Is Rotisserie Chicken Healthy? 5 things to look out for in the supermarket (2024)

Busy nights happen to everyone. But while many of us know that preparing a meal from scratch is often the best solution to ensure a healthy, balanced dish is served, sometimes turning on the stove or oven after a long day is too much work. to put.

Enter the rotisserie chicken. It isbudget-friendly(often around $7 for a whole chicken),Versatile, available almost everywhere and delicious on its own, on top of a green salad or in leftover soup or pasta. But is it actually healthy to buy a cheap chicken?

It depends, say food industry experts and nutritionists. There are several important factors to consider when purchasing a bird. Here are five simple things to look for when buying a rotisserie chicken.

1. Is it fresh?

Sometimes it's hard to tell how long those chickens have been in a supermarket display case, but that shouldn't stop you from checking the label before picking up an old bird. “You want to make sure you choose chickens that are fresh and that they haven't been turning on a spit for hours,” says Bonnie Taub-Dix, RDN, creator ofBetterThanDieting.com, author van "Read it before you eat it - Taking you from label to table"toldTODAY Food.

You probably wouldn't buy a container of milk after the deadline, so prepared foods should be no different. If there is no date on the chicken packaging, ask for it. “If they are already in a refrigerator [or on a warming tray], you can check with a [store] manager when they were put out. People at stores like Costco are lining up waiting for the chickens to cook,” said Taub-Dix.

If the bird looks slimy or smells bad, don't buy it.

2. Check all ingredients

When you cook a chicken at home, you can decide which spices and salt are added to it. Things get more complicated in a supermarket.

Many chickens, such as those sold at Costco, are treated with seasonings that contain sodium phosphate, modified food starch, potato dextrin, carrageenan [a thickener], and sugar. Although all of these additives are considered safe for consumption by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), many chefs recommend choosing them without them if you are concerned about preservatives in your diet.

“The most common types of modified food starches are made from ingredients such as genetically engineered corn [or] wheat,” says Liana Werner-Gray, founder ofDiet of the Earthand advocates healthy eating, told I DAG. If you or someone in your family is gluten sensitive, double check ingredients with someone working the prepared food counter. Starch, the chef said, is used to thicken the chicken skin and help the spices adhere better to the skin.

3. Is it cooked properly?

Uncooked poultry should never be consumed, so always take a moment to inspect a rotisserie chicken before eating it. "If it's white, it's done cooking. If some parts look pink, it may not be done," Werner-Gray said. When the consumer gets home, "he also notices how you pull the chicken off the bone. If it has a raw texture and sounds like the meat is being torn, it is undercooked." If you have already purchased the bird and notice that it is undercooked, it is better to be safe than sorry and take it back to the store for a ready-made one.

You don't want an overcooked chicken either. “When the chicken is cooked on the rotisserie, the meat turns a green, gray or gray-green color,” the chef said.

4. Where does the chicken come from?

Unless you buy the chicken from an organic grocer, chances are it was raised on antibiotics. While oneOrganic chicken is no more nutritious than conventionally raised chickenIf you are concerned about animal welfare, consider where you purchase the rotisserie chicken in the first place.

“When an animal is raised with room to roam, it is treated more ethically and tastes better,” Chef Tim Kemp of Blue Apron's culinary team told TODAY. While taste is subjective, Werner-Grey also agreed that avoiding as many additives as possible allows the true flavor of any food to shine through.

5. Scan for sodium

Most rotisserie chickens use some sort of marinade, glaze, and/or spice mix to season the chicken. Although these seasonings (which can range from barbecue to spicy Italian, lemon herb or even Cajun) make the proteins so tasty, many of them are packed with sodium.

“I recommend that you peel the skin off to avoid additional fat consumption,” says Jessica Mantell, nutritionist at54D gym in Miami. “It [the skin] also contains a lot of preservatives…sometimes it can be as much as half of your daily recommended sodium intake.”

But how much salt is too much? Many fresh rotisserie chickens do not have nutrition labels, but a "3-ounce serving of [about the size of a deck of cards] rotisserie chicken can contain more than 600 milligrams of sodium," Taub-Dix said. Since most healthy people should consume no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day, she added that it's especially important to stay within this portion guideline if you eat chicken that you haven't cooked yourself.