Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken

So I don't know about you guys, but I think that life is way too short to take a sandwich to work/school every day. I mean, the bread gets soggy and the deli meat, which is inherently kind of gross anyway, what with being trapped in its plastic prison for who knows how long with all that salt and preservatives and who know what else... I forgot what I was saying. Oh yeah. Sandwiches. Every day. Don't do it.

To save your sandwichless sanity, it really helps if you start to think of paper bag lunches that are comprised of meal components, rather than a complete meal. Like, I've got this brown rice, these leftover roasted veggies, and this chicken -- voila, protein bowl. Or, I've got this sweet potato, some frozen broccoli, and this chicken -- voila, loaded sweet potato. Or, I've got this unopened bag of mixed greens that expired a day ago (I can't be the only person this happens to ALL THE TIME, right?!), this hard boiled egg, and this chicken -- voila, salad. Are you sensing a trend here? It's the chicken, right? But I mean, who has that much chicken laying around? I do. And you will too once you see how ridiculously easy it is to keep your fridge stocked with clean, lean protein.

To be clear, I did not devise of this method myself. There have already been a million and one blogs written about this, but none of them really fit my needs: they used too much chicken (my little family of two does not need eight pounds of chicken breasts at the ready) or too much added liquid, or not enough. So here's what works for us.

Place 4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts in slow cooker. Season each side generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add chicken broth. I make broth from scratch and freeze it, some of it in ice cube trays. Each cube is about 2 tablespoons. I used 5 cubes of broth, which ends up being a scant 2/3 cup of broth.

Cook on low for 6-7 hours until chicken is thoroughly cooked but tender. There will likely be lots of liquid in your slow cooker. Don't worry. That flavorful liquid yumminess will soon be absorbed by the shredded chicken.

Now THIS is the fun part. Because it's, well, fun, and it saves you a TON of time. Turn your hand mixer to low and carefully run it through the tender chicken breasts. If you're anything like me, the first time you attempt this, you will stand there with your mixer in one hand, looking back and forth from it to the chicken, thinking that there's no way on earth this is going to work. But it does. I promise. You can also transfer the chicken to a stand mixer and shred it using the paddle attachment. But this is even easier and dirties less dishes.

Action shot! Bam!

And now you have a few pounds of delicious shredded chicken to use however you please. Salads (Asian Cabbage Salad, Southwestern Chopped Salad), sandwiches, pasta, soup, casseroles, tacos, enchiladas, protein bowls... really, anything you can think of. We usually eat what we can for five days, then stash the leftovers in the freezer to use later.

What ways can you think of to use this shredded chicken? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments!

**Note: I've also made 2 pounds of chicken breasts, with 1/4 broth, cooked on low for 5 hours. So feel free to play around with the amount of chicken and ratio of liquid based off of both methods. It's pretty hard to mess this one up.

Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken

4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Salt and pepper

Scant ⅔ cup chicken broth

Place chicken breasts in slow cooker; season both sides generously with salt and pepper. Add chicken broth. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours.

Carefully shred chicken with hand mixer on low.

Store in fridge for up to 5 days or in freezer for up to 4 months.

 
Make it work for you

First shift: This can easily be done on a day off. It does not need babysitting whatsoever so it's a great option to cook while running errands, cleaning, relaxing, etc. Or you can start it right before going to bed, and shred it as soon as you wake up in the morning (it doesn't even take two minutes), and stick it in the fridge.
Second shift: I got this started after I got home from work, then my husband turned it to warm when he woke up 6 hours later. I shredded it and stored it when I woke up an hour after that. So basically we followed the advice for first shift. It worked really well for us. Of course, your day off is a great option too.
Third shift: Again, you could let this cook while sleeping, or on your day off. Another option is to get it started when you get home from work in the morning, then have your significant other, roommate, kids, whoever, finish it off while you're still sleeping.

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