Nutrition Diet: What brand of chicken is kosher?

November 10, 2025 •

4 min read

According to the Orthodox Union, the world's largest kosher certification agency, kosher regulations for poultry ensure strict standards of quality and purity. Choosing what brand of chicken is kosher? goes beyond religious observance for many, aligning with diet and nutrition goals through rigorous inspection and processing standards.

Quick Summary

This guide covers popular kosher chicken brands, outlines the stringent certification process, and explains how kosher poultry can support a healthy and conscious eating plan.

Key Points

Top Kosher Brands: Reputable kosher chicken brands include Empire Kosher, KJ Poultry, and KOL Foods, each offering unique benefits for different consumer needs.
Strict Certification: Kosher certification involves a rigorous process (kashrut), including humane slaughter (shechitah), thorough inspection, and specific preparation to ensure purity.
Health and Nutrition: Many kosher chicken options, such as lean cuts from KJ Poultry, are high in protein and often produced without antibiotics or added hormones, aligning with healthy diet plans.
Look for the Hechsher: To verify a product is kosher, always check the packaging for a hechsher, a symbol of rabbinic certification, such as the one from the Orthodox Union.
Ethical Choices: Certain kosher brands, like KOL Foods, emphasize ethical raising practices, offering pasture-raised heritage chicken that supports animal welfare and delivers enhanced flavor.
Wide Availability: While some brands are specialty items, major names like Empire Kosher are available in most national and regional supermarkets, making kosher options accessible to a broad audience.

The search for high-quality, ethically produced poultry often leads health-conscious consumers to explore kosher options. Kosher certification, or kashrut, involves a meticulous process that begins with the chicken's life and extends to its slaughter and preparation. For those following Jewish dietary laws, this is a non-negotiable requirement, but for many others, it represents an added layer of quality assurance.

Understanding Kosher Certification

For poultry to be certified kosher, it must adhere to strict guidelines outlined in Jewish law. The process is overseen by rabbis and trained kosher supervisors (mashgichim). It includes several key stages:

Slaughter: The chicken must be slaughtered by a specially trained Jewish ritual slaughterer, known as a shochet, using a quick, sharp knife. This method, known as shechitah, is intended to be painless and humane.
Inspection: After slaughter, the chicken is inspected for any signs of disease or defects that would render it non-kosher, such as torn organs or broken bones. This process ensures the health of the animal meets the highest standards.
Soaking and Salting: To remove any remaining blood, a process called melihah, the chicken is soaked in cold water and then covered in coarse salt for a specific amount of time. It is then rinsed thoroughly to remove the salt.
Supervision: A kosher certification agency, represented by a mashgiach, supervises the entire process, from slaughter to packaging, to ensure no cross-contamination with non-kosher products occurs.

Top Brands for Kosher Chicken

Numerous brands cater to the kosher market, offering a variety of products for different needs and preferences. Some of the most widely available and respected include:

Empire Kosher®: As one of the largest producers of kosher poultry in the United States, Empire offers a full line of chicken and turkey products, including fresh, frozen, deli, and fully cooked options. They are committed to sustainable farming and raising their poultry without antibiotics, added hormones, or artificial ingredients. Their products are available in many mainstream grocery stores and online retailers.
KJ Poultry: This brand is known for its high-quality products and readiness to meet the strictest standards of kashrut. KJ Poultry offers a variety of chicken products, including boneless skinless chicken breasts noted for their nutritional value. They also provide convenient, shelf-stable, ready-to-eat meals.
KOL Foods: For consumers seeking higher animal welfare standards, KOL Foods offers kosher heritage chicken that is pasture-raised and forages outdoors. These birds are celebrated for their rich flavor and represent a more ethical, sustainable choice within the kosher market.
Groward Group: An international food producer, Groward Group supplies kosher chicken products, particularly in Western Europe, with all processes supervised by rabbis.
David Elliot Poultry Farm: Known for its quality for over 75 years, David Elliot Poultry Farm raises its chickens on family farms and feeds them a healthy, nutritious cereal blend. Their products are often distributed through specialty kosher food providers.

Comparison of Key Kosher Chicken Brands


Feature	Empire Kosher	KJ Poultry	KOL Foods
Availability	Wide (US & Canada)	Moderate (kosher markets, online)	Limited (online, specialty stores)
Product Range	Fresh, frozen, deli, ready-to-eat	Fresh, frozen, ready-to-eat meals	Pasture-raised fresh & frozen
Key Quality	No antibiotics, added hormones, or artificial ingredients	Strict kashrus standards, convenient ready-to-eat options	High animal welfare, pasture-raised, rich flavor
Raising Practices	Family farms, proprietary vegetarian feed	Standard raising with strict supervision	Pasture-raised, foragers
Best For	Everyday use, wide availability	Convenience, stringent kashrut	Ethical sourcing, enhanced flavor

Nutritional Profile and Ethical Considerations

Choosing kosher chicken is often about more than just religious adherence; it also aligns with certain nutritional and ethical dietary principles.

High Protein, Low Fat: Lean cuts of chicken, such as the boneless, skinless breasts offered by brands like KJ Poultry, are an excellent source of high-quality protein with relatively low fat content. This is a cornerstone of many healthy eating plans.
No Antibiotics or Hormones: Many kosher poultry brands, including Empire Kosher, explicitly state that their chickens are raised without antibiotics and that no growth hormones are used, which is prohibited by federal regulations. This appeals to consumers who prefer more natural, less-processed foods.
Enhanced Flavor and Texture: The focus on quality and humane treatment in some brands, like KOL Foods' pasture-raised heritage chickens, can result in meat with a more complex flavor and firmer texture compared to conventionally raised poultry.
Humane Treatment: Brands like Empire Kosher and KOL Foods emphasize humane treatment, which resonates with consumers interested in animal welfare.

How to Identify Kosher Chicken

To ensure a product is genuinely kosher, look for a hechsher, a kosher certification symbol, on the packaging. These symbols are issued by rabbinic organizations that oversee the production process. Common symbols include:

A 'U' inside a circle (Orthodox Union)
A 'K' inside a star (OK Kosher Certification)
Other variations indicating certification from recognized agencies

Always check the specific symbol and be familiar with the certifying body if you have particular standards, such as the preference for Glatt Kosher (often indicated) among some communities.

Conclusion: Finding the Right Kosher Brand for Your Diet

Identifying what brand of chicken is kosher? is a crucial step for those adhering to kashrut, but the benefits extend to anyone seeking high-quality, conscientiously produced meat. Brands like Empire Kosher and KJ Poultry provide reliable, widely available options, while specialty brands like KOL Foods cater to specific ethical and culinary preferences. By examining certification symbols and understanding brand practices, consumers can make informed choices that satisfy both religious requirements and nutritional diet goals, ensuring a healthy and thoughtful approach to their meals.

For more information on the specifics of kosher dietary laws, visit the Orthodox Union website.

Frequently Asked Questions

Chicken is made kosher by being slaughtered by a shochet (trained ritual slaughterer), rigorously inspected for defects, and then soaked and salted to remove any blood, all under the supervision of a rabbinic authority.

While the kosher process itself is not a health claim, the strict supervision and inspection can mean higher quality control. Additionally, many kosher brands like Empire Kosher are also raised without antibiotics and hormones, which some consumers prefer for health reasons.

You can find major kosher brands like Empire Kosher in many mainstream grocery stores, including Trader Joe's, Safeway, and Costco. Specialty kosher markets, online retailers, and stores in areas with larger Jewish populations may carry a wider selection, including smaller or specialty brands.

Glatt kosher refers to a stricter standard of kosher certification, primarily for meat. While all poultry can be considered 'glatt' in some interpretations, it most commonly refers to a higher level of inspection for red meat, though some poultry companies, like KOL Foods, explicitly label their products as glatt kosher.

It depends on the brand. Some kosher brands, like KOL Foods, focus on heritage, pasture-raised chickens with specific feeding protocols. Others, like Empire Kosher, use a proprietary vegetarian feed and prohibit antibiotics, while still other kosher products might be raised in a manner similar to conventional chickens, with the key difference being the slaughter and certification process.

Many people find that kosher chicken, particularly from brands that emphasize ethical raising or pasture-raised methods, has a more robust flavor and firmer texture due to factors like diet and activity level. The salting process inherent in kosher preparation also contributes to a pre-seasoned quality.

No, Jewish dietary law strictly forbids mixing meat and dairy products. This extends to serving them at the same meal, and requires separate utensils and cooking equipment for each. For chicken to remain kosher, it cannot be cooked or consumed with dairy.