I love eating chicken.
I hate baking and prepping chicken.
It’s a problem, friends, considering eating raw chicken is frowned upon.
Since most of our family’s favorite meals include chicken, I’ve had to overcome my aversion to prepping chicken. So when I learned how to shred chicken using my KitchenAid Mixer, I knew this discovery was going to be life-changing. I’m not sure why the world has been keeping this a secret from me all these years, but the secret’s out now, friends and I am on a mission to spread the news far and wide:
Save your time! Save your sanity! Save yourselves! Shred your chicken using a KitchenAid Mixer!
This cannot be overstated. I promise I am not melodramatic. Like totally.
FYI: The rumor is that a handheld mixer works for this too, but I can neither confirm nor deny this. If you don’t own a KitchenAid, then by all means, give this a try and let us know!
So how do you shred chicken with a KitchenAid?
It’s this easy:
Step 1: Bake the chicken breasts. (I bake mine in the oven at 400 degrees for about 35 – 40 minutes. Be sure to test them with a meat thermometer – they should be about 165 degrees when you are done.)
Step 2: While they are still warm, place them in your KitchenAid Mixer. I usually place about three chicken breasts in at a time.
Step 3: Using the flat beater attachment, turn the mixer on about a 2 setting for about 30 seconds. YES I SAID 30 SECONDS. I’M USING SHOUTY CAPS BECAUSE I CAN’T BELIEVE HOW MUCH TIME I’VE SPENT SHREDDING CHICKEN IN THE PAST WHEN I COULD HAVE SHREDDED IT IN 30 SECONDS! IF ANYTHING EVER WARRANTED SHOUTY CAPS, IT’S THIS!
That’s it. You now have perfectly shredded chicken at the press of a button.
It’s almost too easy. But I’m okay with easy.
So how do I cut Meal Prep Time in half with a KitchenAid Mixer as I’ve so boldly declared above?
As I mentioned, many of my family’s favorite meals include shredded or chopped chicken. I will refrain from further use of shouty caps, but do you realize how much time I’ve spent prepping chicken as a result? A lot.
I was recently struck with the idea that having pre-baked shredded chicken in the freezer would cut in half the amount of time I spend preparing these dishes. So in one 30 minute time period, I baked up enough chicken for five of our favorite dishes, shredded it up IN 30 SECONDS (ahem) and separated it into multiple Tupperware containers. Then I popped them in our chest freezer.
Let’s do the math. That makes FOUR meals that I am not prepping, baking or shredding chicken. PLUS it only took me 30 minutes to prep all five meals!
The brilliance of this is blinding me.
For those of you who have been doing this for years, I first virtually high five you for being so very smart and then I give you a wet willy for NOT TELLING ME ABOUT IT SOONER! (Lovingly, of course.)
Note: I recommend letting the chicken cool down before placing it in the freezer. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to place it in a freezer bag or to even use a FoodSaver to protect from freezer burn. Cooked chicken doesn’t last as long in the freezer as raw chicken because it lacks as much moisture. It is recommended that you use it within a month or two. Another trick is to freeze it in broth to protect it.
Also – lest you think that I am An Expert of All That Pertains to Freezer Cooking – I just googled these tips. Just keeping it real, friends.
I discovered that since the chicken is shredded, it thawed rather quickly. I just pulled mine out of the freezer the night before and it was ready to go the next day after being in the fridge overnight.
In case you are wondering, here are just a few of the dishes that I plan to make with my shredded chicken.
- Southwestern White Chili
- Chicken Turnovers
- Chicken Enchiladas
- Chicken Taco Salad
- Chicken Noodle Soup
How about you? What meals that use shredded chicken do you enjoy? Is this tip as life-changing for you as it is for me?
I can confirm that a hand held electric mixer works too.
Good to know, Amy. Thanks!
Will this work for shredding pork, like for bbq?
Yes, Barbara – it should work great!
Works great to smash up veggies too like sweet potatoes mashed potatoes carrots turnips
I love doing my chicken this way! I buy my chicken from Zaycon 3 times a year in a 40 lb box. Prepping 40 pounds of chicken in one day is time consuming, so this shredding trick has saved me soooo much time! I don’t cook all of it, but I do dice some for fajitas, butterfly a bunch for grilling, and cut a bunch into strips. The 10 or so lb that I cook and shred gets used in soups, pesto chicken shells, BBQ chicken sliders, chicken & white bean ranch tacos, & Vietnamese summer rolls.
All great tips here! I love using the paddle attachment to shred chicken!
Although I have need of it less often, the same method works when you want to quickly shred a beef or pork roast as well.
The trick with any of these meats is to shred while it is still hot! The longer you mix it the finer it gets and too long will have you end up with mush – which is what happened when I asked DH to shred a beef roast once and failed to warn him 🙁
Another tip – I wrap a clean dishtowel over the top of the bowl while shredding the meats. It prevents the hot little bits of meat from flying out of the bowl and/or or onto YOU! Not fun!
I just stop and check under the towel every handful of seconds until I’m happy with the end result.
Kitchen Aid attachments are awesome and I have the grinder/sieve attachment and love it for making applesauce, grinding ham to make ham salad, etc. Making bread is another favorite!
I put all my stuff for meat loaf in my mixer bowl and mix it all up. No time at all. then I just form it in the pan and bake it.
I use my Kitchenaid for lots of good stuff. I particularly LOVE the grinder attachment. Mine is about 25 years old and I’ve heard that the new ones are having some issues with metal shavings–no clue if it’s true or not but a friend bought hers on eBay so she could get an older one. At any rate, I’ve never bought bread crumbs–cut stale bread in little sticks, let it dry one a cookie sheet and a cold oven, shove them through the grinder. When I’m making meatloaf I grind up the bread crumbs first, then pull out however many I won’t need for the meatloaf, then grind up an onion and a carrot to mix with the burger. Works great. I also make a mean zucchini pickle relish and I grind up 14 cups of zucchini and 4 cups of onions in no time at all. Not so much fun to do it any other way. Since I broke my wrist I can’t knead bread dough very well. Do you know how little it costs to make your own bread? (Especially if you buy bulk yeast at Costco or the like.) The dough hook saves the day. Finally, when I get bacon ends and pieces I put them through the grinder and end up with fresh bacon bits–sort of. It’s great!
This is how I do my chicken for chicken salad and barbecue chicken sandwiches, too.
Had doubts at first that this would work but tried it this morning and it really worked.. thanks!!
I also par boil chicken and make homemade chicken noodle soup with the broth.
Sounds yummy, Tina!
Wow, this is exciting! I was just shredding some chicken by hand the other day. This tip will save me from lots of fork-poked fingers! I just told my mom and she got excited too. So thanks for sharing! Now, what are these chicken turnovers you mentioned? Sounds yummy…
Yes – your fingers will thank you, Shannon. 🙂 And I plan to share the Chicken Turnovers recipe soon! It’s one of our faves.