Costco Rotisserie Chicken Meals You Can Make In 20 Minutes

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Costco's famous Kirkland Signature Rotisserie Chicken is one of the most helpful shortcuts for a huge variety of meals. From chicken pot pies and soup to tacos, salad, and pasta, I use it multiple times a month for fast, easy lunches and dinners. Because of its versatility, it's also one of the most cost-effective weekly grocery purchases.

A 3-pound rotisserie chicken is around $6, or just $2 a pound. If you plan on dividing it up into roughly 4-ounce servings, it can easily be stretched into a week's worth of meals, making the per-meal cost pretty low depending on the other ingredients you use. Of course, it's delicious on its own as well, and I often just take it home, dress it in barbecue sauce, and serve it with mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, and rolls. 

If you're looking for simple weekday meals, you can't go wrong grabbing one or two of these chickens on your next Costco trip. And the internet is full of creative ideas for how to elevate a store-bought rotisserie chicken. In fact, I actually had a hard time narrowing it down to just these five ideas — I probably could have recommended double the amount. In choosing the best 20-minute Costco rotisserie chicken meals to share here, it ended up coming down to these ones that I use at least once a month — sometimes more.

I can barely remember the days when I used to actually cook raw chicken to use in tacos. I'm so busy now that using a store-bought rotisserie chicken is the simplest way to make tacos on weeknights. My method probably only takes around 15 minutes from start to finish. I shred the chicken as soon as I get home, and put half of it in a Ziplock bag to freeze for later. I mix the other half with green chiles, salt and pepper, diced yellow onion, and Tajín. I put about two ounces in each corn tortilla and fold them half, then lightly pan fry them in avocado oil until they are toasted. After draining the excess oil, I dress them with salsa, shredded cheese, and lime juice. I serve them with ranch beans, which is a classic cowboy meal you can make with three simple ingredients.

There are near-endless ways to adapt this idea to your taste and preferences; the only limitations are how much time you have and what ingredients you have on hand. If you have leftover rotisserie chicken from dinner the night before, you can repurpose it for your favorite shredded chicken tacos recipe. For this one, make a quick mango salsa (though you can use a jarred version instead), dice some avocado, and shred some cabbage. Toast the tortillas in a dry pan and assemble the ingredients on top, drizzling each one with lime juice and hot sauce.

Rotisserie chicken is one of the best additions to mac and cheese as it adds protein, flavor, and bulk. You can stretch a box of pasta into multiple servings or meals just by adding chunks of chicken, but incorporating some fresh veggies into the mix doesn't hurt, either. I started making this meal as a copycat version of a dish served at one of my favorite local restaurants. I use a lot of budget-friendly shortcuts for my version, however.

I make a box of Great Value Artisan Crafted Macaroni and Cheese, usually the Italian Five Cheese flavor, which is around $2.50 at Walmart. While the pasta is boiling, I cut the rotisserie chicken into chunks. I usually only need about ⅓ of the chicken to make three servings of mac and cheese, so I freeze the rest or save it to use the following night. During the last five minutes that the pasta is cooking, I steam some broccoli on top of the pot. When the mac and cheese is ready, I stir in the chicken and top it with broccoli and freshly saved parmesan cheese.

Costco's chicken is a great shortcut for almost any chicken pasta recipe, including our creamy chicken fettuccine alfredo recipe. Instead of cooking raw chicken, cut the rotisserie chicken into strips. Make the rest of the recipe as directed and add the chicken into the dish when done, tossing gently to coat it in cheesy sauce.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I eat canned soup for lunch at least once per week. I work from home and don't usually feel like spending a lot of time making a meal, but I also want something relatively healthy. This means that I've explored a lot of different ways to improve store-bought canned soup.

One of my favorites is using leftover rotisserie chicken from the previous night's dinner. I shred or dice it and add it to vegetable or chicken noodle soup to give it an extra protein boost. I also like to add it to tomato soup to make my own version of an easy sopa de fideo recipe. I blend diced onion, garlic, and a can of tomato soup in my food processor until smooth. Then I toast fideo pasta in a pan with oil and pour the blended mixture into the pan with the pasta and simmer it on low heat for 10 minutes or so.

Another favorite of mine is adding some shredded chicken to minestrone or bean with bacon soup. When rotisserie chicken chunks cook along with the soup, they impart the beans with a nice smoky flavor that elevates less expensive soup brands. Plus, the added protein is a bonus and makes the soup feel more filling and satisfying.

I try to eat healthy as often as possible, but I need to use shortcuts or I'll end up being too busy (or lazy) to make a balanced meal. Luckily, roasted chicken is an easy add-in for pretty much any type of salad. When I add it to a Caesar salad, I like to turn it into a wrap because it feels more satisfying and it's more filling.

This fast, three-ingredient meal starts with Costco's fan-favorite rotisserie chicken. You can either chop up Romaine lettuce yourself, or buy a Caesar salad kit at Costco or another grocery store. You'll also need a tortilla or pita pockets, croutons, shredded parmesan cheese, lemon wedges, and Caesar dressing. Chop up the chicken and assemble the salad, then mix the two together. Drizzle with a generous amount of dressing and lemon juice, and shake to combine. If you have time, grill the tortilla or pita in a tiny bit of olive oil in a cast iron pan before assembling your wrap. Put as much of the salad and chicken mixture as you want into the wrap, finishing it with some more dressing and grated parmesan.

Of course, you can also use a rotisserie chicken for a chicken Caesar salad, or really any other kind of salad you're craving. For instance, the fastest way to turn this rotisserie chicken into a meal is to dice it up and add it to a fresh green salad along with cucumbers, red onions, cherry tomatoes, olives, and chunks of cheddar cheese.

Chicken salad is a really versatile dish because I can have it for lunch or dinner. It's also a great way to use up leftover rotisserie chicken so it won't go to waste. You can use Costco's chicken as a shortcut for any chicken salad recipe you like, making it as simple or complex as you prefer. My go-to is diced chicken, sliced red grapes, walnuts, celery, and red onion in a mayonnaise dressing. I make the dressing with mayo, Dijon mustard, garlic powder, salt and pepper, and apple cider vinegar. The whole thing comes together in less than 20 minutes, but it tastes best when it's chilled for a bit before eating.

Costco's chicken also works really well in Tasting Table's cranberry and pecan chicken salad recipe. For this one, you'll need shredded chicken, dried cranberries, chopped pecans, celery, scallions, mayo, and Dijon mustard. This salad is delicious on its own, but if I'm feeling fancy I'll use it to make a sandwich. If I'm short on time, I'll just add it to some lightly toasted bread brushed with olive oil. If I don't even have time for that, I'll put spoonfuls on butter crackers or use the salad to make chicken lettuce wraps by adding a generous scoopful to fresh, crisp pieces of butter lettuce.