Monday, September 17, 2012

The Best Shredded Chicken


Remember this post?  Well if you do, think of this post as a reminder to make this tasty chicken.  If you missed this one, you can thank me for the repost after you've made this tasty & EASY dish!

It doesn't get any easier than this tasty Mexican style shredded chicken! On a hot day there's nothing better than coming home to a dinner that it practically done. Hot, delicious & no need to turn on the oven! How so? The crockpot! Most of the time we tend to only pull out the crock pot during the cold winter months... but warm days are perfect for your slow cooker, since it doesn't heat up the kitchen. And with the beautiful weather outside, anything that minimizes the time spent in the kitchen preparing dinner is a friend of mine!

I decided to pull this together for Football Sunday dinner with some friends.  In the morning, I threw all my ingredients in the crockpot... then we went about our busy day.  Came home that afternoon and the house smelled great! A few quick steps at that point and dinner was on the table no time.

Simple Shredded Chicken
(This can easily be doubled - this amount fed 4 of us with leftovers)
3 to 4 chicken breasts (mine were frozen)
1 jar of salsa
1 beer
desired seasonings (optional)

Combine all ingredients in crock pot. I chose a medium heat salsa that happened to be on sale.  In the past I've used one w/ black beans and corn.  Any salsa will do.  For the seasonings I went with a couple tsp of my homemade taco seasoning, fresh ground pepper, garlic, and some sriracha for a little extra kick. The lid went on & I set it to low for 8 hours, since that's when we would be ready for dinner.  You can certainly put it on high for 6 hours with great results as well.

When I got home, I removed the chicken from the crock pot and dropped them into my Kitchen Aid mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mixed for a few seconds and had perfectly shredded chicken.  (So easy this way!  no need to stand there with 2 forks shredding, or burning your fingers.)

Return chicken to crock pot and and all those yummy juices while you prepare whatever it is you'd like to use this yummy filler for! We had chicken tacos & burritos. I warmed some tortillas, shredded some cabbage and whipped up some smashed black beans and Mexican rice. Served with desired toppings and we had a fantastic meal! Enjoy!

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