Crock-Pot Shredded Chicken

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Originally posted April 2017, Updated August 2020

Yeah, I know. You want to eat healthy but it’s so much easier to go through the drive through. After all, who has time to cook?

What if I told you that you could have dinner on the table in less than 15 minutes? How about less than 10? 5? Would you be more willing to cook at home then? Thought so.

Over the years I’ve found that having an easily usable protein source ready to go is the key to being able to whip up dinner in minutes because often that’s the part of the meal that takes the longest to cook.  My go-to sources are eggs, shrimp, and chicken. Of course there are other quick sources too (canned and ground meats, high quality meal replacements, etc.), but like I said before, my go-to sources are eggs, shrimp, and chicken.

Chicken? Really Erin? There is nothing quick about chicken.

Oh contraire, my friend. And the best part, you don’t even have to plan too far in advance (although meal planning and prep is KEY to reaching your health and fitness goals)! Chicken is one of the easiest things you can do… especially if you have a slow or pressure cooker (If you haven’t figured it out by now, I *heart* my Crock Pot, and I’m gradually learning the ways of the pressure cooker).  By slow cooking 1-2 pounds of chicken at the beginning of the week (or whenever meal prep fits best into your schedule), you’ll have cooked/shredded chicken on hand for a plethora of meals.  You can throw it in salads, lettuce wraps, tacos, and eggs.  You can easily make enchiladas, zucchini pastas, or even a healthy chicken salad.  Oh, and you can also eat it just the way it is.

The “easiest” and “quickest” way to do this is in the recipe below. But I put easy and quick in quotations, because honestly, there are tons of variations that are just as easy and just as quick. The key is to having the right ingredients on hand.

Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken

2 lbs chicken breasts
1 cup bone broth* (or see variation below)

  1. Place all ingredients into your crockpot and cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours or LOW for 5-6 hours.
    (BONUS!!! You can also use frozen chicken, but if you do that, you’ll need to cook bit longer)

  2. Drain liquid and chicken residue.

  3. Shred chicken with forks. Season or store for desired dishes!

Don’t worry about having exact mesurements. If either the chicken or liquid is a litle more or less in the slow cooker, that’s fine! However, you want at least most of the chicken to be covered in the liquied. You can also easily cut this recipe in half if you don’t need as much chicken… but even when I was living alone, I tended to do a lot at once because it’s so dang easy!

*Hint: Keep some high quality bone broth on hand easily with one a concentrate or powder! I always have Organic Kitchen Accomplice in both chicken and beef on hand (I get it at my local store), and I also love LonoLife’s Thai Curry Beef Bone Broth.

Variations: Instead of using bone broth you can use almost any other liquid. Some ideas include:

  • Water (yes, really- it can be that easy)

  • Salsa

  • Pepperoncini (from jar, with liquid)

  • Hot Sauce (buffalo chicken anyone?)

  • Bud Light Lime (not my personal favorite, but I know people who like it for their Mexican dishes)

  • Stock/Broth (I prefer to use bone broth as in the recipe above becasue store-bought stock is often high in sodium, but it will give you more flavor than just water alone)

You can also season the chicken ahead of time however you like. However, I like keeping it simple by using chicken bone broth because leaving it "plain" gives me more options and I can season (or sauce) the chicken as I want to use it.

So what do you think? Ridiulously easy, right?  Are you going to try it?