Delicious Recipes Using Leftover Rotisserie Chicken

Feb 4, 2012
Michelle Hansen

Rotisserie chicken can be used in creative and delicious leftovers. - Rusudan Mchedlishvili/iStockphoto.com

One way to stretch your food budget is to creatively use your kitchen leftovers. These recipes convert rotisserie chicken into four satisfying meals.

The word leftovers often provokes facial expressions in our home that I'd prefer not to see, but I've discovered ways to create new meals by creatively reusing our leftovers. Most of the time, my family doesn't even connect the new meal to the one from which it originated, and I never have to use the L- word at home.

Leftover rotisserie chicken is a delicious ingredient that lends itself well as the base for many new meals. Whether you roast your own chicken or purchase a preroasted chicken from the supermarket, the leftovers will allow you to make a variety of fresh, new meals that defy the stereotypical leftover fare.

Here are four recipes that stretch your grocery budget and make great use of delicious, juicy rotisserie chicken.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

4 cups homemade chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, with liquid reserved
1 4-ounce can mild green chiles, with liquid reserved
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
2 scallions, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 large carrot, diced or chopped
1 cup yellow sweet corn
1 cup cooked chicken breast, thighs, legs or wings, chopped into 1-inch-thick pieces
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Corn chips, for garnish
Sour cream, for garnish
1/2 cup freshly grated Monterrey Jack cheese

Directions:

In a large saucepan over low heat, combine chicken stock or broth, tomatoes and reserved liquid, green chiles and reserved liquid, cilantro, scallions, lime juice, carrots and corn.
Cook mixture, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Stir mixture occasionally during cooking.
Add cooked chicken to saucepan and continue to cook soup for 15 to 30 minutes. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper to taste.
Remove soup from heat and allow to cool slightly. Ladle soup into 4 serving bowls. Top each bowl of soup with a garnish of corn chips, a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of grated Monterrey Jack cheese.

Crock Pot Pulled Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches

Makes 4 sandwiches

Ingredients:

12 ounces commercially prepared or homemade barbecue sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup firmly packed light-brown sugar
1 1.0-ounce packet dry ranch salad dressing mix
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
3 cups cooked chicken breasts, thighs, legs or wings, cut into large strips
4 large hamburger buns, sliced in half crosswise

Directions:

Combine barbecue sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, ranch salad dressing mix and mustard in a large mixing bowl. Blend ingredients together with a whisk.
Place chicken in crock pot and pour barbecue sauce mixture over the top of the chicken pieces.
Cover crock pot and cook for 3 to 6 hours on low heat.
Before serving, remove chicken from crock pot and transfer chicken pieces to a cutting board. Using two forks, pull chicken into even shreds.
Return shredded chicken to crock pot with sauce. Cover crock pot and cook, simmering for 15 minutes, before serving.
Serve pulled barbecue chicken on hamburger buns.

Creamy Chicken Casserole

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked chicken breasts, thighs, legs or wings, chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 10.75-ounce can cream of mushroom soup
8 ounces low-fat or dairy sour cream
1 1/2 cups (about 35) butter crackers, crushed
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a large 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
Combine cooked chicken, cream of mushroom soup and sour cream in the bottom of the baking dish.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine crushed crackers and melted butter.
Sprinkle cracker mixture over chicken pieces in the baking dish.
Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until chicken pieces are heated throughout.
Remove baking dish from oven and transfer to a heatproof surface to cool slightly. Serve hot.

Curried Rotisserie Chicken Salad

This recipe has been adapted from Southern Living's Easy Weeknight Favorites.

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked chicken breasts, thighs, legs or wings, chopped into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup water chestnuts
1/2 pound seedless grapes, halved
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 ripe avocados

Directions:

Combine chicken, celery, almonds, water chestnuts and grapes in a large mixing bowl.
Add mayonnaise, curry powder, lemon juice and soy sauce to chicken mixture and stir gently until combined.
Cover bowl with a piece of plastic wrap and refrigerate chicken salad for at least 4 hours.
Before serving, cut avocados in half lengthwise. Remove pits. Using a sharp paring knife, cut horizontal slices into the avocado flesh. Repeat cuts vertically, creating 1/4-inch cubes.
Add avocado cubes to chicken salad mixture, stirring gently to combine. Serve chicken salad immediately.

Michelle Hansen - Michelle Hansen is a special education teacher, freelance writer, webmaster of a popular work at home website and Christian mom and wife. ...