Time-Saver Or Total Flop? The Truth About This Rotisserie Chicken Shredding Shortcut

Grocery store rotisserie chickens are cheaper than their raw counterparts, making them a tasty and economical selection. They sit in those steamy containers where the meat can soften enough to fall right off the bone — if they're nice and hot, anyway. By the time you bring the chicken home or refrigerate it, the meat has usually cooled and become less tender. This puts shoppers in a pinch: the chicken is either too hot to comfortably pull off the bone with your hands or it's too cold to remove efficiently. As always, the internet has come up with a time-saving suggestion to fix food-related frustrations.

A viral TikTok hack has users breaking down rotisserie chickens in gallon freezer bags. It's as simple as sliding the chicken from its original container into the bag, sealing it to squeeze out the air, and then squishing the chicken by hand or with a rolling pin.

After the chicken is flattened, you can pull the bones right out of the bag, leaving you with small and tender pieces of rotisserie chicken. It's also an easy way to season and marinate the food. For instance, you can make a dreamy lemon pepper marinade by sprinkling lemon pepper seasoning, lemon juice, and olive oil right into the bag — just seal and shake. With this hack, you'll have tender and zesty chicken pieces that can be used for salads and sandwiches.

@southernsnippets

Figured I would give this chicken hack a try on whatever snow day this is 😵‍💫 Seems like it saved time and was less messy! What do you make with your rotisserie chicken? #rotisseriechicken #chickenhack #chickencarcass #costcochicken #samschicken #easyrecipeideas #quickdinners #dinnerideas

♬ Shake It – Metro Station

The main drawback with this chicken-in-a-bag hack is that it's not actually very good at shredding. It leaves you with uneven pieces, similar to those you'd find in canned chicken from the store. There's no separation between the types of meat, either, so dark and white meat gets muddled together. To get the pieces or textures you really want, you'll still have to dig through the bag.

While we think it's better to break down chicken by hand, this bag hack does make it easier to debone the meat before shredding it in your food processor — just a couple of pulses in the electric mixer can shred the boneless chicken chunks. However, one thing to watch out for with the TikTok chicken bag hack is that you'll likely miss the small and sharp bones that can pose a choking hazard. You can grab the big roasted chicken bones to make a stock, but you risk burying the small bones deeper into the mixed meat. 

Before scooping and serving the chicken, you'll want to sort through and pluck the needles from the haystack, so to speak, meaning you still have to comb through the meat using your hands. On a cutting board, warm rotisserie chicken falls to shreds when you just use two forks — or, for a real unhinged but effective kitchen trick, use a sturdy, wide-tooth comb (brand new, obviously).