57 Delicious & Healthy Ways to Use Leftover Chicken (2024)

Pictured Recipe: Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

Roasting a whole chicken has always been one of my favorite meal-prep tips-cook once and you'll have dinner tonight plus more for meals all week. I've even made it part of my regular Sunday routine. Trust me, it's easy!

Not only is buying a whole chicken easy on your wallet (it's cheaper per pound than buying chicken parts), roasting your own means it will have almost 50 percent less sodium than the rotisserie birds at your grocery store. You can even roast two whole birds side-by-side in one pan: you only have to heat the oven once, but you'll have enough leftover chicken to put to good use with these 57 ideas.

Don't feel like roasting a whole bird? These easy ideas will work well with leftover grilled chicken, as well as rotisserie chicken (whether it's store-bought or a homemade air-fryer rotisserie chicken). Feel free to use light or dark meat interchangeably in any of these recipe ideas too.

57 Leftover Roast Chicken Recipes & Ideas

1. Stir it into a quick chicken chili with sweet potatoes (pictured above)

2. Top homemade cheesy black bean nachos

3. Add it to a quesadilla with sautéed spinach, or make these chicken quesadillas with beans

4. Simmer with vegetables and broth for a quick chicken soup

5. Mix with Buffalo sauce, carrots, celery and blue cheese for a Buffalo chicken salad

6. Make a chicken Cobb salad (pictured above)

7. Use it to make BBQ chicken tacos topped with red cabbage slaw

8. Top a baked sweet potato with chicken, scallions and Cheddar cheese

9. Add it to a vegetable stir-fry with teriyaki sauce

10. Toss with barbecue sauce and make a BBQ chicken sandwich

11. Stuff into enchiladas with cheese and kale (pictured above)

12. Make chicken pasta salad with broccoli, tomatoes and Italian dressing, or pull together a chicken Caesar pasta salad

13. Stuff in a burrito with rice, beans, guacamole and corn, or make a burrito bowl

14. Scatter over a mushroom-and-cheese pizza

15. Turn it into a tasty chicken Parm-inspired dip

16. Thread onto skewers with tomato, basil and baby mozzarella

17. Slice into a pita with watercress and tzatziki

18. Make a quinoa bowl with hummus, cucumbers and tomatoes

19. Mix with soy sauce and chives for a dumpling filling

20. Tuck into a chicken potpie

21. Stir into gumbo with frozen okra and corn

22. Add to with broccoli

23. Sauté with peppers and onions to make fajitas

24. Make a frittata with chicken and herbs

25. Make chicken fried rice with vegetables (pictured above)

26. Use for chicken Divan

27. Fry up a hash with frozen potatoes, spinach and chorizo

28. Make classic chicken salad with grapes and tarragon

29. Shred into sesame noodles

30. Bake (pictured above)

31. Top cooked lentils and sautéed kale and drizzle with fish sauce

32. Layer with artichokes and ricotta cheese into a lasagna

33. Fold into a Chicken Club Wrap with bacon, lettuce and mayo (pictured above)

34. Make a flatbread with pesto and fresh mozzarella

35. Mix with rice, peas and a light mushroom cream sauce

36. Make calzones with broccoli, cheese and marinara sauce

37. Toss with fish sauce, rice noodles and coleslaw mix for a Thai salad

38. Top a Southwest-style Caesar salad

39. Whip up chicken Tetrazzini

40. Mix with enchilada sauce and zucchini and stuff into spaghetti squash (pictured above)

41. Make a chowder with bacon and potatoes

42. Combine with breadcrumbs, scallion and egg for chicken patties

43. Add to roasted Brussels sprouts and cranberries

44. Top toast for an open-face melt with Gruyère

45. Add it to a hearty fall salad with butternut squash and Brussels sprouts (pictured above)

46. Use as a layer in 7-layer dip

47. Thread onto skewers and serve with peanut sauce

48. Use as a topping for ramen with bok choy

49. Sauté with eggplant and peppers and serve over polenta

50. Add to a quiche with black beans, corn and salsa

51. Make hand pies with mashed sweet potatoes

52. Slide into a biscuit and top with gravy

53. Toss with hot gnocchi, chard and cheese

54. Add to lo mein with egg noodles or make a chicken udon bowl

55. Fold into an egg roll filling with napa cabbage and hoisin sauce

56. Stuff into crepes with goat cheese and roasted butternut squash

57. Combine with mayo and Cheddar to make chicken pimiento cheese

Still want more? Browse all of our Healthy Leftover Chicken Recipes for plenty of delicious ideas.