Chicken is quite popular and for that reason easy to find in all the supermarkets, charcuterias and mercado’s.
Most people are still buying their chicken from supermarkets though, so here are the main supermarkets:
Mercadona
Mercadona doesn’t have a traditional meat counter so chicken of any size and cut is prepackaged. The price is higher than other supermarkets and quality is medium, meaning that sometimes you can find yourself with a badly cut chicken breast that’s hard to chew.
Hiperdino/Superdino
They have both packaged chicken and some at the counter. Always get the fresh one to buy from the counter because pieces are bigger and they get cut on the spot.
Spar
Just like Hiperdino this chain has both options and it’s always better to get the employee to cut a fresh chicken breast for you.
Usefull Phrases
Just a few usefull words for when getting your chickenbreast at the meat counter: ask for pechuga de pollo, a chickenbreast. If you just ask for pollo, the employee thinks you want a whole chicken.
If you don’t want them to cut the chicken, add entera, a whole. If you want them to cut the chicken breast in cubes, say you want pechuga de pollo troceada. If you want nice thin filets, ask for pechuga de pollo fileteada. It’s free to ask them to cut the chicken.
Value for Money
Hiperdino and Spar have the best value for the money in my opinion. Mercadona is almost always more expensive and quality is not as good as the other players. Sometimes Hiperdino or Spar put the chicken breasts on offer between 3,60€ and 4,50€ /kg for the normal one and the rural chicken around 6,50€.
Free Range Chicken
Are you looking for organic/biological/ecological/free range chicken, check Tierria Mia (Telde), Spar Natural, Zanahoria and El Corte Inglès Supermercado.
It’s also a very good habit to buy a whole chicken breast and slice it yourself. You don’t have to slice it super thin like they do at the counter, also chopping it in pieces around 2-3cms will do and it will taste more juicy. Remember that asking for an employee to cut your chicken is free so if you like the super thin slices and are planning to eat it fast that’s the way to go.
Rural chickens here have a yellowish color which mainly depends on the diet of the animal. In Canary islands and Spain hens are fed with corn, in this way the meat will look yellowish, it will taste better and the eggs they’ll “deploy” will have a very orange color and superior taste. Now you have this little guide on chicken!
