rotisserie
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
noun
-
a rotating spit on which meat, poultry, etc, can be cooked
-
a shop or restaurant where meat is roasted to order
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of rotisserie
1865–70; < French: roasting place
Explanation
A rotisserie is a special kind of oven that keeps meat turning constantly as it cooks. Some restaurants and supermarkets use rotisseries for roasting whole chickens. A rotisserie uses a spit, a long skewer or metal rod that holds a large piece of meat. The spit rotates so that the meat cooks evenly and is constantly basting in its own juices. In the mid-1800s, the word rotisserie referred to a restaurant serving meat that was cooked this way, from the French rôtisserie, "restaurant," and rôtir, "to roast."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In 2015, the company voluntarily recalled a celery-and-onion blend used in a rotisserie chicken salad at Costco due to potential E. coli contamination.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
Rotisserie chicken has been a major talking point recently, from Costco’s bird being caught in a legal broiler to a man in Philly who ate a whole rotisserie chicken for 40 consecutive days.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2026
Even if you’re perfectly capable of stretching a pound of beans or turning a rotisserie chicken into three meals, there’s something about inviting people over that can trigger a peculiar urge to upgrade everything.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
Earlier this year, Costco’s beloved $4.99 rotisserie chicken found itself in a legal broiler after two class-action lawsuits claimed that the ready-to-eat bird isn’t free of food additives or Salmonella contamination.
From Salon ● Jun. 17, 2026
The rotisserie chicken was sort of a disaster, but that’s not the point of this story.
From "Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus" by Dusti Bowling
Between grocery store rotisseries and home-cooked birds, we roast a lot of chicken in the United States, but processors cut their heads off so we don’t have to look them in the face.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 6, 2022
And when 24-hour shopping channels came in, he was there too, guest-selling on QVC; he once sold $1 million worth of rotisseries in an hour.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2021
Waitrose cafes and rotisseries will be temporarily shut to help stores cope with increased demand in other areas.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 19, 2020
But roast chickens are not much harder, if you can get the setup right—as proved by the city’s many underrated Peruvian restaurants, which turn them out from rotisseries with astonishing speed.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 22, 2019
She would go to the neighboring groceries, rotisseries, patisseries, green vegetable stands, and get the few things she needed in the smallest quantities, always selecting the best and preparing them with the greatest care.
From The "Genius" by Dreiser, Theodore
Credit goes to chef Nate Anda, who dreamed up the dish: After a 12-hour brine, the chicken is rotisseried for two hours and then fried for two and a half minutes.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 2, 2015
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
