No Air Fryer, No Instant Pot: How To Reheat Costco Rotisserie Chicken For Juicy Flavor

So you picked up a Costco rotisserie chicken on your last trip to the store, made a lovely dinner with it, but ended up with a significant amount of leftover meat. If you're wondering the best way to reheat rotisserie chicken without completely ruining it, look not to your air fryer or Instant Pot. There's a better reheating method to ensure juicy leftover chicken, suitable for anything from tacos to salads: your oven.

The oven method for reheating Costco rotisserie chicken really comes down to using liquid, preferably chicken or vegetable broth, at a medium temperature. If you're reheating the chicken still on the bone, you want to put it in an oven-safe dish with about a cup of broth poured in. (Consumer Reports suggests your Dutch oven is the best choice.) If the chicken has been pulled off the carcass, you want to spread an even layer of chicken in the dish and pour just enough stock to spread evenly to each corner. To add a punch of flavor, feel free to include aromatics in the broth like garlic, onion, or sliced lemon, along with fresh herbs such as rosemary, thyme, or sage.

In both cases, you want to use foil or a lid to create an airtight, steamy environment for the meat to warm back up without drying out. Reheat the chicken at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until it reads 165 with an instant-read thermometer; for chicken still on the bone, be sure to measure in the thickest part of the breast meat or in the thigh close to the bone. Knowing how to reheat Costco rotisserie chicken will help you stretch the chicken into a week's worth of meals.

When we tried grocery store rotisserie chickens and ranked them, Costco didn't come in first place, and our taste tester found the chicken a little bland. This makes for a blank canvas to experiment with these delicious ways to elevate store-bought rotisserie chicken, plus plenty of ideas on how to use the leftover meat.

For a vibrant, punchy meal featuring rotisserie chicken, try making our leftover shredded chicken tacos with mango salsa, or easier homemade enchiladas. Use the leftover meat as a pizza topping on our fully loaded barbecue chicken pizza, or use rotisserie chicken as the flavorful shortcut for chicken noodle soup that you've been missing out on. 

Once you've mastered reheating Costco rotisserie chicken without overcooking and drying it out, the possibilities on what to do with your leftovers are seemingly endless! With the cost of groceries (and life), it's more important than ever to repurpose your leftovers into something delicious.