This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our affiliate policy.
Learn how to make Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning at home with just 4 ingredients (plus salt and pepper). Make it in big batches to keep on hand, and then just add a chicken.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix together the paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and dried thyme. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Should I use a spice grinder?
I HIGHLY recommend using a spice grinder if you want the freshest flavors for your spice blends. They’re not too expensive and make a tremendous difference in your cooking! The KRUPS Fast Touch Electric Grinder is my favorite one because it’s powerful and easy to clean. You can get it at Walmart for $34.96 but I recommend a few others in my best spice grinder roundup!
Recipe tips and variations
- Whole chicken in a rotisserie: Truss and skewer the chicken (giblets removed). Coat generously with the dry rub. Insert the rotisserie skewers into the rotisserie. Cook according to rotisserie manufacturer’s instructions. Let it rest about 10 minutes before carving.
- Whole chicken in the oven: Truss the chicken (giblets removed), then coat with olive oil. Coat generously with the dry rub. Place in a roasting pan, baking dish, or cast iron skillet. Bake at 425 degrees for 70-80 minutes, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Baste the chicken every 15-20 minutes with juices from the bottom of the pan (or olive oil). Let it rest about 10 minutes before carving.
- Chicken pieces: 4 to 5 pounds of chicken pieces such as breast, thighs, or quarters may be substituted for the whole chicken. Reduce total baking time to 30 to 45 minutes.
- 2 whole chickens in the oven: The baking time is the same if you want to roast 2 chickens instead of 1. Make extra for a friend in need or for your favorite recipes.
- Whole chicken in a slow cooker: After rinsing the chicken and patting it dry with paper towels, brush the skin with a little olive oil and generously dust the chicken with the seasoning. Place the prepared chicken in the slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours, or LOW for 6-8 hours.
Recipes for leftover chicken
Mexican Recipes
Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas
Chicken and Turkey Recipes
BBQ Chicken Pizza
Sandwich Recipes
Chicken Gyros
Salad Recipes
Chicken Salad Recipe
Join Us
Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning
Equipment
- Spice Containers (I love using these baby Ball jars for spice storage!)
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Whisk all dried ingredients and spices together in a small bowl. Use immediately or store in an airtight jar in the pantry for future use.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Whole chicken in a rotisserie: Truss and skewer the chicken (giblets removed). Coat generously with the dry rub. Insert the rotisserie skewers into the rotisserie. Cook according to rotisserie manufacturer’s instructions. Let it rest about 10 minutes before carving.
- Whole chicken in the oven: Truss the chicken (giblets removed), then coat with olive oil. Coat generously with the dry rub. Place in a roasting pan, baking dish, or cast iron skillet. Bake at 425 degrees for 70-80 minutes, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Baste the chicken every 15-20 minutes with juices from the bottom of the pan (or olive oil). Let it rest about 10 minutes before carving.
- Chicken pieces: 4 to 5 pounds of chicken pieces such as breast, thighs, or quarters may be substituted for the whole chicken. Reduce total baking time to 30 to 45 minutes.
- 2 whole chickens in the oven: The baking time is the same if you want to roast 2 chickens instead of 1. Make extra for a friend in need or for your favorite recipes.
- Whole chicken in a slow cooker: Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, brush the skin with a little olive oil and generously dust the chicken with the seasoning. Place the prepared chicken in the slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours, or LOW for 6-8 hours.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
How much salt and pepper do you need? Can you give a ballpark so I know how much to double /triple for a large batch?
I typically use 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper when I’m seasoning a 4-pound chicken. Personally I prefer to season meat separately va putting it in a seasoning blend. It’s easy to go overboard sprinkling with a seasoning blend, so if the salt is already in there, you might over-salt. Whereas if you salt separately, you can go crazy with the spices. I hope that makes sense. If you have more questions, please let me know. Thank you! – Meggan
Temperature for roasting is too high for olive oil.
Hi Meggan,
I am making a batch of this seasoning for the first time. Looking forward to yummy dinner!!! Can you please tell me if the dried thyme is ground powdered thyme or just dried leaves. I have both and am wondering if the powdered form would be too over powering.
Thanks so much!
Hi Sandi, thank you so much for writing! I like to use the dried thyme leaves for this seasoning. I hope you love it and enjoy your dinner! – Meggan
Quite delightful!
Though I might suggest using less if your paprika is smoked.
Any ways it is delicious just the same!
Thank you!
You’re so welcome, Jonathan! Thank you for sharing your suggestion! – Meggan
I was making breasts in the air fryer and wanted a seasoning rub, this was pretty perfect. We dipped the cut chicken in different sauces.
I’m so glad you loved it, Ann! Take care! – Meggan
Hi there ! Always wanting new chicken recipes ! Can this be cooked in an air fryer ? Thank you !
Hi Patricia! Yes, if you’re wanting to use this rub on a whole chicken you absolutely can! If using a regular air fryer, preheat to 350 degrees. Brush the outside of the chicken with olive oil and rub 1/2 of the spice mixture over the outside of the chicken. Place in air fryer and cook for 30 minutes. Turn the chicken over, brush with olive oil and rub remaining spice mixture. Return to airfryer and cook until the chicken is 165 degrees on a digital thermometer, testing in the thickest part of the thigh, about 20 to 30 minutes more. Remove from air fryer and tent with foil, resting about 5 to 10 minutes. I have more instructions and information on my post here: https://www.culinaryhill.com/rotisserie-style-chicken/. Take care! – Meggan
Do you just put the dry bird in the slow cooker on high for 3-4 hours? It seems like you would need to put some sort of liquid so as not to crack the ceramic insert.
Hi Alan, great question! There is no need to put liquid in with the chicken. The slow-covered heat will create moisture as the chicken cooks, which also means the skin may not crisp up. I recommend covering and cooking on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours or LOW for 6 to 8 hours. Here’s a link to my full recipe for rotisserie-sytle chicken: https://www.culinaryhill.com/rotisserie-style-chicken/ . Thank you! Take care! – Meggan
perfect. my picky son can’t get enough!!!!
That’s wonderful, Michelle! Take care!
Superb! I added a pinch of cayenne for a bit of a bite. Our new favourite recipe for rotisserie chicken on the BBQ! Thank you!
You’re welcome, June! I love it! – Meggan
Excellent! I used this for roasting chicken breasts to make chicken salad! So very tasty! Definite upgrade to the basic chicken salad recipe!
Thanks Mandy, glad you love it! – Meggan
This was really good and soooo easy. Next time, though, I will leave the thyme out. It seemed to overwhelm the other flavors.
The rotisserie recipe does not call to oil the chicken first. Is this correct? I think I have oiled them before adding seasoning in the past so the seasoning sticks.
Hi Caye, that is correct but if you want to oil first then go for it! – Meggan
Great combo of spices for chicken. I have a little jar of it now in my pantry.
Thanks Marcia, so glad you like it as much as I do! – Meggan
I’d recommend 1-2 tsp brown sugar added to meld the flavors just a bit. Comes out fantastic if you spatchcock and leave in a smoker at 225F for 3-4 hours.
I loved this recipe. Thank you for sharing. I used the chicken for tacos and the leftovers went into my salad.
1/2021 With so few ingredients, I was surprised how tasty it was. I did not add the salt and pepper as I prefer to season each dish separately. I used this spice on chicken breasts because the recipe I was making called for leftover rotisserie chicken and I had none
Used your seasoning for the rotisserie chicken, and baked in our gass oven, it was wonderful, will use it again
Thanks
What pound whole chicken – especially for slow cooker method
Hi L, it will depend on the size of your slow cooker. You’ll want to get a chicken that will fit into the slow cooker, so if you have a 3.5 or 4 quart slow cooker, choose a smaller 3 to 4 pound chicken. A 6 quart slow cooker will be able to fit a larger bird. I hope you enjoy this! – Meggan
4 pounds as long as that fits in your slow cooker. Sorry that wasn’t in this post. I’ll fix it up for the next person. Thank you! -Meggan
Hi, just not sure if I should use my iron skillet or a rack in a roasting pan?
Hi Joe, you can use either. It’s up to you! – Meggan
With so few ingredients, I was surprised how tasty it was. I did not add the salt and pepper as I prefer to season each dish separately. I used this spice on chicken breasts because the recipe I was making called for leftover rotisserie chicken and I had none
Thanks for the information, it’s quite very interesting. I love your recipe.
Perfect spice mix chicken. I Barbecued this in a black skillet to get some additional smoke in a Kamado Joe grill . The results were excellent.
Looks good!
Greetings from the UK. I’ve used this spice blend recipe a few times and while returning to it today I decided to leave a comment to let you know how much I appreciate it and your site.
Like you, my best childhood memories are of wholesome, real food. Also like you, those memories are set in Wisconsin (a Door County farm).
After nearly 20 years in England, I still find it impossible to evoke those feelings with British traditional foods and appreciate good recipes from the old days. Keep up the good work!
THANK YOU SO MUCH. My and my SO used to work at Giant Eagle and they had amazing rotisserie chicken. So we found a workaround by buying this McCormick Rotisserie Chicken seasoning… but then we couldn’t find it anymore. Your recipe – with a few tweaks – was just what our breasts needed! We actually doubled the recipe and stuck it in an empty spice jar for future use. I’m happy to say I only had to buy the paprika/thyme so it also wasn’t expensive to make. Seems like it really brings out the flavor, without being too bland, salty, etc. We ended up using the following ratio for a small Mrs. Dash spice bottle (in case anyone is interested):
4 tsp paprika, 3 tsp thyme
2 tsp garlic powder, 2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt, 2 tsp pepper
Also came to find it came out looking like the McCormick version and upon inspecting the ingredients, seemed to be almost the same – if not the exact – thing that we’ve been searching for for months on end. I can’t thank you enough as this is something we’re going to be using regularly – including for tonight’s dinner! <3
My question to you is, do you use regular table salt or kosher salt.
Hi Janet, I use regular table salt in this recipe. – Meggan
Hi, do you think the seasoning recipe will be good on my cornish hen. I will be cooked in my rotisserie oven. Thank you
Hi Fran, yes! Definitely. It’s just an all-purpose seasoning that is good on pretty much anything, especially any kind of poultry. Thank you! -Meggan
About how much salt & pepper do you put in your chicken? And, can you add it to the other dry rub ingredients ahead of time & store it or do you put it on the chicken separately? Thanks!
Hi Jessica, sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I like 2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. You can definitely make a batch of the seasoning and store it for later use so you can pull it out whenever you want to roast a chicken. If you make a big batch, just use about 2 tablespoons of the seasoning per chicken. I hope that helps! If you need anything else, please let me know! Thanks. -Meggan
About how much salt & freshly ground pepper do you recommend? And, can you add those to the other dry rub ingredients & store it or do you sprinkle those on separately before roasting? Thanks!
Hi Jessica, sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I like 2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. You can definitely make a batch of the seasoning and store it for later use so you can pull it out whenever you want to roast a chicken. If you make a big batch, just use about 2 tablespoons of the seasoning per chicken. I hope that helps! If you need anything else, please let me know! Thanks. -Meggan
chicken should not be rinsed as it can spray small amounts of bacteria all around the sink area.
Hi Gloria, I 100% agree with you. Sometimes I find things on my site and I’m like – who works here, who wrote that! LOL. You could never possibly wash away all the bacteria on a chicken anyway, it needs to be cooked off, and yes, in the process you’ll just make a mess and end up with chicken bacteria all over the place. Thanks for pointing that out; I’m fixing the post right now. -Meggan
Can’t find guide on how to make seasonings to give as gifts and/or increasing the amount of ingredients as noted in your post.
Hi Pat, sorry about that. There’s a little slider if you hover over the number of servings (find the orange # 6 next to servings and put your mouse over that). A blue bar will pop up and you can drag that to the left or the right to adjust the quantity, and all the amounts in the recipe card should update. Please give that a try and let me know if it works for you. Sorry for the confusion! Thank you for letting me know. -Meggan
Hello, I was giving up on a new way to cook chicken. You changed my mine. This is the only way my family loves there chicken . I even sprinkled on cut up plain chicken ,chicken burgers. .loving it  an everything is in the cabinet. Thanks. This is a 10 star.