An expert shares on whether you should buy rotisserie chicken at the grocery store

Registered dietician Andy De Santis speaks about what to consider when choosing to eat rotisserie chicken.

Rotisserie chickens are a beloved grocery staple, celebrated for being a convenient option when you need a meal in a pinch. They’re consistently tasty, easy to pair with a side, and are abundant enough to feed a whole family - or a single person who appreciates having several meals worth of leftovers.

But a debate persists on message boards and health-oriented websites: are rotisserie chickens actually healthy?

Lack of nutritional labelling

Elaine Zhang, a Vancouver-based registered dietitian, said that rotisserie chickens are often made in-store and are not always labelled with nutritional information. That can make it challenging to understand how much sodium is in the chicken through seasoning and brining.

“How much consistency is there? That’s something I would be wondering about as a dietician,” she told CTVNews.ca on Friday. “Of course, I would encourage people to buy a raw chicken and to season it themselves, because you have better control of the condiments you use.”

However, she acknowledges that many people don’t always have time to cook, which makes rotisserie chicken a decent option for a lean source of protein, especially if the meat is used in other dishes like soup and stir-fry.

“Yes, it’s a quick and easy option to explore,” she said. “But if you have time, and you have the opportunity to tackle raw chicken, of course that will be better.”

Context is key

Andy De Santis, a Toronto-based registered dietician, describes rotisserie chicken as a “good option for the right person.” However, he acknowledges that it depends on the context of how it’s consumed, and by whom.

“If it’s for a younger person who has high-energy needs and is very active, I don’t know that you have to worry about that at all,” he told CTVNews.ca in a Zoom interview on Friday. “If you’re consuming it infrequently, I don’t think you have to worry about it at all.

“(But) if you’ve been advised medically to moderate your saturated fat and sodium intake, and you’re having it often, that’s a different story.”

Consider plastic packaging

One of the signature traits about rotisserie chickens, which adds to their convenience, is the packaging. Often, they come in a plastic dome container or a plastic bag.

Vanessa Hurley, a Barrie, Ont.-based registered dietitian at JM Nutrition, said use of plastics can have an impact on our overall health - from inflammation to hormonal disruption. That’s why she recommends using less plastic if possible.

She said that while plastic packaging doesn’t necessarily impact the nutritional value of food, some chemicals in plastics like phthalates can be found in products when they’re tested.

“You kind of have to look at how much plastic you’re consuming in a day, in terms of containers and foods that are packaged in plastics, and how much you’re microwaving in plastic,” she said. “So you’ve got to look at the overall versus this one product.”

Hurley added that people shouldn’t use the plastic containers to reheat rotisserie chicken in the microwave – or any other type of packaged foods.

“Ready-to-go prepared meals anywhere contain plastics,” she said. “It can be a big thing for families and individuals who are really relying on convenience like that.”