Is Costco's Rotisserie Chicken Gluten-Free?
Maintaining a gluten-free diet isn't always easy, especially if you want to enjoy prepackaged convenience foods. That's because ingredients that contain gluten can be included in recipes without much disclosure on labeling, which is why it's always best to look carefully over an item's ingredient list.
One popular grocery store item that customers swear by — Costco's Kirkland Signature rotisserie chicken – is a hit for its $4.99 price point and ready-to-eat convenience. Gluten-free eaters will definitely want to know if it's safe to eat, and according to Costco itself, the rotisserie chicken is in fact gluten-free. Aside from chicken and water, it includes salt, sodium phosphate, modified food starch, potato dextrin, carrageenan, sugar, dextrose, and spice extractives.
A lot of the potential pitfalls in products like this involve flavorings or additives that could potentially be wheat-derived, but in the case of the Kirkland Signature chicken, anyone with a gluten-free household has one less thing to worry about on their Costco bulk runs. That means there'll be plenty of leftover rotisserie chicken salad for everyone!
Many of Costco's prepared food items are not gluten-free
Costco's rotisserie chicken is one thing, but there's a good percentage of its other take-home foods that aren't gluten-free. That's because you'll often find dishes like pasta bakes, tortilla-based wraps, sandwiches, take-and-bake pizzas, and fried chicken and mashed potato meal kits in the prepared foods section, all of which contain wheat-based ingredients in them. We've found that Costco prepared meals aren't always worth the cost, and they aren't geared towards any particular diet in mind, including gluten-free ones.
That's why the rotisserie chicken being a gluten-free option is a good choice. Fortunately, Costco stocks a decent selection of other packaged goods in the deli, freezer, and shelf-stable aisles that are gluten-free, like Kirkland's cauliflower crust pizza, Del Real pupusas, various Sukhi's curries, and stir-fries and cooked proteins from Kevin's Natural Foods. But just like anything else, you'll need to look at labels closely just to be sure. You'll either see that they're marked gluten-free, or you'll have to do your due diligence by visually scanning a product's ingredients list to find anything you might need to avoid for the sake of your diet.