National Rotisserie Chicken Day Date in the current year: June 2, 2024

Rotisserie chicken is a dish cooked by spit-roasting: a whole chicken is skewered on a long solid rod called a spit and cooked in a special oven right next to the heat source, where it is automatically rotated to ensure that the meat is cooked evenly. Rotisserie is a slow-cooking method that seals the flavor, results in juicy and tender meat, and is considered relatively healthy.

Spit-roasting has been used to cook meat since at least the Middle Ages. It was the preferred method of cooking in large households, where a special servant would be responsible for rotating the spit slowly until the meat is fully cooked. Compared to the long history of spit-roasting, modern automated ovens used to cook rotisserie chicken are a relatively new invention. The first mentions of the modern rotisserie chickens date back to the 1930s, but the dish didn’t become widely available to consumers until the 1990s.

Ready-to-eat rotisserie chickens are sold by supermarkets in many countries of the world at relatively low prices, sometimes cheaper than whole raw chicken. There are two possible explanations for this, which can both be true at once. According to one explanation, supermarkets use the inexpensive ready-to-eat dish to attract more shoppers, hoping they will buy other things in addition to chickens. The other explanation claims that rotisserie chickens are often made with poultry that is about to reach its expiration date as a way to prevent losses.

Be that as it may, rotisserie chickens sold by large supermarket chains such as Costco and Walmart are highly popular in the United States and some other countries because they are a tasty and inexpensive meal that doesn’t require cooking. Moreover, leftover rotisserie chicken can be used as an ingredient in a variety of dishes such as sandwiches, salads, and even soup.

In Peru, a rotisserie chicken dish named pollo a la brasa, also known as pollo asado, charcoal chicken or blackened chicken, is considered a national dish. Invented by Swiss immigrants to Peru in the mid-20th century, it consists of a chicken spit-roasted over charcoal and served with large French fries, a type of salsa called aji, and creamy mayonnaise-based sauces.

According to statistics, an average Peruvian consumes pollo a la brasa three times a month, and restaurants specializing in rotisserie chicken account for 40% of all the fast food establishments in Peru.

National Rotisserie Chicken Day was founded by the Boston Market, a restaurant chain responsible for popularizing packaged rotisserie chickens, and has been observed annually since 2015. The best way to celebrate the holiday is, of course, to treat yourself to some delicious rotisserie chicken, which you can buy at a supermarket or your local deli or cook yourself. If you go with the second option, the holiday is the perfect excuse to try out a new recipe or experiment with spice combinations.