8 Grocery Chains That Sell the Best Rotisserie Chicken

Rotisserie chicken is the perfect ready-to-eat meal that requires no cooking and little preparation at a low cost. From tacos to soups, pastas, sandwiches and salads, there's countless ways to enjoy a rotisserie chicken, but versatility isn't the only reason to add the crispy, juicy cooked bird to your cart. Depending on how many people you're feeding, you can have leftovers for a couple of days and take the burden of cooking off your plate.

There's no question that rotisserie chicken is an affordable quick option for people on the go. It's also super convenient to pick one up while grocery shopping, but which store has the best one? While rotisserie chicken is wildly popular, there's a major difference in quality, freshness and healthiness.

Eat This, Not That! scoured through countless online reviews and studied the nutritional information of several rotisserie chickens to select the eight grocery chains that sell the best one. When reviewing the nutritional value, here is what we looked at.

Calories: Depending on age range and fitness goals, on average, the guidelines for calorie intake range between 1,600 to 2,000, per Cleveland Clinic.

Saturated fat: Saturated fat is something you'll often find in pre-made meals. According to the American Heart Association, if you're following a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet, you should not have more than 13 grams of saturated fat. Too much can lead to serious health issues like high cholesterol and heart disease.

Sodium: Many prepared foods are loaded with salt to enhance the flavor. While the meal might be tasty, you're risking your heart. The American Heart Association says too many Americans consume more salt than recommended. The organization suggests having no more than 2,300 milligrams a day, but many people have 3,500mg daily.

And now onto the must-have rotisserie chickens from grocery store chains ranked from good to the greatest.

Gelson's

While not a lot of nutritional information is available–we called the number on Gelson's site to get more details, but nobody seemed to know–customers love the chain's rotisserie chicken.

On Yelp, one person wrote, "For me, the stand-out is the fresh rotisserie chicken. A little more expensive than some of the other grocery store chains, but they really are the best."

There's no doubt people love Gelson's rotisserie chicken, but due to the lack of reviews and nutritional information and reviews, it comes in last place on our list.

Sprouts

Customers appreciate the rotisserie chickens at  Sprouts because it's hormone free, has no antibiotics and is guaranteed to be fresh. However, it's high in sodium, which makes it less healthy.

One Redditor wrote, "Sprouts by far had the best grocery store chicken. Yes. Even Costco. Definitely a smaller bird. But it's more flavorful, and the meat is chewy in a good way. The meat also holds much better in the fridge."

Smart and Final

Smart and Final offers jumbo sized rotisserie chickens and shoppers can't get enough. While it's not as high in salt as Sprouts, it's still too much per guidelines.

"Wife and I have tried them all, and Smart and Final is the best," a Redditor wrote.

Another person stated, "These are AMAZING. I buy one, carve it up for dinner, then use a foodsaver to portion and freeze for later in the week. Massive breasts on those S&F chicken."

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Wegmans

Primarily in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, Wegmans is a popular chain that people love for its top-notch customer service, high-quality products and rotisserie chicken, that's a bit high in sodium, which is why it's No. 5 on the list.

A Redditor wrote, "I fed 4 of us with 1 rotisserie chicken, a bag of frozen skinny green beans, and a box of Stove Top Stuffing and all of us were full and happy with the meal. Bonus that it can. All be out together in 15 minutes beginning to sitting down at the table. Yeah, it's gone up. But it beats last weekend dropping $56 at Wendy's for the same 4 people."

The chicken also has 260 reviews on Wegmans site with the biggest complaint being the price at $9.99

BJ's Wholesale Club

With more than 200 locations in 20 states, BJ's Wholesale Club is the place to shop for many and customers love their rotisserie chicken. With 4.8 star rating and over 11,300 reviews, consumers love the great value, quality and flavor. While it contains less sodium than others, it's still higher than others on the list.

A reviewer wrote, "I get one of these Rotisserie chickens every week. We have it with rice one night and then we make chicken salad for 2 or 3 sandwiches. It's twice the size of the.Chickens you buy in regular supermarkets and 2 to 4 dollars less."

Fresh Market

In a Reddit thread where the original poster asked which grocery store has the best rotisserie chickens and Fresh Market was recommended a few times. While it's lower in calories and sodium than others, it's also lower in protein, but it still makes the top three on our list.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

One person wrote, "Fresh Market has my favorite. It's quite a bit smaller than Costco's and cost quite a bit more, but the quality is top notch."

While another stated, "Fresh Market has the best quality and tasting, but are smaller than you find at other stores."

Sam's Club

Head over to Sam's Club and you'll find nearly 45,000 reviews, many praising the delicious taste of the rotisserie chicken.

One reviewer on the site wrote, "This chicken is always delicious. Life is busy, so this is good for anything. I usually will shred it as soon as I get it and then use it however, I desire. I've used it in enchiladas or pasta sometimes make a cold chicken salad. It's just easy and healthy.!"

According to Redditors, Costco's rotisserie chicken doesn't compare. Many shoppers have called Costco's  "undercooked" and "slimy" and say the size has gotten much smaller.

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Whole Foods

The No. 1 grocery store chain rotisserie chicken is Whole Foods because it contains the lowest sodium, highest amount of protein and it's organic.

Whole Foods organic plain rotisserie chicken is so in demand that store employees started a Reddit thread to complain about how impatient customers are when they're low in stock, which is a good sign and indicates how beloved the item is.

"I cook the rotisserie chickens," one employee wrote. "I remember people asking me when the next batch will be done. I told them "40-50 mins" and I saw several people circling around the hot bar, avoiding the "old chicken". As soon as I put down the new rotisseries and take away the old ones, I see the vultures snatch up my fresh chicken. These mfers would rather wait 50 mins than take 2 hour old chicken."