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Walmart Rotisserie Chicken Review

July 16, 2017   46 Comments

This Walmart rotisserie chicken review is long overdue.

Walmart Rotisserie Chicken

I have covered Costco rotisserie chicken and taken a look at a number of other chickens in the dazzling article:

Is Rotisserie Chicken a Good Choice?

I didn’t even know Walmart sold rotisserie chickens until someone asked me about them. Not every Walmart has a food market (the one nearest to me does not). At first, I was confused that a place where I buy socks would also have chicken.

You need one of these “markets” to have rotisserie chickens:

I found it right away at the front of the store! The package looked good. How could you go wrong with “Lemon Pepper”. It cost $5 for 2 pounds which is 30% more than the Costco $3 chicken (also $5).

Where I was concerned was the time. As you can see, the chicken was finished at 11 AM, but I was at the store at 1:30 PM. I asked if they had any ones that were cooked closer to 1:30 and they didn’t. Yikes!

I don’t know about you but 2 ½ hours sitting on a hot table in Walmart does not sound like a safe bet to me. Food poisoning and chicken are a real thing.

I went ahead and bought it because I had driven 30 minutes to buy and taste this chicken. Whaddaya gonna do?

As you can see from the top photo, when I unveiled it – it looked burned. It also tasted burned – surprise!

I applaud Walmart for putting the nutrition facts on the side of the chicken. I had a tough time finding those facts for the Costco bird.

What is shocking and I mean SHOCKING is the amount of sodium in 3 ounces of chicken – 690 mg!! Wowza. Costco was 460 mg – which wasn’t great but this is really out of this world.

You can guess what it tasted like – burnt, salty, meat. Was it juicy? Yes, but it didn’t taste good to me. I am probably going to make chicken salad with it.

If I learned anything, I learned not to buy a chicken that was sitting there. I was sure that the time on the hot table didn’t help its flavor.

The best bird for people who want to control their salt intake (me) is the one at Whole Foods. They have a “No Salt” bird. Whole Foods may cost a lot more but it is by far the best product out there that I have found thus far.

Do you buy Walmart rotisserie chicken? What do you buy?

Other posts you might like:

Costco Rotisserie Chicken

Costco Rotisserie Chicken

Costco rotisserie chicken is a huge hit. It seems that no one leaves the store without it....

Rotisserie Chicken Review

Is Rotisserie Chicken a Good Choice?

This is my mug shot of a rotisserie chicken. As you can see, I didn’t shoot its best side.

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46 Comments:

Hi! please take a second to always check the amount of sodium in the nutrition facts because it changes frequently evn with the same brand. The last time I checked, the Walmart brand was actually the lowest in sodium in the rest of my city in Canada: 130 mg for 100 g edible portion. The Your Independent Grocer brand was 330 mg and the Food Basics....can't remember but it was higher than Walmart's. Costco's is likely at least 330 mg as it tastes as salty or saltier than the YIG's one.

The recommendation from health authorities is less than 200 mg sodium in a portion of any food....so good to keep that in mind, especially if you have high blood pressure, diabetes, are older or hope to live a long, healthy life!

PS I don't shop often for food at Walmart (not many lower sodium or lower fat items there) but I do deliberately go there (in Canada) for their rotisserie chicken, which hasn't been burnt yet ....I'm lucky....a lower sodium bird that is always nicely cooked.

Susanne, a friendly RD.

I very seldom buy anything at a Walmart. I don' have one closer than 1 hour away. I do buy rotisserie chicken from the local grocery stores. I have never checked the nutrition label as I do on other things. or the time. I will do so from now on. Love your column.

Weird. I've bought several chickens at WalMart because Whole Foods is 80 miles away (and too expensive) and they've always been cooked perfectly. Never burned. I have to admit I haven't looked at sodium so I need to do that. I also won't buy one that's been cooked more than a half hour previous.

I buy the Walmart chicken. It is the only option in our area. My family likes it, but then again we have nothing to compare it to.

I prefer Kroger or Sam's Club rotisseerie chickens. The walmart taste so salty and now I know why! Funny thing is that although Sam's and Walmart are the same company, the chicken tastes better at Sam's! It's also a large chicken for a better price. I've never had a burned chicken in any store I've purchased...sometimes they are darker than other days, I think it's really whoever is cooking and not keeping an eye on them.

fyi - most supermarkets that sell cooked foods, also sell some articles of clothing.

I'm with you, if I buy a rotisserie chicken it is always from Whole Foods. Our store has

a deal on Mondays that makes it more affordable. i mostly eat chicken skinless breasts so one of these chickens is a treat for us.

I love Sam's Club rotisserie chicken - but our local Walmart ALWAYS has burned chicken...one glance turns me away.

The Walmart closest to me doesn't sell precooked chicken. I wouldn't buy one even if it did.I rarely use salt at all even to cook with. Chicken is pretty cheap and I would simply cook my own if I wanted one and I would use my own spices.

My family loves the rotisserie chickens from Sam's Club - and what a great bargain for a large chicken. I sometimes buy 2 in the winter if we can't get to our grill outside - one for dinner, and one to have for lunches for the next few days. Sorry you had a bad experience with your experiment...

You must be in the USA. The one and only BBQ chicken I bought from WM here in Canada was not even cooked - yuck!!!

I would advise anyone who buys ready to serve whole roasted chicken to roast their own. My son works at a grocery store (first the kitchen and now the meat department), and I have heard enough horror stories to know that the only way to guarantee that your food is cooked when and how you want it with no added anything except what you, the cook adds, is if you cook it. What goes on behind the scenes would scare the living daylights out of you. My son cannot wait to find another job. The food industry, as a whole, could care less about you, the consumer. It is all about the money. Trust me, I heard it from someone who knows.

Great article. I bought rotisserie chicken only once, from Shaw's on the Dartmouth line. Uncooked near the bone, fatty, salty and dried out. Never took a chance on one again. I remove all fat, remove the skin and rub on olive oil, crushed red pepper flakes, usually five-spice powder and that's it. Has an Asian flavor, not salty, and is juicy.

I stopped buying them because every one I bought was raw and they would not refund my money either.

Really? It's a chicken. The sodium is in the skin. Just don't eat that part if you don't like it.

We always get the original not the lemon/pepper. Could it be that was the seasoning that wasn't liked? Our chicken is not burned, btw.

If I was you, I would worry more about hormones in some chickens rather than sodium in the skin that you can remove.

I used to feed my male cat exclusively chicken. He buffed out like a pro wrestler! Make of that what you will.

Kroger/Ralph's also had a no salt chicken that I buy in a pinch. As a single mom, entrepreneur, sometimes, my days go long and I'd prefer to grab a salt free pre-roasted chicken and a bag of salad for dinner than hitting a drive thru!

Love your website and your commitment to low sodium. I also like that you review products for your readers. I would like to point out that with chicken you need to be aware of the sodium solution that is injected into the chicken. It can add tons of unwanted sodium to the meat. Always try to look for all natural chicken that has not been injected.

After reading this article I had commented on it; but the information stuck in my mind. I went to my local Giant and looked at their package. There was a date, time and ingredients. So I sent them a Email requesting that they place a nutrition label on them. I received a call back with in a couple of hours from the deli manager at our local Giant. She said that because the chicken is considered a deli product and not a butcher product, it is labeled differently according to the FDA. They have the nutrition information in a notebook and willing to share it with me. I later went on line and found the nutrition info for Giant, and Wellsley Farms (BJ'S) Giant also told me that the FDA just recently came out with requireing that ingredients are needed on the label. I suggested that Giant go 1 step further and add the Nutrition information. I also found out that after a certain # of hours the chicken is removed and placed in another case nearer the checkouts, no reduction in price. The time in the 1st case was 12N and I was there at 12:15pm. The ones in the front the time was at 10:am.

The chicken stories never end! I recently purchased Longo's rotisserie chicken - SOOOO GOOOOD! And less sodium - the best I have had yet! FYI

I am so surprised at all of the purchasing of cooked Chicken!! I only cook using a crockpot but even I can buy a whole chicken that's not Huge and put it in the oven..... weekends are an option. I never use salt so any of those would be awful to me.

I would like to shed some inside info on wmart mks rotisserie chickens if i may, as i am currently employed by Walmart deli. If done correctly as we are trained to do the rotisserie’s come out perfect every time!!! But.....you will have lazy associates that do not follow procedure when a mngr is not watching, the birds come in bulk boxes with the seasoning poored on top, we are supposed to take a bird out, hold it virticly and let all liquid drain from it and then rub the seasoning evenly over the bird so it cooks through and the rub doesn’t scorch like it has is the pics shown above, just comes down to people just like any other job, thx for reading

Brian “the Deli guy”

Like to also add......

All rotisserie and 8pc fried chicken get 4 hrs on the warmer at 140 degrees as food safety allows, after the 3rd hr they are not the freshest chickens you’ll ever eat but they are completely safe, do your food safty research ppl, My advice is to know the rotation times at your local Walmarts deli for fried and rotisserie chickens, at most 10am is when the 1rst round hits the warmer, 2pm is the 2nd etc etc.....every 4 hours

Brian “The Deli Guy”

well Im a walmart deli emoloyee and the chickens has to be on the floor at least 4 hours before removed to a freezer then the chicken that eas freezed goes in the cooler n it would go on the floor and the price will be reduced after 3 days.

I have had chicken from all the places you mentioned. Walmart is the only chicken that doesn't sky rocket my blood pressure and I've never gotten a burnt one.

I would like to know about MSG in Walmart rotisserie chicken

I love Wal-Mart rotisserie chicken where I live. It's never burned. I like the darker crust. I don't like chicken that still pink. It tastes raw.

In my area it is Wal-Mart or Hyvee. The Wal-Mart chicken is more flavorful and the "finished" times are about the same. The Wal-Mart chicken is NOT burnt and has great flavor. For the price ($5) it is 3 or 4 meals. The Hyvee chicken is more expensive and has no flavor. So it's not WM's fault if you buy a burnt chicken. I always look for the juice in the bottom of the chicken container. That tells me if it's dry or not. I'd rather have a good tasting, cheaper chicken than pay more for the same thing at a different store. There is no Costco for 60 miles. So it's a treat to get a good tasting value closer to home. I'd rather go without than complain.

I have bought a fair number of the rotisserie chickens at walmart over the years. never had one that was undercooked or burned. As far as I know they are available in all the super centers, not just the markets they have been closing down.

I prefer the regular flavor to the lemon pepper but both are quite good. I am unwilling to pay to join costco so I cannot compare it with what they have there. In any case as best I can tell walmart prices are close enough to costco prices that it is not worth $60 a year to me.

I used to buy the rotisserrie chickens at Wal-Mart but I complained so many times about them burning it and being raw where the legs are attached that I now buy at Safeway even though the price is $2.00 higher but the quality is worth the price.

I have been buying Walmart rotisseries for years. The donenese of the chicken is hit and miss as different people prep the chickens. For the most part they have done only 2 or 3 had a little blood by the bone. The burned ones are the one that have set out under the warming spots. I do know they are suppose to check the internal temperature before removing them from the oven. I am surprised by how much sodium per serving there is. WOW is right I think I will have to start looking for an alternative for in a pinch when I don't cook my own from now on. Thank you for post I just found you so I have signed up.

I have to disagree whole heartedly on the chicken quality. Let me first start by also making it very clear that rotisserie chickens are "brined" and that is how they stay juicy and tender, and brine is essentially salt water. The salt is absorbed into the meat, unlike just shaking or grinding salt onto the chicken. I think that it is somewhat ambiguous how much salt there actually is in a serving, one chicken to another. But, the earlier comment that the salt is just in the skin is misinformed and could mislead others that are not familiar with the brining pro ess.

Secondly, in almost 20 years, I have never once gotten a fully cooked chicken from Costco. Yes, their chickens are larger, or older, but they brine them horribly and theimy are never fully cooked. A fully cooked chicken should essentially fall apart. The meat should detach from the bones without any utensils at all, and there should be very little fat anywhere, because it should have been cooked out if cooked properly. And sure, the top of the lemmon pepper chicken will get blackened a little bit, but it is not burnt, its fully cooked and very tasty and better for you than those unfinished chickens my costo's sell.

I stumbled on the Walmart chickens one day when I visited a Walmart Market for the first time. It may simply be my luck, but in my opinion, they are cooked perfectly.

An overcooked chicken will be dry, chewy, and often mushy. These are not, they are succulent, cooked and really very good.

Walmart is Sam’s Club

Hope this crap bumped your page views and raised your monies. Store rotisserie chicken is DELICIOUS and I don't trust snooty snots who think otherwise. $4.99 for 4 meals? CHACHING.

Walmart now has a family size bird that contains 38% sodium per 3 ounces. The 29% sodium bird was already a splurge and now 38% is out of control. I didn't check the label until I got it home but think if I have the time I will take it back to send a message that the level of sodium is unacceptable! I live in Loma Linda. It is a blue zone where people live longest in the world. Not for long if they are selling food like this.

Have bout chickens from walmart for years.

Dont eat the skin (burned)

Sodium in the skin, don’t eat

No... chicken and sitting for hours is NOT Dangerous

I have bought Walmart cooked chicken a day old. No Issues

NOT Dangerous

Wow. I eat my weight in chickens from Walmart, Costco and Winco Foods. Costco chickens are always larger, juicier and have better seasoning. Winco is 2nd and Walmarts are last but after a few hours in the evening they mark them down to a bit over $3! I hate to admit it but will eat a half a chicken a day sometimes, and give some to my dog. I had NO IDEA about the salt! Holy Cow. Talk about hypertension. Good article, thanks.

I bought a rotisserie chicken from briarcrest Walmart in Bryan and it was undercooked which I didn’t notice till I had taken a few bites and it didn’t taste right. I am now fighting a parasite infestation that is literally killing me. I will never ever do a rotisserie from Walmart again.

Wow Leah,

Sorry to hear about that. Actually, after researching many things, I decided that even rotisserie chickens are not so healthy for us. Generally, most of them are brined (salt brine). The amount of sodium in these chickens is striking. For a guy like me that can eat the whole chicken in one evening, it amounts to 2-3 times the daily maximum of salt intake (sodium) for a 57 year old adult. I realized this may not be healthy for me. I now only eat ground chicken cooked my me. And, I only eat whole foods anymore. No cans, no store cooked, hardly eat out. Much healthier.

We love walmart rotisserie chicken...its not burned tasting at all. I make chicken salad with the leftovers...then boil the carcass in water with boullion...after I throw the bones away I add chopped broccoli to the boiling water and heavy whipping cream...after a few minutes I stick blend to make an awesome cream of broccoli soup!

This is allll false. Every time I’ve gone to Walmart to get my items I normally get a rotisserie chicken (I prefer the traditional kind) and every time the chicken always amazes me with out delicious it. my kids love it ! When I get home from the store they immediately start digging in. I normally have the chicken shredded up with butter noodles and my kids go crazy over that stuff so do I. Plus with this chicken being cheep I’m not surprised they have so much salt and whatever I just know my kids like it and if they approve it then so be it. I could never complain on their chicken it always brings a smile to my face with the smell and delicious ness

@Daniel paytitus - There was a period in which Walmart was burning the chickens. Nobody had the sense to turn down the heat and roast them more slowly. This seems to have passed. As I believe I said in my previous post, most of the salt is in the skin with the other spices. It probably tastes saltier than it is because of the other spices that enhance the saltiness. Lemon really enhances saltiness. Anyway, I think these chickens are a delicious way to get protein. It is certainly no worse than KFC.

I love Walmart rotisserie chickens. I think they are delicious and inexpensive. I get at least three meals out of them. And they are always very hot! I never once got one that wasn’t.

Must be something else then. The Herb and Garlic Roasted Seasoned Chicken from Walmart, which I sometimes get when they mark it down around 8pm (a little later, double discount to $3.94CAN). The sodium is 130mg not 640 per 100g not 85g. They also sell a similar BBQ roasted, the nutrition i don’t have at hand.

In a plastic dome, clear on top, black on the bottom.

Ate wal mart roasted chickens for years, no problem. In 2020 twice became violently ill after eating 2 separate chickens on 2 separable occasions. More I’ll than I’ve been ever and I’m a male in my 60’s. For years however never a problem until last year.

Most of you people are delusional.

We used to buy lots of chickens from Walmart one or two every week for years.

Do you not see the amount of crap that sitting at the bottom of the container of the chicken from Walmart? That’s pure fat and salt.

I challenge anyone here to get a new wave oven by a fresh chicken from sprouts

cook it yourself and it’ll be the cleanest tasting freaking best chicken you’ve ever had with minimal fat or crap on it from Walmart.

Wake up people, stop being lazy by a couple of chickens freeze some

have chicken when you need it and cook it yourself it’ll be the healthiest thing you’ve ever had versus Walmart

The sodium DOES vary, and that includes the other stores available in my small to medium Wyoming town. We have Safeway and Ridleys as well as Wal Mart. I have never thought Wal Mart chicken tasted overly salty, and I am careful about that due to my husband's health. Just don't be stupid, you can TELL if ham or chicken etc is extra salty, be your own grownup. For instance, Cook's ham is less salty than many others. We don't have a Whole Foods, and I work full time, so I think the Wal Mart option of rotisserie vs a fried option is a better choice.

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