57 Delicious & Healthy Ways to Use Leftover Chicken
Try these creative and easy leftover chicken recipes for tacos, salads, grain bowls, casseroles and much more.
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. Use this easy roast chicken recipe to cook two whole birds side-by-side on 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.
Related:Healthy Whole Chicken Recipes
57 Leftover Roast Chicken Recipes & Ideas
Pictured Recipe: Chicken Chili with Sweet Potatoes
1. Stir it into a quick chicken chili with sweet potatoes (pictured above)
2. Top homemade cheesy black bean nachos
Related: Healthy Nachos Recipes
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, or use it to make Buffalo-Chicken Celery Sticks
Pictured recipe: Chopped Cobb 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
Pictured recipe: Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl
11. Stuff into enchiladas with cheese and kale
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 (pictured above)
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
Related: Healthy Grain Bowl Recipes
19. Mix with soy sauce and chives for a dumpling filling
20. Tuck into a chicken and root vegetable potpie
21. Stir into gumbo with frozen okra and corn
22. Add to macaroni & cheese with broccoli
23. Sauté with peppers and onions to make fajitas
24. Make a frittata with chicken and herbs
Related: Healthy Frittata Recipes
Pictured recipe: Easy Chicken Fried Rice
25. Make chicken fried rice with carrots and peas (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 Asian sesame noodles
Pictured Recipe: Chicken & Mushroom Shepherd's Pie
30. Bake a shepherd's pie (pictured above)
31. Top cooked lentils and sautéed kale and drizzle with fish sauce
32. Layer with artichokes and ricotta cheese into a lasagna
Related: Healthy Lasagna Recipes
Pictured recipe: Chicken Club Wraps
33. Fold into a 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
Pictured Recipe: Chicken Enchilada-Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
40. Mix with wild rice and stuff a delicata squash or 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
Pictured Recipe: Chicken, Arugula & Butternut Squash Salad with Brussels Sprouts
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. Make a Mexican quiche with black beans, corn and salsa
51. Make hand pies with mashed sweet potatoes
Pictured Recipe: Chicken Udon Bowl with Zucchini Noodles
52. Slide into a biscuit and top with gravy
53. Toss with hot gnocchi, chard and cheese
54. Add to Chinese lo mein with egg noodles or make a chicken udon bowl (pictured above)
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.