Congressman Crawford Co-Leads Effort to Allow for the Purchase of Hot Roisserie Chicken with SNAP Benefits

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Yesterday, Congressman Rick Crawford (R-AR) introduced H.R. 8403, the Healthy Obtainable Tasty (HOT) Rotisserie Chicken Act, alongside 17 of his colleagues, to allow for the purchase of hot rotisserie chicken with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. As President Trump and Secretary Kennedy realigned our nation’s approach to nutrition, the HOT Rotisserie Chicken Act expands access to high-quality, whole foods without expanding cost to the taxpayer.

A hot rotisserie chicken, priced at around $5 or $6, offers unbeatable affordability and nutritional value. However, under current regulations, SNAP participants are only able to purchase cold rotisserie chickens. Allowing hot rotisserie chicken SNAP purchases gives working families a great, healthy option to put on their dinner table or use as an ingredient in other common meals.

Additionally, this is a bicameral bill with Senator Jim Justice (R-WV) leading the Senate version of the HOT Rotisserie Chicken Act.

“It is just plain common sense to allow SNAP participants to purchase a rotisserie chicken with their benefits,” said Congressman Crawford. “Hot rotisserie chicken is healthy, widely available, popular in grocery stores, and aligned with the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans."

This legislation, supported by both the National Chicken Council and Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, would respond to the request made by multiple states, including Arkansas, to the USDA to include nutritious hot rotisserie chicken in SNAP benefits.

“There are few better ways for families to get a healthy, affordable meal than by buying a hot rotisserie chicken - especially if it’s from an Arkansas-raised broiler,” said Governor Sanders. “For too long, this staple has been banned from SNAP purchases because of federal red tape, but Rep. Crawford is leading the way on getting it back on Americans’ tables. I’m grateful for his leadership and look forward to pairing this legislation with my administration’s initiative to get unhealthy options like soft drinks and candy off taxpayer-funded food stamps.”

“Allowing folks on SNAP to buy hot rotisserie chickens is truly just common sense. It’s as basic as you can get to help busy parents or grandparents put something as simple as this on the table to feed their families. We have to give people the option to put a healthy, protein-dense choice on the table that actually tastes good and doesn’t take an hour and a half to cook,” said Senator Jim Justice. 

“The HOT Rotisserie Chicken Act is a commonsense solution to an unnecessary problem. Right now, a SNAP family can buy a cold rotisserie chicken — but the moment it's hot, it's off limits. There is no nutritional difference. There is no logical difference. There is only an outdated technicality that forces grocery stores to heat chickens and cool them back down just to comply, wasting energy, degrading quality, and adding cost.

"Rotisserie chicken - a real food - is the most affordable complete protein in the grocery store. At around $7, it can feed an entire family. For the 42 million Americans on SNAP, that matters enormously.

"I want to thank Rep. Crawford, and Sens. Justice, Bennett, Fetterman, and Capito for their leadership on this no-cost, commonsense, and long overdue legislation. The National Chicken Council is proud to support it, and we urge Congress to pass it without delay." said National Chicken Council (NCC) President Harrison Kircher.

Original Cosponsors of the HOT Rotisserie Chicken Act: Costa (CA-21), Evans (CO-08), Figures (AL-02), Harris (NC-08), Harris (MD-01), Kiggans (VA-02), McBride (DE-AL), McGarvey (KY-03), Moore (AL-01), Moore (UT-01), Moran (TX-01), Sorenson (IL-17), Van Orden (WI-03), Vasquez (NM-02), Westerman (AR-02), Wied (WI-08), Womack (AR-03)

Read the bill text HERE .