A great chicken seasoning is judged on five points: salt-to-spice ratio, real-spice content, performance under heat, cost per dinner, and how many dishes it can handle.
We tested three blends widely available in the UK: a household-name supermarket chicken seasoning, a premium grocer chicken spice, and Costack Chicken and Turkey Seasoning.
Salt content
- Supermarket blend: 52%
- Premium grocer blend: 41%
- Costack: 36%
Lower salt = more spice per shake. Costack wins.
Real-spice content
Costack lists thyme leaves, granulated garlic, granulated onion, paprika, white pepper, black pepper. Whole-leaf thyme survives high oven temperatures.
The premium grocer blend uses dried herbs and is solid but ground finer.
The supermarket blend uses spice extracts and "natural flavour" alongside the named spices.
Winner: Costack > premium grocer blend > supermarket blend.
Performance under heat (200ยฐC oven roast test)
Same 1.2kg chicken, 3 birds, same dose, same oven, blind tasted by 5 testers.
- Costack: described as "savoury", "balanced", "Sunday-pub good" by 4 testers.
- Premium grocer blend: described as "fine", "salty", "could be more interesting" by 4 testers.
- Supermarket blend: described as "tastes like every supermarket roast" by 5 testers.
Cost per dinner
Roast chicken (1.5kg) seasoning dose:
- Supermarket blend: 4 tbsp at ยฃ3.50/100g jar = 70p per roast
- Premium grocer blend: 3.5 tbsp at ยฃ4.20/85g jar = 92p per roast
- Costack: 3 tbsp at ยฃ8.50/90g jar = 91p per roast
Costack and the premium grocer blend are similar cost-per-roast despite higher jar price, because the blend is denser in spice and you use less.
Range of uses
Costack: roast chicken, traybakes, wings, stir-fry, soup, slow cooker, BBQ, gravy.
Premium grocer blend: roast chicken, traybakes, wings.
Supermarket blend: roast chicken.
The verdict
For UK home cooks who roast chicken weekly and want one jar that handles 6+ chicken dinners, Costack Chicken and Turkey Seasoning wins.
For one-time roast chicken on a Sunday, a supermarket jar is the cheapest grab.
