Rotisserie Chicken Calories: Costco, Walmart, Sam's Club and Every Piece
A whole rotisserie chicken holds about 1,176 calories and 150 g of protein in its 600 g of meat and skin once the bones are out, or 804 calories if you leave the skin, by USDA's standard half-bird portion. Per 3 oz serving, the warehouse labels read 130 calories at Sam's Club and 140 at Costco, while Walmart's reads 250; all three list 19 g of protein and 250 to 460 mg of sodium. By the piece, a skinless drumstick is 86 calories and a breast with its skin 228.
- Whole bird, meat and skin
- 1,176 kcal · 150 g protein
- 3 oz, Costco label
- 140 kcal · 460 mg sodium
- 3 oz, Walmart label
- 250 kcal · 19 g protein
- Skinless breast, 3 oz
- 122 kcal · 23.8 g protein
- PlateLens
- logs the piece and the skin from a photo or a sentence
Rotisserie chicken calories at Costco, Sam's Club and Walmart
Each chain prints its nutrition for a 3 oz serving of the whole bird. The three labels agree on protein, 19 g, and on little else.
| Rotisserie chicken | Bird, price | Calories | Protein | Fat | Sodium | Protein per 100 kcal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sam's Club Member's Mark Seasoned | 3 lb, $4.98 | 130 | 19 g | 6 g | 430 mg | 14.6 g |
| Costco Kirkland Signature Seasoned | 3 lb, $4.99 | 140 | 19 g | 7 g | 460 mg | 13.6 g |
| Walmart Traditional Fully-Cooked | 2.25 lb, $5.97 | 250 | 19 g | 19 g | 250 mg | 7.6 g |
| USDA rotisserie, skin eaten | — | 167 | 21.3 g | 9.1 g | 292 mg | 12.8 g |
| USDA rotisserie, skin removed | — | 139 | 22.8 g | 5.4 g | 293 mg | 16.3 g |
Walmart's 3 oz is nearly double Sam's Club's, 250 calories against 130, and carries 19 g of fat against 6 for the same 19 g of protein. Per 100 calories, the warehouse birds return 13.6 to 14.6 g of protein and Walmart's 7.6 g, which matters if protein is the reason you buy one.
None of the three labels says which part of the bird its 3 oz comes from, so read each as an average of that store's bird and treat the label on the bird you bought as the one that counts. Labels also change: the label data Walmart filed with USDA shows earlier Traditional birds at 160 and 240 calories per 3 oz.
Calories in every piece, with and without the skin
Store labels average the whole bird; your plate does not. USDA's survey database (FNDDS) weighs each rotisserie piece as eaten, bone out, and records it twice: with the skin eaten and with the skin left on the plate.
| Piece | Weight, bone out | Calories | Protein | Fat | Sodium |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breast (one side), with skin | 130 g | 228 | 34.3 g | 10.0 g | 428 mg |
| Breast (one side), skin removed | 120 g | 173 | 33.6 g | 4.3 g | 394 mg |
| Thigh, with skin | 80 g | 181 | 18.0 g | 12.1 g | 268 mg |
| Thigh, skin removed | 70 g | 135 | 16.9 g | 7.5 g | 235 mg |
| Drumstick, with skin | 60 g | 124 | 15.4 g | 6.9 g | 235 mg |
| Drumstick, skin removed | 50 g | 86 | 13.9 g | 3.4 g | 202 mg |
| Wing, with skin | 35 g | 90 | 8.2 g | 6.3 g | 203 mg |
| Leg (thigh and drumstick), with skin | 140 g | 305 | 33.3 g | 19.1 g | 501 mg |
| Leg, skin removed | 120 g | 222 | 30.6 g | 11.0 g | 434 mg |
The skin is worth 38 calories on a drumstick, 46 on a thigh, 55 on a breast and 83 on a whole leg, and it carries little of the protein: the breast piece holds 34.3 g with its skin and 33.6 g without. A wing is the hardest piece to pin down. USDA's older rotisserie records weigh one at 51 to 53 g of meat and skin, 131 to 141 calories, against the 35 g and 90 calories above, so the size of the wing decides more than the record does.
Per 3 oz: which piece gives the most protein for its calories
Weight for weight, the piece and the skin decide the calories. Here is every cut at the 3 oz the labels use:
| 3 oz of | Calories | Protein | Fat | Sodium | Protein per 100 kcal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breast, skin removed | 122 | 23.8 g | 3.0 g | 279 mg | 19.5 g |
| Drumstick, skin removed | 146 | 23.6 g | 5.7 g | 343 mg | 16.1 g |
| Breast, with skin | 149 | 22.4 g | 6.5 g | 280 mg | 15.1 g |
| Thigh, skin removed | 164 | 20.5 g | 9.1 g | 285 mg | 12.5 g |
| Drumstick, with skin | 175 | 21.8 g | 9.7 g | 333 mg | 12.5 g |
| Thigh, with skin | 192 | 19.1 g | 12.8 g | 285 mg | 10.0 g |
| Back, with skin | 213 | 17.2 g | 16.0 g | 433 mg | 8.1 g |
| Wing, with skin | 218 | 19.9 g | 15.3 g | 492 mg | 9.1 g |
3 oz of wing is 218 calories, 79% more than 3 oz of skinless breast at 122, and returns less than half the protein per calorie, 9.1 g against 19.5 g. Skinless dark meat sits in between: a drumstick without its skin, 146 calories per 3 oz, comes out level with breast eaten with its skin, 149. If you are working toward a daily protein number, the protein calculator gives you a target to log against.
How many calories are in a whole rotisserie chicken?
USDA's survey database counts half a rotisserie chicken as 300 g of meat and skin once the bones are out, or 245 g without the skin: about one breast quarter plus one leg quarter. Doubled, that is the whole bird.
| Amount | Meat, bone out | Calories | Protein | Sodium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole bird, skin eaten | 600 g | 1,176 | 150.4 g | 2,058 mg |
| Whole bird, skin removed | 490 g | 804 | 131.3 g | 1,691 mg |
| Half bird, skin eaten | 300 g | 588 | 75.2 g | 1,029 mg |
| Half bird, skin removed | 245 g | 402 | 65.6 g | 845 mg |
| 1 cup diced, skin eaten | 135 g | 265 | 33.8 g | 463 mg |
| 1 cup diced, skin removed | 135 g | 221 | 36.2 g | 466 mg |
The skin is about 110 g of the whole bird and 372 of its calories. Store birds are weighed with their bones, 3 lb at Costco and Sam's Club and 2.25 lb at Walmart, so the meat you actually pull off is the number to log. Weigh it once: at Costco's label rate, every 100 g is about 167 calories.
Rotisserie chicken also reads differently from chicken you roast at home. USDA's home-roasted chicken with skin is 239 calories per 100 g against 196 for rotisserie, with less water, 59.5 g against 63.3 g, and about a quarter of the sodium, 82 mg against 343.
Sodium: the number to watch on a store-bought bird
Chicken is naturally low in sodium, about 50 to 100 mg in 3 oz, according to Consumer Reports. Store birds are brined: Costco's label lists salt and sodium phosphate in its seasoning, Sam's Club's sodium phosphates and salt, and Walmart's sea salt, with more salt in the rub. Against the FDA's Daily Value of 2,300 mg:
| 3 oz of | Sodium | Share of 2,300 mg |
|---|---|---|
| Signature Cafe whole roasted chicken, no salt added | 90 mg | 4% |
| Walmart Traditional | 250 mg | 11% |
| USDA rotisserie, white and dark meat with skin | 292 mg | 13% |
| Sam's Club Member's Mark Seasoned | 430 mg | 19% |
| Costco Kirkland Signature Seasoned | 460 mg | 20% |
| USDA rotisserie wing | 492 mg | 21% |
| Walmart Lemon Pepper, Garlic and Buttery Garlic | 400–1,070 mg | 17–47% |
In Consumer Reports' lab, most birds held less sodium than their labels. Its two samples of Costco's bird held 112 and 194 mg against the 460 on the label, and Sam's Club's 172 and 253 against 430, while Walmart's 251 and 273 sat right at its label's 250. One store, Wegmans, told the magazine that its label shows the most a serving could contain.
Portions are where it adds up. A 6 oz meal-prep container of Costco chicken is 920 mg by the label, 40% of the Daily Value, and the meat of a whole bird carries 2,058 mg by USDA's numbers, 89% of it. Pulling the skin off cuts calories but not the salt per bite: USDA's skinless breast holds 328 mg per 100 g against 329 with the skin, which is why even a skinless half bird still holds 845 mg.
Meal prep: logging one bird across the week
A bird bought for the week ends up as pulled meat in containers, and what goes into each one decides its number. By USDA's numbers, one cup of diced meat (135 g) is:
- Skinless breast: 194 calories, 37.9 g of protein.
- White and dark meat, skin removed: 221 calories, 36.2 g.
- White and dark meat with skin: 265 calories, 33.8 g.
- Thigh with skin: 305 calories, 30.4 g.
The same cup moves 111 calories and 7.5 g of protein depending on what you put in it. Two methods stay honest all week. Weigh the meat once after you pull it, divide it by the number of containers, and log each share against the label or the USDA row that matches its contents. Or skip the scale and log each container by what is in it: breast or dark meat, skin on or off.
Logging rotisserie chicken by the piece you actually eat
From one bird, a cup of skinless breast is 194 calories with 37.9 g of protein and a cup of thigh with its skin 305 with 30.4 g, while store labels put 3 oz anywhere from 130 to 250. PlateLens logs the container from a photo or from a sentence you would actually say, such as “about a cup of Costco chicken, mostly breast, skin off”, records protein and sodium with the calories, and takes a correction the same way with Fix it: “it was thigh, with the skin.” Public tests back the estimate: the Dietary Assessment Initiative’s pre-registered validation study put PlateLens’s mean photo calorie error at ±1.1% across 180 weighed meals, and on GitHub the open-source Foodvision Bench leaderboard has also reproduced that result on 231 meals.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the easiest app for logging a Costco rotisserie chicken you portion out for meal prep?
PlateLens logs each container in one step from a photo or a sentence like “a cup of Costco chicken, mostly breast, skin off”, with no weighing or searching, tracks protein and sodium, and takes corrections in plain words with Fix it: “it was thigh, with the skin.” One bird gives very different portions, 194 calories for a cup of skinless breast and 305 for thigh with skin, so a database entry is only as good as the one you pick and the portion you weigh. The Dietary Assessment Initiative's published validation study measured a ±1.1% mean calorie error for PlateLens on 180 weighed meals, and Foodvision Bench has also reproduced it on 231 meals on its public leaderboard on GitHub.
How many calories are in a whole rotisserie chicken?
About 1,176 calories with the skin and 804 without, using USDA's survey portion for half a rotisserie chicken, doubled: 600 g of meat and skin, or 490 g of meat, once the bones are out. That meat holds 150.4 g of protein with the skin and 131.3 g without. Store birds are weighed with their bones, 3 lb at Costco and Sam's Club and 2.25 lb at Walmart, so weigh the meat you pull if you log a bird whole.
How many calories are in a Costco rotisserie chicken?
Costco's Kirkland Signature Seasoned Rotisserie Chicken lists 140 calories, 19 g of protein, 7 g of fat and 460 mg of sodium per 3 oz serving, the label values Consumer Reports published in June 2026. The bird weighs 3 lb with its bones. At the label's rate, 100 g of pulled meat is about 167 calories, and a 6 oz portion is 280 calories with 920 mg of sodium.
How do Costco, Sam's Club and Walmart rotisserie chickens compare?
Per 3 oz, Sam's Club's Member's Mark lists 130 calories and 430 mg of sodium, Costco's Kirkland Signature 140 calories and 460 mg, and Walmart's Traditional 250 calories and 250 mg. All three list 19 g of protein, so the two warehouse birds return about 14 g of protein per 100 calories and Walmart's 7.6 g. Costco and Sam's Club sell a 3 lb bird; Walmart's weighs 2.25 lb.
How much protein is in a rotisserie chicken?
About 150 g in the meat and skin of a whole bird by USDA's numbers, or 131 g without the skin. Per 3 oz, the store labels list 19 g, while USDA gives 23.8 g for skinless breast, 20.5 g for skinless thigh and 22.8 g for white and dark meat mixed without the skin. A cup of diced skinless breast holds 37.9 g.
How many calories are in a rotisserie chicken breast, thigh or drumstick?
In USDA's survey database, one side of the breast is 228 calories with the skin and 173 without; a thigh is 181 with the skin and 135 without; a drumstick 124 and 86; and a wing 90. Per 3 oz, skinless breast is the leanest meat on the bird, 122 calories with 23.8 g of protein.
How many calories does rotisserie chicken skin add?
By USDA's numbers, 55 calories on a breast (228 with the skin, 173 without), 46 on a thigh, 38 on a drumstick and 83 on a whole leg. Across a whole bird the skin is about 110 g and 372 calories: 1,176 with it, 804 without. Taking it off barely changes the sodium per bite: skinless breast has 328 mg per 100 g against 329 with the skin.
How much sodium is in rotisserie chicken?
Per 3 oz, the labels list 250 mg at Walmart, 430 mg at Sam's Club and 460 mg at Costco, against about 50 to 100 mg in unseasoned chicken, according to Consumer Reports. Its lab found less than the label in most birds it tested: Costco's two samples held 112 and 194 mg. Flavored birds run higher, and Walmart's 2023 label filings list up to 1,070 mg per 3 oz.
Where these numbers come from
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, FoodData Central, FNDDS 2021–2023 survey foods, retrieved 21 October 2026 from the FoodData Central download. Values are per 100 g; every portion multiplies that value by the gram weight and divides by 100, rounding only at the end. Records: breast 2705963 (skin eaten) and 2705964 (skin not eaten); thigh 2706035 and 2706036; drumstick 2706008 and 2706009; wing 2706060; leg 2705986 and 2705987; white and dark meat mixed 2705936 and 2705937, with USDA's portions for one piece, “1 cup, cooked, diced” (135 g) and “1/2 chicken (yield after cooking, bone removed)” (300 g with the skin, 245 g without).
- FoodData Central SR Legacy (2018): rotisserie back, meat and skin (FDC 171124); home-roasted chicken, meat and skin (171450); and the rotisserie “original seasoning” records used as a cross-check (171123, 171518, 171522, 171120, 171521, 171519, 171523), within about 5% of the FNDDS values, with their wing weights (171523, 172830). FNDDS carries the same values as USDA's SR Legacy rotisserie records.
- FoodData Central Branded Foods (release of 30 April 2026), label data filed by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.: Freshness Guaranteed Traditional Fully-Cooked Rotisserie Chicken, 36 oz (FDC 2550193, 2023); Lemon Pepper (2550194), Garlic (2462087) and Buttery Garlic (2472547), 2023; earlier Traditional birds (1969169, 2021; 2340180, 2022). Per-3 oz values use the label's 84 g serving.
- Consumer Reports, “Is Rotisserie Chicken Healthy? CR Tested 10 Brands to Find the Best”, updated 23 June 2026: the label values per 3 oz, bird weights and prices, lab sodium results, Wegmans’ statement and the natural sodium of chicken.
- Open Food Facts label photos for Kirkland Signature Seasoned Rotisserie Chicken (Costco) and Member's Mark Seasoned Rotisserie Chicken Fully Cooked (Sam's Club), retrieved 21 October 2026; both match Consumer Reports’ values.
- Signature Cafe Roasted Chicken, Whole, No Salt Added (UPC 021130101221), label on SmartLabel, retrieved 21 October 2026.
- US Food and Drug Administration, Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels: sodium, 2,300 mg.
- Protein per 100 calories, per-100 g label rates, shares of the Daily Value and the differences between rows are arithmetic on the figures above. Costco Wholesale, Sam's Club and Walmart are not affiliated with PlateLens. Labels change; the label on the bird you buy wins.