Kneady Sweetie: Simple Shredded Chicken

I was having lunch with a good friend of mine the other day and she let me in on a little trick. I thought this trick to be ingenious therefore I decided I must share it with all of you! This trick is all about making your life easier when it comes to chicken.

For a while now I have been cooking chicken in my crock pot in large batches, then shredding it, then putting it in freezer bags and freezing it in 1-2 lb increments. That way whenever a recipe calls for chicken I can just pull some out and either let it thaw on the counter, in the fridge, in the microwave, or on the stove. It all depends on how much of a hurry I am in. I have loved doing this. It saves me a ton of time when I am in a hurry to get dinner on the table.

Now for the new trick. Every time I make a big batch of chicken the part I don't enjoy (the rest is super easy) is actually shredding the chicken. I have been shredding it just with two forks one piece at a time. Well my friend told me that all you have to do is take the cooked chicken, place it in your kitchen aid mixer bowl with the flat blade attached and turn it on. The kitchen aid mixer will do all the grunt work for you. She fed me some of her chicken, and it was shredded perfectly. I obviously had to try this little tactic out. Well I'm happy to report that I tried it, and it works! My life has just been made easier.

Simple Shredded Chicken

6-8 chicken breasts
2-3 cups chicken stock or broth

Place chicken breasts in your crock pot. Pour chicken stock or chicken broth over the chicken. It doesn't have to cover the chicken completely. Cover with lid. Turn the crock pot on low. Allow to cook for 6-8 hrs or until chicken is done. My crock pot cooks hot and even on low it cooks in about 4 hours. Once chicken is cooked remove chicken (save the leftover broth for later) from crock pot and place in kitchen aid mixer bowl with flat blade or paddle attached. Turn your mixer on low speed and watch the magic happen. Once your chicken is shredded to your liking add back in a small about of the broth that the chicken was cooked in. I have found that this helps the chicken not be dry when reheating. If you are using the chicken immediately then this step isn't necessary.

I have used my shredded chicken an all of these recipes: