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Welcome back to another prep day lesson!
Last week we started the hands-on food part of this series with a leafy green discussion. Did you prep any leafy greens last week using my simple storage method? I hope you found the method and act of prepping food in advance to be incredibly helpful.
Now it’s time to turn our focus from produce (we will revisit vegetables and fruit later on) and talk about chicken!
One of my favorite foods to prep in advance is shredded chicken. Cooking a whole chicken and then shredding the meat in advance helps me save money and quickly prepare meals throughout the week. The act of cooking meat takes time (defrosting, cooking, cutting/shredding); a valuable commodity that’s often limited on busy weekdays. Thankfully, there are ways to prep meat advance without spending hours in the kitchen. Let’s talk about my favorite method for prepping shredded chicken in advance: the crock-pot!
Before I share my crock-pot method, let’s focus on the main reasons why you should think about making shredded chicken during your prep time. After all, if you’re going to include a task on your prep day printable or mental plan, it must help maximize your time throughout the week (AKA: it better be important!).
Why You Should Prep Easy Crock-Pot Shredded Chicken in Advance
1. Budget-Friendly Lunchmeat:
A whole chicken is always a money-saving investment. While a whole pastured chicken (from chickens able to roam the land and eat bugs) may appear to be more expensive than a couple of breasts, in the end a whole chicken will yield twice as much meat.
Shredded chicken is great to use for lunchmeat. Instead of purchasing sliced deli chicken at $9 per pound, cook a whole chicken in the crock-pot and shred the meat. The shredded meat may be used to make multiple sandwiches, dinners, salads and casseroles throughout the week for a fraction of the cost. I realize making your own lunchmeat sounds time consuming, but it’s not! Today I’ll show you exactly how to prepare lunchmeat (AKA: shredded chicken) in advance with very little hands-on time.
Note: I still purchase lunchmeat on occasion (particularly Applegate or Whole Foods’ house-made lunchmeat). I save this expense for special occasions.
2. Quick and Easy Meals:
Chicken will last for 4-5 days in the fridge, which makes it the perfect meat to cook and shred in advance for quick and easy meals. My go-to meals using home-cooked shredded chicken include: Chicken and Rice, 30-Minute Chicken and Black Bean Nachos, Deli-Style Chicken Salad, Probiotic Chicken Caesar Salad (use the shredded chicken instead of the chicken thighs), tacos, quesadillas, Creamy Chicken Quinoa and Broccoli Casserole (I use the shredded chicken instead of cooking the breasts in the casserole), Mac, Chicken and Cheese Bites, and soups and easy salads.
3. No Hands-On Time:
While I love roasting a whole chicken, the roasting method requires extra prep and cooking time. So when it comes to prepping shredded chicken in advance, I take a super easy approach using the crock-pot. The crock-pot requires zero baby-sitting, unlike the oven, and produces moist chicken meat every single time.
No baby-sitting? Very little hands-on time? Super moist chicken?
OH YEAH! Sign me up.
4. It’s All About the Broth:
Once the chicken meat has been removed from the crock-pot, simply fill the base with water and a few vegetables. Water + vegetables + chicken bones = AMAZING HOMEMADE BROTH! Turn the crock-pot on and walk away. That’s it!
By spending a few minutes of prep time cooking a whole chicken in the crock-pot, you can make shredded meat to use throughout the week and nearly a dozen cups of homemade chicken broth. Now that’s a prep time win!
How to Make Easy Crock-Pot Shredded Chicken Using a Whole Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 3-3 1/2 lb whole chicken giblets removed from the cavity
- 1 yellow onion halved
- 2 celery stalks halved
- 6-8 TB butter cubed
- salt and pepper
- crock-pot
- stand-mixer
Instructions
- In the base of a crock-pot, place the whole chicken. Place the butter cubes inside the chicken and between the chicken skin and meat near the breasts. The butter will keep the chicken moist and tender.
- Stuff the chicken cavity (the inside) with the onion and celery stalks. Note: Place the onion and celery stalks around the outside of the chicken if they don't fit inside the cavity.
- Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.
- Cook the chicken on high for 4-5 hours in the crock-pot, until the chicken is tender and falling off the bone.
Notes
Nutrition
More Practical Tips
1. Use Your Freezer:
Freezing cooked meat is the perfect way to “cook once, eat twice.” Freeze half the shredded chicken for future homemade convenience meals. Frozen, cooked meat usually lasts about 3 months in the freezer.
2. Create a Meal Plan:
Dedicating 1-2 hours to food prep each week is incredibly valuable, but if you don’t have a plan for using the food you may find your prep work was a complete waste of time. Trust me, I’ve learned this lesson way too many times. Since meat is “fragile” it’s important to have a plan of action. Write down on your meal plan exactly how you plan to use the shredded chicken. For example:
Monday Lunch: Chicken Salad Sandwiches (shredded chicken)
Wednesday Dinner: 30-Minute Chicken and Black Bean Nachos (shredded chicken)
Friday Lunch: Chicken Noodle Soup (shredded chicken)
This week, your homework is to create a meal plan, go shopping for the food you’ll need to implement the meal plan, set aside a specific day/time for prep time, and then print and fill out thePrep Day Action Plan printable. Focus on five foods you can prep this week based on your meal plan and schedule: washing and storing greens, cooking and shredding chicken, making rice, baking muffins, etc.
Next week we’ll work on a new prep day activity. We’re going from chicken to baked goods.
More Real Food You May Like:
Prep Day: Why, What, and How To of Preparing Real Food in Advance
How to Wash & Store Lettuce, Kale, Spinach and Other Leafy Greens in Advance
This worked out perfectly, thank you! I processed several roosters about a month ago and this was my first time cooking one of them. I used your recipe and the meat just fell off the bones and was so easy to shred! I will definitely be using this method for the rest of the birds in my freezer when I am making recipes with them. I have the bones in my crockpot now with the juices and some veggies to make broth for later use. Thanks so much!
That’s awesome, Deanna!
This is the best recipe I have found for chicken in the slow cooker. And the tip for using your stand mixer to shred it is so good! It worked perfectly. All of your tips and suggestions are great, thank you for sharing.
So happy to hear you’re enjoying this recipe, Imsen! Thank you for leaving a review.
Love prepping cooked chicken this way. My questions have to do with the leftover broth. I strained it and refrigerated it. Next day I removed the fat layer off the top, but the leftover juices are also pretty congealed. Do you just heat it up and use it straight? Or do you also thin it with more water and add veggies to make it thinner and more broth like? What veggies do you add?
How long would you do this in instapot?
This recipe won’t work (you’ll need 1 cup of liquid), but this one will: https://livesimply.me/instant-pot-whole-chicken/
Perfect thank you!
I found your page a few weeks ago and it gave me hope as I am about to have major surgery and have to make sure that I cook at least 40 dinners, plus at least a few other meals to keep my family and I fed real food as no one can heal eating frozen pizza.
I cooked five chickens today, small patured ones between three and 3 and a half pounds each.
I spent a couple of hours picking out bones. I plan to make soup, the stock is strained.
I am a little bit overwhelmed now. I got ahead of myself and don’t know what will be making.
To make it worse, I have been trying to cooj everything in bulk, last night my family ate 9 pounds of chicken Franchese, they are chickened out right now at least.
We eat very close to Westin Price. I need some compatible sauces tp add, need to pair grains to sprout and freeze with the chicken, and my girls will help add vegetables from weekly CSA so am trying to leave out majority of those >nstead of having to freeze them. That way we can eat what’s in season but it’s tricky trying to line up meals with the timing vegetables will grow locally.
I know freezing kills some nutrients, I don’t have a microwave so planning is very important.
I will make as many meals as I can but would be grateful for any tips you’re able to provide.
Thank you so much
That’s so great, Kim. I’m so glad you’re enjoying the recipes on the blog.
I made spatchcock chicken last week and it was so easy and delicious! Our butcher even “spatchcocked” it for me – although, he did look at me like I was crazy when I asked, haha! Thanks for sharing this method/recipe!
Hi Kristin! I made this chicken for the first time yesterday – so easy, tender, and flavorful! My only question is this: how do you remove alllllllll the tiny bones (ribs, vertebrae, etc.)? We have a toddler, so I very carefully worked through all the meat to remove the bones and it was super time consuming. Also, because the meat was so tender, it ended up being more like ground chicken instead of shredded since I handled it so much. Any advice?
Hey Jenn, I’m so glad you enjoyed the chicken. Yes, that’s the con of making a whole chicken in the slow cooker. You could try cooking the chicken for a shorter time if the bird is slightly smaller. Maybe check on the slow cooker (if you’re around) an hour earlier to see how the chicken is coming along. Another favorite and super fast method that I love, which doesn’t have the same issue is spatchcock chicken: https://livesimply.me/2017/11/01/best-quickest-way-to-cook-a-whole-chicken-spatchcock-method/
I found your page a few weeks ago and it gave me hope as I am about to have major surgery and have to make sure that I cook at least 40 dinners, plus at least a few other meals to keep my family and I fed real food as no one can heal eating frozen pizza.
I cooked five chickens today, small patured ones between three and 3 and a half pounds each.
I spent a couple of hours picking out bones. I plan to make soup, the stock is strained.
I am a little bit overwhelmed now.
We eat very close to Westin Price. I need some compatible sauces tp add, need to pair grains to sprout and freeze with the chicken, and my girls will help add vegetables from weekly CSA so am trying to leave out majority of those >nstead of having to freeze them. That way we can eat what’s in season but it’s tricky trying to line up meals with the timing vegetables will grow locally.
I know freezing kills some nutrients, I don’t have a microwave so planning is very important.
I will make as many meals as I can but would be grateful for any tips you’re able to provide.
Thank you so much
This is excellent info – thanks Kristin! I plan to do this in the next week or two. I often make my own broth anyway, and this is a great way to accomplish two things at once.
Thank you, TC! I think you’ll love this method!
At what setting and for how long do you use on the crock pot for the broth?
Hey Kara, I use the high setting for about 12 hours.
Thanks for the clarification! I was curious also:)
I’m slow-cooking a citrus-brined and then citrus-marinated, whole bird today. Enchiladas are on the menu for tomorrow! I always prefer to make my own stock, so this helped. Why I’ve never thought to keep it in the crockpot before is beyond me….
Haha.
Cheers! 🙂
Hi Kristen,
I am fixin to make the chicken tomorrow and it’s just before payday so funds are short. I don’t have any onions or celery but i have lots of spices, can I use onion powder or celery salt in place of the fresh onions and celery? I am new to cooking as well. Thank you for your time.
Hey Jennifer, Yep, you can use any spices. I suggest mixing them in a small bowl first and then rubbing them over the chicken. I’d probably go easy on the celery salt, or use it in place of regular salt. You can also skip the spices, and the chicken will still be delicious :).
So, I have a question. I just cooked my first whole chicken ever, and first time in the crock pot. I know you use the bones to make broth, but what do you do with the leftover juices from cooking the chicken? Any advice you can give would be great, I’m really new to cooking in general.
Hey Rachel, Congrats, that’s awesome! I generally just leave the juices in the crock-pot (or transfer them to the crock-pot) along with the bones for making broth. Sometimes, I’ll save the juice and add it to rice later in the week, or use it to saute veggies.
Hi, made this yesterday and now I’m straining the broth. How do you store/freeze the broth?
Hey Susan, I freeze homemade broth in freezer-safe mason jars (they are wide-mouth and usually say “freezer safe” on the package), ziploc baggies, or ice cube trays (then dump the “ice cubes” in a bag). If I’m going to use the broth within a week, I keep it in the fridge.
Kristin,
Am trying this method for the first time. Are you supposed to leave the skin on when you shred it?
Thanks!
Hey Veronika, That’s up to you, but I like to leave the skin on. The skin adds so much great flavor to the chicken.
Yum! I just made this. I think you forgot to list water as one of the ingredients.
Hey Grace, Awesome! I’m so glad you like it. No water is needed when you use a whole chicken and butter in the crockpot :). There should be a lot of juices at the bottom of the crock-pot by the time the chicken is done cooking. Sometimes I pour the juice over the shredded chicken for extra flavor.
I wanted to make this for chicken enchiladas, can I just add the enchilada sauce to the crock pot for the duration of the cook time?
Hey Kristina, I would remove the shredded and cooked chicken from the crock-pot to a separate bowl, and then mix in the enchilada sauce.