usual many grocery trips a week, I always pick up a rotisserie chicken and it always gets put to good use. There are so many wonderful things you can do with a rotisserie chicken to make your meal prep so easy and healthy, which always makes me happy. This works for fast cooking for a family meal (you may need two chickens for more than four people) or for cooking for two, and especially when you are deciding last minute on what to make for dinner. Sometimes I will shred up the rotisserie chicken as soon as I get it or leave it whole in the fridge until I need it .

Here are some of our favorite recipes that you can use a rotisserie chicken in. The ones that follow will serve four people, so cut things in half or double as needed.

Kale Salad with Chicken

• Pull skin off chicken and remove from bone, dice
• 5 oz container of baby kale chopped up
• 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 cup shaved shredded cheese

Dressing

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Juice of a whole lemon
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 packet Truvia or 1 tsp sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together and serve.

Strawberry Chicken Salad

• Bag of chopped romaine lettuce
• Rotisserie chicken with skin taken off and chopped up
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 1 can hearts of palm sliced
• 4 oz container crumbled feta cheese

Dressing

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp crusher garlic
• 1 tbsp honey
• Salt and pepper

Mix all salad ingredients. Mix dressing and pour over salad. Sprinkle salad with feta cheese and serve.

Rotisserie Chicken-Salad

• Take skim off and pull white meat chicken off the bone and dice up
• 1/3 cup mayo
• 1/3 cup yogurt
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 stalks celery finely diced
• 1 cup pecans chopped
• 1 cup sliced red or green grapes
• Salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients together and serve in a bed of lettuce or as a sandwich.

Chicken Enchiladas

• Take skin off and shred up the entire chicken
• 4 soft flour tortillas
• 2 cups whole grain rice (I use the microwaveable kind to speed up prep)
• 1 can Campbell’s low-fat cream of chicken soup
• 1 can chopped green chilis
• 1 cup Kraft shredded Mexican blend cheese
• 1 can red mild enchilada sauce

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray a paired pan with non-stick spray.
2. Place shredded chicken in a bowl and mix with soup and green chilis.
3. Divide the rice evenly and place a row on each tortilla, top with some chicken mixture on each and then sprinkle with cheese.
4. Roll up and line in Pyrex dish.
5. Pour enchilada sauce all over the top and bake for 25 minutes.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

• Preheat oven to 350
• Take skin off and shred white meat
• 2 8 oz blocks low fat cream cheese
• 1 cup franks buffalo hot sauce
• 1 cup ranch dressing
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Mix all ingredients and put in pie shaped Pyrex. Bake on 350 for 30-40 minutes until bubbling. Serve with Frito scoops or tortilla scoop chips.

Chicken Quinoa Bowls with Avocado Sauce

• 1 1/2 cups quinoa, cooked
• Take skin off and dice entire chicken
• 1 can yellow corn
• 1 avocado pitted and chopped into chunks
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
• 2 scallions chopped
• 1 container fire roasted salsa
• 1/4 cup light sour cream
• 3 tbsp parmesan cheese
• Juice of 1 lime
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 2 cups tortilla chips crushed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt

1. Boil 2 1/2 cups water, quinoa, oil, 1 tsp crushed garlic, salt, scallions and cilantro.
2. Cover and cook over medium for 20-25 minutes. Drain excess water.
3. While the quinoa cooks, make the avocado cream sauce. In a food processor, mix avocado, sour cream, salt, cayenne and 1 tbsp water. Pulse until cream mixture.
4. Assemble bowls with even amounts of quinoa, chicken, corn and fire-roasted salsa. Top each with avocado cream sauce and a sprig of cilantro if you like.

Mexican Chicken Bowls

• Take skin off and dice entire chicken
• 4 cups rice cooked
• 1 can black beans drained
• 1 can corn drained
• 1 green bell pepper sliced thin
• 1 small onion sliced thin
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup sliced jalapeños
• Guacamole
• Salsa

Over medium heat, sauté onion and pepper in olive oil until cooked. Set aside with all other ingredients.
This can be set out as a make your own bar or they can be built and served.

Asian Chicken Salad

• Bag of chopped cabbage
• Rotisserie chicken without skin, shredded
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup pea pods sliced thin
• 2 scallions chopped
• 1 cup shelled edemame
• 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped peanuts

Peanut Dressing

• 1/4 cup low fat peanut butter
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• Juice of 1 lime (2 tbsp)
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp soy sauce or Tamari
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp sugar or Truvia
• 2 garlic cloves chopped
• 1 tsp fresh ginger
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp salt
• Add 2 tbsp fresh cilantro if you like

Make the dressing first by combining all ingredients and whipping together. Place all salad ingredients in a large bowl and toss with dressing.

With empty nesting on our horizon, I know I will be fixing many of these recipes for Jon and I quite often!