What Is Walmart's Rotisserie Chicken Seasoned With?
While they aren't quite as famous as Costco's rotisserie chicken, Walmart's birds are a solid backup option when you need meat for tonight's shredded chicken tacos. A 2.25-pounder runs about $5.97, but we're not here for a cost comparison today. Instead, let's look into what exactly you're getting when you buy a rotisserie chicken from Walmart: other than the chicken, what is it seasoned or treated with?
The good news is that they're rather transparent about it. Right there on the packaging, you'll find everything you need to know in the ingredient section. Beyond chicken (obviously) and sea salt, the bird is seasoned with "dried chicken broth" and "natural flavor (rosemary extract)." That rosemary extract is essentially the concentrated version of tossing a sprig of rosemary on your rotisserie chicken, except they use the extract instead of the fresh herb. Then there's carrageenan — a gelatin-like substance derived from seaweed whose job is keeping your chicken tender and moist while it sits in the packaging.
That's essentially it for the seasoning! While it's nothing groundbreaking, if this simple combo helped land Walmart's rotisserie chicken at No. 3 on our list of top grocery store rotisserie chickens, you bet it's effective.
There's more to it than just the seasoning
But there's more to the list! Next to the "seasoning", there's also this section: "rubbed with: spices, garlic powder, salt, dehydrated lemon peel [just dry lemon zest], citric acid, dehydrated parsley, natural flavors". These are all pretty familiar ingredients, some of which you probably have in your pantry right now. The only parts that might raise questions are the "spices" and "natural flavors" — these are likely proprietary spice and flavoring blends that Walmart prefers to keep under wraps, so it's nothing unusual there.
Where it gets interesting, though, is that on some packagings, you'll also find the phrase "not more than 2% silicon dioxide added to prevent caking". Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is the same stuff that keeps your table salt from turning into a brick. The FDA has given it the thumbs up for use in food (as long as there's less than 2% of it by weight), and it's there purely to keep all those seasonings from clumping together. So, bottom line is this: you've got nothing to worry about when you pick up one of those plump rotisserie chickens from your local Walmart.