Having All Purpose Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken on hand has saved dinner at our house more than once, best part about it – the homemade chicken broth you make right after!
Raise your hand if dinner time puzzles you more often than not. If you’re someone who looks in the fridge around 5:30 to see what could magically come together and be called a meal, this post is for you. I have found that dinner is more likely to be tasty and not as boring if I do a little bulk cooking ahead of time. I have talked to friends that don’t really get excited about entire meals made in their crock pot, and I get it – sometimes those types of meals tend to taste the same. I tend to use my slow cooker to cook parts of meals – usually the protein, whether it’s pork, beef or chicken. And then pair them with all the rest to make a meal.
A few months back I made basic chicken breast in the crock pot. I use split chicken breast, that’s key because chicken cooked on the bone retains more moisture than when it’s off the bone. And you don’t want to cook this all day, 4 to 5 hours max and it’s ready to shred. When I can buy it on sale, this is such a budget friendly way to make chicken. See the end of this post for all kinds of ways to use shredded chicken.
It’s not over once you deboned the chicken. That’s right, a few more simple steps and you will have homemade chicken broth with very little work on your part. You’ll take the liquid that’s left in the crock pot after you’ve cooked the chicken, add the bones back in along with onion, garlic, carrots, celery and salt & pepper. Fill the crock pot with water and let it cook on low all night. In the morning you will have chicken broth. Told ya it was easy. From there you will strain out any solids and measure into freezer bags or use for cooking within a day or two.
If you’ve never had homemade chicken broth, you are missing out. With broth and shredded chicken in your freezer, you can make chicken noodle soup on a day when you’re not feeling that great without much work. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, this post is about something that isn’t much work 😉
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- 4 lbs. SPLIT CHICKEN BREAST, trimmed of skin and visible fat
- 2 cups WATER
- SALT and PEPPER
- ALL PURPOSE SEASONING*
- Place chicken in crock pot. Season liberally.
- Add water and cover.
- Cook on low for 4-5 hours.
- Remove and cool slightly before pulling from the bones and shredded.
- Use in any recipe that calls for shredded chicken.
*You should get 8-9 cups of shredded chicken.
- BONES FROM ALL PURPOSE SHREDDED CHICKEN
- LARGE ONION, quartered
- 6 cloves of GARLIC, smashed
- 2 CARROTS, cut into 4 inch pieces
- 2 stalks of CELERY, cut into 4 inch pieces
- KOSHER SALT
- PEPPER
- Return bones to the cooking liquid still in the crock pot.
- Add remaining ingredients. Season liberally with salt and pepper.
- Fill with water to about 3 inches from the top of the crock pot.
- Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.
- Strain solids out and measure into freezer bags, I usually do mine in quart size.
- Use as needed.
Recipes using shredded chicken…
Chicken Bacon Ranch Pita Pizza
