We use it for everything!
Chicken is the best. It’s inexpensive, tastes great when cooked and seasoned properly, and is delicious in about a million main dishes. One of my favorite ways to eat and use chicken is shredded. We use shredded chicken in so many of our recipes, so we’ve rounded up our top tips on how to make it and use it in recipes.
Ingredients
PREP TIME: 5 minutesCOOK TIME: 8 hours
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts – or boneless chicken thighs 2-3 olive oil – adds extra moisture and helps the season stick to the chicken. salt and black pepper – (we also love using garlic pepper or garlic salt with parsley flakes) or season with onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, or Taco Seasoning.
How to Cook Shredded Chicken
There are several different ways to cook chicken. Pretty much any method will work for making shredded chicken (including baked chicken). The two methods I’ve found that produce the most tender, fall-apart, shredded chicken are the oven, the slow cooker and the instant pot. We get busy so our go-to method is the crock pot:
Crockpot Shredded Chicken
Place 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts in the crock pot. Drizzle with 2-3 tablespoons olive oil, and season with salt and black pepper (or add spices for more flavor). Cook on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 3-4.
How to Shred Chicken
There are a few different ways to shred chicken once it’s cooked. The most common ones are the hand method or the fork method.
Place two pounds of chicken breasts in the Instant Pot with 1⁄2 cup of water (or chicken broth or vegetable broth) and your favorite seasonings. Secure the lid and set the Instant Pot to manual for 12 minutes if the chicken is frozen, and 9 minutes if it’s thawed. Once it’s done cooking, let the Instant Pot self-vent for 10 minutes. Then, manually release the remaining pressure in the Instant Pot, open the lid, remove the chicken, and shred.
The hand method is just using your hands to shred the chicken into pieces. Cool the chicken and wash your hands before beginning. The fork method requires two forks. Pull the chicken apart with the forks. This method is a bit faster than the first.
Make sure your chicken is still warm and put it into your stand mixer. Put the flat beater, or paddle attachment on and mix on speed 2 for 30-60 seconds.
It shreds so quickly! You can also use an electric hand mixer at low speed. Recipe Video Recipe Video Recipe Video Recipe Video
