10 Facts About Costco's Kirkland Signature Rotisserie Chicken

There are so many Costco products that make getting a membership worth it, but perhaps one of the most beloved is the chain's rotisserie chicken. With a price tag of $4.99, it's one of the best grocery deals ever, even as grocery prices continue to rise and seemingly everything — including meat — is getting more expensive. And if you're a Costco member yourself, there's an excellent chance that you've snagged yourself a rotisserie chicken there on a night when you just wanted a simple, easy dinner. After all, there are seemingly countless ways to use a rotisserie chicken to make a complete meal.

Even if you've purchased countless Kirkland Signature rotisserie chickens in your tenure as a Costco member, though, there's probably a lot you don't know about them. We're taking a closer look at this iconic prepared food offering at Costco to explore how the grocery store keeps the price so low, where the chicken comes from, and which prominent celebrity chef has denounced it despite its popularity. And if you've never tried the rotisserie chicken at Costco before? Maybe learning more about it will prompt you to give it a try next time — or swear off of it entirely.

You know when you get a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store only to take it home and realize that it's gotten all dried out, with tough flesh and leathery skin? Sure, you might be able to use the meat in soup to salvage your purchase, but it's not the rich, juicy bird you were dreaming of. This can happen at a lot of grocery stores, but probably not at Costco. That's because there's a time limit on how long a rotisserie chicken can stay out on the floor. The chickens are time-stamped when they've finally finished roasting, and from that point, they're only left out for two hours. This is to ensure that customers are getting the freshest chicken possible.

But don't worry — they're not just throwing away all that chicken that shoppers didn't purchase. Instead, they use it for dishes like salads and soups that you'll find in Costco's prepared food section. In these contexts, the chicken doesn't have to be quite as fresh, and it helps prevent food waste. This is probably part of the reason why Kirkland Signature rotisserie chicken is so popular, because customers can bet on the chicken actually tasting fresh.

One of the main features of Costco's rotisserie chicken is the fact that it's priced so competitively. At just $4.99, it's an undeniably good deal. But food prices have increased considerably in the last several years, so by keeping the price the same, Costco's essentially losing more money on their chickens. In 2024, Costco decided to trade out the classic clamshell packaging used for rotisserie chickens, moving instead to plastic bags. Although the company claims that this move is to cut down on plastic use, considering that the new bags use 75% less plastic than the original clamshells, it was probably helpful for Costco to save some money on packaging as well.

Costco customers weren't happy about the change, though, largely because it makes transporting the chicken more difficult, but also because it doesn't keep them warm as long as the original packaging. Some claim that the bags have caused leaks and made messes in their cars. For some shoppers, it might be worth it to deal with the less convenient packaging if it means they still get to take advantage of this great deal. But for others, the subpar packaging could potentially make this Costco offering a no-go.

As we've already mentioned, Kirkland Signature rotisserie chicken is known for its competitive price, and one of the ways that Costco keeps its costs down is by owning the whole chicken production process. Although at one point, Costco purchased its chicken from large suppliers, in 2019, it acquired its very own chicken complex, which is located in Nebraska. The company partners with a farming operation called Lincoln Premium Poultry, which manages the farm and then ships the slaughtered chickens to Costco locations.

The fact that Costco has its own production complex is generally lauded as a positive, but there have also been some serious alleged issues with the poultry farm. Costco was sued over its poor treatment of chickens at the facility, which, unfortunately, is not uncommon in the world of chicken farming. Additionally, there are concerns about runoff from the plant contributing to water contamination. Ultimately, factory farming is harmful for both animal welfare and the environment, and a more-transparent supply chain doesn't change that.

There's arguably no more single popular item sold at Costco than Kirkland Signature rotisserie chicken. It's one of the main reasons that some people do their shopping at Costco, since the low price tag makes it an obvious money-saving hack for dinner planning and meal prepping. It only makes sense, then, that the store would sell a lot of rotisserie chickens over the course of the year. But in 2025, the total number of rotisserie chickens sold was truly staggering: 157 million of them. That's up from 2024, but not by much: That year, Costco sold 154 million.

That's a pretty significant number when you consider that Costco ended 2025 with 81.4 million members. That's almost two rotisserie chickens for every customer — although there are some Costco shoppers who are buying many, many more than that in a year. With Kirkland Signature rotisserie chicken's price still locked at $4.99 at the time of writing, we doubt that those numbers are going to come down anytime soon.

Is Kirkland Signature rotisserie chicken good? Sure. But it's not just the flavor of this chicken that makes it such a popular option. After all, there are plenty of solid grocery store rotisserie chickens out there, but few are priced better than Costco's. What you may not realize, though, is that this product is so cheap because it's had the same price since 1994 — well, basically. There's one exception to that $4.99 price tag, and it happened in 2008, right at the beginning of the Great Recession.

The price increase wasn't steep by any means. It went up by only a single dollar. However, this increase was presumably not a popular move. After 14 years of $4.99 rotisserie chickens, shoppers living through an economic crisis probably didn't want to pay more for a basic prepared food that functions as a staple for many families. By 2009, the price of a Kirkland Signature rotisserie chicken was back down to $4.99 as the Costco gods intended.

If you're well-acquainted with Kirkland Signature rotisserie chicken, you've probably wondered before: How does Costco make a profit on such a cheap product? Surely, the cost of the chicken itself plus the labor to roast it must cost more than what Costco's charging. It turns out that Costco actually isn't making a profit on its rotisserie chicken at all. It's considered a loss leader, meaning that Costco is losing a lot of money by not raising prices on the chicken.

The point here, however, isn't for Costco to make money on the chicken itself. Rather, the draw of a $4.99 rotisserie chicken will incentivize shoppers to stop by the big box store when they're looking for a convenient meal. But Costco is a big place, and you're not likely to only get a rotisserie chicken when you're there. Instead, you'll probably grab several other items on your way through the store — those are the purchases that Costco is actually making a profit on.

Although there are many avid fans of Kirkland Signature rotisserie chicken out there, not everyone loves this Costco offering. Celebrity chef David Chang is one who just isn't a big fan. Back in 2023, he was talking about his new Costco membership on his podcast, "The Dave Chang Show." There were some things he said he loved about the membership club, including many of its prime meats. But the rotisserie chicken is not on his shopping list.

Not only did Chang say that he didn't like Costco's rotisserie chicken — he actually said that it's the worst. "They're not good. They're not seasoned," he opined (via Eat This). Ensuring that your chicken is seasoned, he explained, is essential if you're going to eat it cold the next day. Since half of the appeal of buying a rotisserie chicken is the fact that you can incorporate your leftovers into other dishes, next-day blandness is certainly a relevant consideration. But you have to taste for yourself to figure out whether you agree with Chang or not.

One of the reasons we love picking up a rotisserie chicken from Costco is the fact that it requires no prep work. You can just take it home and carve it up, and you've got an entree on the dinner table in no time. Generally, convenience like this comes at a cost — just think about how much more expensive it is to buy pre-cut fruit than it is to cut the whole fruit yourself. But if you pay close attention to prices at Costco, you may come to realize that in many cases, Kirkland Signature rotisserie chickens are actually cheaper than the grocery chain's raw chickens, which you have to prep and cook from scratch.

Part of this pricing discrepancy is probably due to how you're getting a slightly smaller bird when you buy a rotisserie chicken versus a fresh one. But really, it just comes down to the fact that Costco is okay with losing some money on this popular offering if it means it gets more shoppers into the store.

Yes, Costco's rotisserie chicken is convenient because you don't have to do any cooking. But if it's the only thing you're trying to grab from Costco before checking out, it's not located in the most convenient place. The company purposely places the rotisserie chickens near the back of the store so customers have to walk through more of the store to snag them. While they're passing aisles upon aisles of products, there's a better chance that they're going to stop and buy other products before or after grabbing the chicken.

Since, as we've already covered, Costco is losing money on its rotisserie chicken, the chain doesn't want you to buy a chicken and nothing else. By enticing you to leave the store with more, they're more likely to recoup that rotisserie chicken loss. Is this tactic potentially annoying for customers? Maybe. But in the quest for an affordable rotisserie chicken, many Costco shoppers ultimately decide to weather the inconvenience.

Despite David Chang's opinion, a lot of Costco shoppers really love the way Kirkland Signature rotisserie chicken tastes. Some may even love it so much that they want to try to recreate the dish at home without making a Costco run. But just looking at the ingredients label isn't going to be very helpful in determining which spices you should use. That's because the specific spices aren't listed — rather, they're just grouped together in an ingredient called "spice extractives."

But by following this recipe from Mashed, you can roast a chicken that comes surprisingly close to the Kirkland Signature version. The best part is that it only requires five ingredients: the chicken itself, of course, along with paprika, garlic powder, pepper, and salt (which is arguably the most important ingredient). Does it taste exactly the same as a store-bought Costco rotisserie chicken? Not exactly, since it's pretty difficult to achieve the same results in a home kitchen. However, we think it comes pretty close.