3 ways to make dinner fast with rotisserie chicken

This comes together in minutes, and is just one of 25 dinner ideas using rotisserie chickens from the market. Recipe: Barbecue chicken pizza

Sept. 28, 2015 8:30 AM PT

On nights when you’re looking for something to you can put on the table fast, rotisserie chicken can be a life-saver. This is the rotisserie chicken you find at your local market — or nearby Peruvian chicken stand, if you’re very lucky. It’s ready to go, and paired with a few choice ingredients, you can transform that chicken into any number of familiar dishes, mostly without formal recipes. Check out these ideas:

Barbecue chicken pizza: Sauté a sliced onion until softened and golden brown. When cool enough to handle, spread over purchased or prepared pizza dough. Top with a mixture of half barbecue sauce and half marinara sauce, add chopped chicken, drizzle over more sauce and top with mozzarella cheese and sliced red onion. Sprinkle chopped parsley over the baked pizza before serving.

Chicken tortilla soup: Sauté chopped onion and bell pepper until lightly golden, then add a container of fresh salsa and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add several fresh corn tortillas torn into pieces, then use an immersion blender to purée everything in the pot. Bring to a gentle simmer and add chopped or shredded chicken, more diced onion and pepper. Serve with crumbled fresh cheese, sour cream, tortilla strips and diced onion and cilantro.

Lettuce cups: Chop the chicken and toss with a little cornstarch (2 tablespoons for each whole chicken). Sauté chopped garlic and ginger over high heat until golden brown with a slightly nutty aroma. Add chopped shiitake mushrooms and chopped water chestnuts. Drizzle over soy sauce, rice vinegar and a touch of sugar, scraping any flavoring from the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken and cook until the sauce is thickened. Drizzle over more soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil as desired and serve in lettuce cups topped with chopped roasted peanuts and green onion.

Looking for more suggestions? Here are some more ways to incorporate rotisserie chicken in simple dinner dishes.