How to Reheat a Whole Chicken

eHow may earn compensation through affiliate links in this story. Learn more about our affiliate and product review process here.

Things You'll Need

  • Aluminum foil

  • Baking sheet

  • Plastic wrap

  • Microwave-safe dish

  • Olive oil, vegetable oil or butter

Make roast chicken the centerpiece of your dinner.

Supermarket rotisserie chickens are a tempting sight. By the time you get home from the grocery store, however, your chicken may have become cold. You can, of course, cut up the whole chicken and use it for chicken salad or other recipes, but if you want to serve the chicken whole, you can also reheat it using either the microwave, which is faster but won't crisp up the skin, or a conventional oven.

Advertisement

Oven

Step 1

Move the oven rack to the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cover a baking sheet with foil; place the chicken on the baking sheet.

Video of the Day

Step 2

Brush the chicken's skin with the olive oil, vegetable oil or melted butter. Cover the chicken with aluminum foil.

Step 3

Place the chicken in the oven. Reheat the chicken in the oven for 20 minutes. Using an oven mitt, remove the foil covering from the chicken. Switch the oven to "Broil." Broil the chicken for three or four minutes, watching it closely to make sure it doesn't burn. This will crisp up the chicken's skin.

Advertisement

Microwave

Step 1

Place the chicken in a microwave-safe dish.

Step 2

Cover the dish with microwave-safe plastic wrap. Using a sharp kitchen knife, cut four 1- to 2-inch slits into the plastic wrap. These vents will prevent steam, which can both burn you and make the chicken skin soggy, from building up.

Advertisement

Step 3

Microwave the chicken on high power for three minutes. If your microwave has a "Reheat" function, press this button instead and enter in the weight of the chicken, which you can usually find on the packaging. Remove the chicken from the microwave and let it sit for a few minutes. Carefully remove the plastic wrap from the dish.

Warning

Always keep chicken refrigerated.

Advertisement

Video of the Day

references