Shredded Chicken

In recent years, making shredded chicken has become almost a weekly thing. I don't do it so much in the summer when we do a lot of grill cooking, but especially in the winter months when the crock pot gets heavy use, I make a lot of chicken in the crock pot.

I take chicken breasts right from the freezer and put them in the crock pot with some kind of liquid and then cook on high for maybe 3 hours and then on to low for another hour or two until we are ready to eat. The liquid can depend on what you plan to use it for, but most of the time, I add some barbecue sauce or some salsa. Other times I just add some seasoning and a little water. In the batch in the photo below, I added about a cup of water and an envelope of fajita seasoning because I knew we would be using it for chicken tacos. There are so many uses for it.

casseroles
soups
sandwiches
salads
nachos
pizza
stir fry
wraps

You can add to so many other dishes to make a meal:

rice
pasta
potatoes
noodles
broccoli
red and green peppers
corn and bean blend

You can incorporate it into a lot of ethnic dishes, like lasagna or enchiladas or chop suey. You can also make a huge batch and freeze small portions for when you're in a hurry on a busy night.

It is probably the most versatile meat there is and cooking it in this method is super easy and cooking it slow really allows it to soak in the flavor. If you're not making this in your usual meal rotation, give it a try and I bet you'll be sold!