Battle of the bachelor’s handbags: Six supermarket roast chickens put to the taste test

Whether you’re eating it straight from the bag or dressing it up for dinner, there is no easier, tastier grab-and-go option than the supermarket hot roast chicken.

But there are average roast chickens and there are great ones. So what pushes a hot chook up the pecking order? You need to consider the entire package:

• How appetising it looks (even when sweating in a plastic bag)
• How crisp the skin is
• Whether both texture and flavour hit the mark (because no amount of seasoning can save a dry breast or soggy thigh)
• How the chicken was produced (happy chickens are tasty chickens)
• And, of course, value for money

From Costco to Woolies and Coles, I set out to sample them all. Here are my rankings, in ascending order.

6. Lilydale free-range hot roast chicken with sage and onion stuffing from Coles

$13, 1178g, 22cm

Let’s start with the positives. Lilydale chickens roam the farm freely, where they’re fed a nutritional diet and live to maturity. The roast chicken has no artificial colours, flavours or added preservatives. All great, right? It’s just a shame the one I bought was unevenly cooked, with dry breast meat, soft skin, and an odd gamey flavour in the thigh. The wetness that had accumulated at the bottom of the bag did not help.

Ingredients: Free-range chicken (84 per cent), marinade [water, salt, sugar, rice starch, citrus fibre, spice extract], stuffing (6 per cent) [water, crumbs (wheat flour, yeast, salt), rice (wheat, barley, spelt, kamut), vegetable oil, dehydrated onion (0.5 per cent), sugar, herbs (including sage (0.5 per cent)), salt, onion powder, spice].

5. Macro free-range Australian hot roast chicken from Woolworths

$12.50, 985g, 20cm

Despite living its best free-range life, this chook looks surprisingly sad when I peel open the bag. Its body is small, its skin is thin and pale, and the bottom of the bag is a bit wet. Despite its modest size and appearance, the meat is tender (though the breast remains a little fibrous), and delicately flavoured. It’s not the most economical, but it’s a solid choice for the environmentally conscious.

Ingredients: Free-range chicken (89 per cent), water, salt, citrus fibre, natural flavouring, vegetable powders (onion, garlic), vegetable gums (carrageenan, xanthan gum), herb extracts (rosemary, oregano, sage), liquid smoke.

4. Kirkland rotisserie chicken from Costco

$6.99, 1207g, 27cm

This is one good-looking bird. Its crisp, golden skin and plump white flesh has earned it plenty of fans. They hover around the empty shelves at Costco, grabbing at the steaming plastic packages as each fresh batch lands. But a big part of the appeal is its size and value for money. While it’s easily the largest and heaviest chook on this list (don’t forget your coin to unlock a trolley), the meat itself is disappointingly dry, and the flavour more bland than its looks would suggest.

Ingredients: Chicken (86 per cent), marinade (salt, mineral salts, maltodextrin from maize, vegetable gum, flavour, pepper extract).

3. Classic homestyle roast chicken from Coles

$12, 1083g, 24cm

This was the roast chook of my childhood, the one dad shredded and served on fresh Turkish bread with a generous slathering of butter. I remembered it as warm, a little fatty, and delicious. Nowadays, it looks as appetising as ever. The skin is crispy and golden, and the breast is moister than most. But it has a slightly unusual taste, perhaps due to the addition of milk in the marinade or the repeated additions of sugar. It would still make a mean sandwich.

Ingredients: RSPCA-approved chicken (84 per cent), marinade (9 per cent) [water, salt, sugar, tapioca starch, plant fibres (bamboo, pea, psyllium husk), natural flavouring (milk), spice extract (celery), herb extract (rosemary, sage)], stuffing core (6 per cent) [water, crumb (wheat flour, salt, mineral salt (ammonium carbonates)), onion, sugar, canola oil, salt, herbs, garlic, spices (natural colour (turmeric))], sprinkle [salt, wheat flour, spice (paprika), vegetable powder (onion), herbs, sugar, natural flavouring, canola oil].

2. The Bare Bird BBQ roast chicken from Coles

$13.50, 1048g, 25cm

This is a relative newcomer to the Coles barbecue chook stand. It’s presented in biodegradable packaging, which claims “absolutely nothing” is added to these birds, which are raised on strict vegetarian diets on accredited free-range farms in central Victoria. They’re also free of steroids, hormones and antibiotics. I’ll admit the lack of seasoning made me wary, but all that care poured into raising the chooks appears to have paid off: the meat itself was tasty, juicy and tender. And it was that trifecta that moved this chicken up the ranks, despite its admittedly soft skin.

Ingredients: Free-range chicken.

1. Country-style roast chicken from Woolworths

$12, 1035g, 23cm

Woolies is known for making a bloody good roast chook. In May, its sweet and tangy limited-edition Memphis BBQ chicken went viral. But it’s the country classic that rules the roost. It took just one bite to realise this was the best chook in the henhouse. It has beautiful golden skin, with marinade caramelised around the edges. The meat is plump and juicy, no matter which part of the chicken you’re eating, and its flavour packs a real punch with a satisfying blend of salt, smoke and spice.

Ingredients: RSPCA-approved chicken (84%), marinade (water, salt, mineral salts (451, 452, 450), maltodextrin, yeast extract, vegetable powders (onion, garlic), thickener (415), natural flavours, acidity regulator (262), herb extracts, smoke flavour, stuffing (4%) [water, breadcrumbs (wheat), sugar, dried onion, vegetable powders (onion, garlic), salt, natural flavours, herbs and spice, citrus fibre, yeast extract, chicken powder smoke flavour, natural colour (100)], seasoning (rice flour, salt, herbs and spices, vegetable powders (onion, garlic), acidity regulator (330), citrus fibre, thickener (415), natural colour (160c), natural flavour, yeast extract.