Is the Costco Rotisserie Chicken a Good Deal?

I absolutely LOVE Costco's rotisserie chicken! It tastes good, it's already cooked, and is a great price. But is it the BEST price? The short answer is yes, and no. Yes, if you want already cooked chicken with minimal work. And no, if you're willing to prepare and cook an entire raw chicken. 

To the see the long answer, read on.

 A Costco rotisserie chicken is 3 lbs minimum for $4.99 total WITH bones. Let's compare other Costco options. Let's start with the uncooked options:

Organic is probably your healthiest option but most expensive deal at $5.49/lb for raw, boneless, chicken breasts.

If organic isn't a must for you, these raw, boneless chicken breasts are $2.79/lb. Some recipes call for raw chicken, especially marinades, so this is a good option that is easy to manage and prepare.

This 2-pack of whole raw chickens is only $0.99/lb. Remember that it also has bones and you have to cook the entire chicken. But, if you're willing to do the work, THIS is your cheapest option, based solely on price per pound. If you have an InstantPot, you might not mind the work.

As for cooked chicken options, Costco has the hand pulled chicken meat from the rotisserie chicken at $4.568/lb. This is not a great deal unless you want ONLY cooked chicken breast meat. 

What if you pulled your own chicken off your own rotisserie chicken? 

I de-boned 2 rotisserie chickens pretty thoroughly.

I had a bowl full of white and dark meat. I weighed the total meat of each de-boned chicken. Each came out to just over 34 oz. I decided to be safe and say each chicken is about 34 oz of just meat or just about 2.13 lbs. (If you wish to save the bones to make a broth, this is an added advantage to this option.)

But if you remember, the whole raw chicken was $0.99/lb WITH bones. So, if we take the total price of the cooked rotisserie chicken and multiply it by the weight WITH bones, the whole cooked chicken comes out to about $1.66/lb.

Based on PRICE alone, the whole rotisserie chicken is NOT the best deal. BUT, it IS the best deal if you want already cooked chicken and don't want to cook an entire chicken. 

 I prefer the rotisserie chicken because it's still an amazing price and the recipes I use most call for chicken that is already cooked. It saves me so much time with 4 kids and crazy schedules. When I get home from Costco, I de-bone the chicken while it's still warm. It's so easy. I divide the chicken up into freezer bags and freeze it. It defrosts quickly and then I can add it to all sorts of meals. I throw it into fettuccine alfredo, salads, soups, or casseroles.

This is 2 chickens. 4.5 lbs for $10!!! WORTH IT!!