Is rotisserie chicken healthy?

Is rotisserie chicken healthy? Beneath the golden-brown exterior of a grocery store rotisserie chicken may lurk some surprising ingredients.

VANCOUVER — What smells great, costs about $10 and is bound to make your life easier? You may be thinking about a (very) fancy cup of coffee, but we’re talking about an irresistible store-made rotisserie chicken.

Unfortunately, beneath that fragrant, golden-brown exterior could lurk some surprising and unhealthy ingredients.

Rotisserie chickens from the grocery store are tasty, convenient and inexpensive, and chicken is a high-protein, low-saturated-fat meat. But don’t assume all rotisserie birds are a good choice, Consumer Reports’ Amy Keating says.

“To keep the birds moist and tasty, they are often injected with a solution that can include sugar, processed ingredients and, unfortunately, a lot of sodium,” she says.

Consumer Reports evaluated the nutritional information and ingredients of rotisserie chickens from across the U.S., and found three ounces of Costco’s Kirkland Signature Rotisserie Chicken had 460 milligrams of sodium, one of the highest of the bunch.

A Whole Foods rotisserie chicken, on the other hand, had about 70 milligrams.

The daily maximum recommended sodium intake for an adult in both the U.S. and Canada is 2,300 milligrams.

It’s so easy to roast your own chicken, you can cut out the middleman and do it yourself, like Stephanie Pappos.

“It’s so nice and very convenient to have that roast chicken in the refrigerator that you can just pull out, put it together with some things, and you have dinner,” she says.

Keating adds that its easy to do.

“We recommend you don’t wash it, just season it. Put it in a 350 degree oven until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees,” she says. “And it’ll be delicious and (have) a lot less sodium.”

Your chicken will last for up to four days in the fridge, or four months in the freezer. Cut it into pieces and wrap them tightly, or store in a covered container.

With files from Consumer Reports