Shredded Chicken

As I mentioned in Tuesday's post, I was planning on posting my "recipe" for making shredded chicken. This is adapted from my high school forensics teacher's recipe. Forensics as in public speaking, not anything science or gore-related!! I would link to the recipe, but it looks like her cooking blog has been taken down. Pam, if you're reading this, let me know if you have a link to it, and I will properly credit you!

Lots of recipes call for shredded chicken. Before I came across Pam's recipe, I would pretty much boil the crap out of a couple chicken breasts since I'm always nervous about not cooking meat completely, and we didn't have a meat thermometer until we received one as a wedding gift last summer. I would then struggle with shredding the chicken breasts since they were so overcooked and dried out. This didn't exactly lead to great tasting meals!

Now that I've changed the way I make shredded chicken, it is much tastier, easier, and more convenient! Shredded chicken is a great way to add protein to a meal without adding a ton of calories. A half cup serving of shredded chicken has 120 calories, 4g of fat, and 12g of protein. This "recipe" yields enough shredded chicken breast for 5+ meals!

Ingredients:

Boneless skinless chicken breast, raw and unfrozen

(I used 14 lbs for my 6 qt slow cooker, but would

recommend something more like 10 lbs)

Onion, sliced

Minced garlic

I always start by trimming most of the visible fat from the breasts.

I didn't include a photo of that, since I'm sure you can figure it out ;)

Place enough chicken breasts in the slow cooker to cover the bottom. Place sliced onion on top, followed by a few spoonfuls of minced garlic.

Repeat another layer.

Repeat a third layer. At this point I should have stopped. I normally stop after three layers, but for some reason this week I was overzealous and did a fourth layer. This led to having to cook for extra hours to ensure the breasts in the top center were thoroughly cooked. It was a pain and not worth the extra chicken I got out of it.

Cover slow cooker.

Cook for 5 or 6 hours on high (depends on the size of your slow cooker and the amount of chicken you have in it). I usually cook for 5 hours when I do three layers.

When the slow cooker is done cooking, remove the breasts into a bowl or a cutting board and shred with a fork. It shreds extremely easily and is so tender and flavorful.

Place in freezer-safe containers and baggies in 2 cup portions

(most recipes call for 2 cups of shredded chicken). Place in freezer.

I got seven 2 cup portions this time, which should last us over a month!

If you choose to make this amount of shredded chicken at once, make sure you will use it within the next few months. If you don't often make recipes that call for shredded chicken, having 10+ cups of shredded chicken in your freezer could go to waste before you get a chance to use it. We like to add it to pasta dishes to add protein and it's great in Mexican dishes and other recipes that call for shredded chicken.

Printable version of recipe.

I move the frozen shredded chicken from the freezer to the refrigerator two days before I need it. It is always thawed and ready to go after two days in the fridge. I help keep track of this by meal planning using the meal planning spreadsheet I created this past February. Here is a link to that spreadsheet so you can download it yourself if you like it! This helps keep me on track and to make sure the meats and other ingredients I need will be thawed and ready to go when needed.

Happy cooking! :)

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