How to use Rotisserie chicken to make asian dishes

Chicken meat is one of the healthiest animal protein choices for eating. It is lower in calories, fat and cholesterol compared to red meats such as beef or pork. Many stores now offering cooked rotisserie chicken.  Store-bought rotisserie chickens are versatile, convenient, and time saving for busy people and families. Eat them eat as is, or use in soups, salads, pastas, fajitas, stir fried or casseroles. The possibilities are endless. These store-bought rotisserie chickens are relatively budget friendly; therefore, they are also popular among single people and college students.

I buy rotisserie chicken often because it helps me with meal prepping when I am busy. I use it in salads, enchiladas, fried rice, and sandwiches. I have noticed most Asian recipes I see online using rotisserie chicken are mainly stir-fried or Asian chicken salad dishes. This inspired me to challenge myself to create additional Asian recipes using rotisserie chicken. I am very happy with the recipes I created, and I want to share them with you. I used Costco rotisserie chicken in all of my recipes; however, you can use any store-bought rotisserie chicken you prefer.

 This Peanut Sauce Noodles with Chicken recipe is a quick and easy noodle dish. It takes less than 30 minutes from start to finish. The only “cooking” part is to boil the water on a stove to cook the noodles (and yes, any type of noodles that you like will do).  These noodles actually taste the best when they are at the room temperature or cold. So, this dish is perfect for a hot summer day meal. Carrots and cucumbers are the only two vegetables in this recipe, but feel free to use other raw vegetables according to your preferences. Bean sprouts, celery, or zucchini will work wonderfully in this recipe. A bag of coleslaw will do just great too if you are short on time. With the chicken, noodles and the vegetables in this dish makes it a quick, easy complete meal.  

Did you know you can have a rotisserie chicken that is full with Asian flavors without actually having to cook the chicken yourself? This Asian Sweet and Spicy Rotisserie Chicken is just that! This is another fast and easy dish. The sauce in this recipe is good for a half of a rotisserie chicken, which is a great way to use up your leftover chicken. Since the chicken is already cooked, all you need to do is to make the sauce on the stove, then simmer the chicken in the sauce for 5-8 minutes until the chicken is hot. If you are short on time, you can also just microwave the chicken then pour the sauce over the chicken. I do think simmering the chicken in the sauce gets more of the Asian flavor into the chicken. I used oyster sauce along with soy sauce in this recipe. Oyster sauce is common in Asian cooking. It is thicker than soy sauce and gives a special umami flavor. If you do not want to buy another sauce or cannot find it in your store, just add another a half tablespoon of soy sauce. The recipe also calls for five spice powder, a staple in the Asian kitchen pantry. You can find this in Chinese or other Asian grocery stores. You could skip this ingredient although this five-spice powder is the main flavor that makes this dish taste like what you would get from a Chinese restaurant. Serve the chicken with rice and steamed vegetables such as broccoli or spinach. The recipe gives plenty of sauce for you to pour on your steamed vegetables and rice to make your meal satisfying

Do you like potstickers? Potstickers are Chinese dumplings that are steamed fried, crispy and golden brown on the bottom. If you like eating potstickers, you will love my Chicken Potsticker recipe. This recipe is a great way to use up your leftover chicken meat and they are easy to make. You will notice this recipe does not call for soy sauce, a typical ingredient in Chinese and Asian cooking. This is because the rotisserie chicken is already well seasoned with spices and salt, so there is no need for additional soy sauce. I use different seasoning powders to add flavors to the filling mixture. It is important that you buy dumpling or potsticker wrappers and not the thin style won ton wrappers in order for this recipe to work. To make this recipe your own, you can use regular cabbage instead of Napa cabbage, adding different vegetables for different flavors or textures, such as bamboo shoots or mushrooms. Just make sure everything is finely chopped or minced as part of the filling. To steam fry the potstickers, heat up a non-stick fry pan with oil, place potstickers into the frying pan then add water to the pan and cover with a lid. The bottom of the potstickers will be pan fried and the top of the wrappers will be cooked with steam at the same time. This is how you get potstickers with a crispy golden-brown bottom and soft top. A great appetizer or main meal dish!

Using these recipes together gives you a great an Asian meal from one store-bought rotisserie chicken. They are also three great recipes to use separately when you want to use up your leftover chicken.

Happy Eating!