Semiserious Chefs

I’ll start by saying that this is one of my go-to recipes whenever I need to get rid of any leftover chicken. You know, the kind of chicken that’s been sitting in the fridge for a couple days, just kind of laying low, not causing much of a fuss. The kind of chicken that’s really boring and doesn’t have any barbecue sauce or any teriyaki sauce on it. That’s the perfect chicken for this recipe. But hey, now that I’ve said that, you can just as easily use fresh chicken and boil it until it’s done. The point is, we just need to shred the chicken and let it simmer in a broth full of Mexican style ingredients.

I’m going to assume that most people reading this are proficient in the ‘shredding chicken’ skill. That’s kind of a gamer joke. But it’s a pretty bad one. I thought about posting a YouTube video about shredding chicken or how to shred chicken, but honestly I don’t think any of the videos were that relevant. So instead, I’ll simply write about how you can shred your chicken.

First, you can use a fork to shred the chicken. Just hold it in one hand and shred it with the fork by running the tines across the chicken. Another option, and one that I favor is to duel wield the forks to achieve even better results. Again, another gamer reference. But it seems you can also use a mixer to quickly and easily shred the chicken. For the best results, it looks like you want to hit the chicken with your mixer while it is still warm and juicy. Possibly from being in a slow cooker all day. But I can’t vouch for that method because I’ve never done it that way.

Once the chicken has been shredded, you can put it to good use in a lot of other recipes as well. And I’ll even give you some examples: chicken enchiladas (another one of my favorite recipes that I will be adding to the site soon), chicken salad, chicken noodle soup, barbecue chicken sandwiches, pot pies, broccoli and chicken casserole, chicken and wild rice, buffalo chicken pizza…

I might have borrowed that last idea, but it definitely has me intrigued. Speaking of pizza, since it’s Tuesday I need to feed my starter and make some pizza dough for Friday. Scratch that, we plan on going camping this Friday so homemade pizza this weekend is a no-go. Unless of course, I can figure out some way to cook a pizza over a campfire…

…I’m pretty sure I’m overusing those ellipses eh?

What were we talking about? Oh right, shredded chicken. Drop that chicken in a medium saucepan and fill it with enough water to cover the chicken. I only say to do it this way because I tend to let things sit on the stove and slowly simmer. And liquids start to reduce if you let them boil or simmer for long enough. But if you want the chicken to get done as quickly as possible, then just add less water in addition to less seasoning.

In reality though, you will want to adjust the recipe according to your personal tastes. So I guess it’s more of a taste as you go kind of thing. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned I kind of like spicy things, so I would be inclined to add more chili powder to this recipe than some other people. And of course don’t forget the importance of the crushed red pepper. I don’t have it listed in the ingredients section, but it’s an option for sure.

Two more things while I’m thinking about them. You don’t need to add any corn starch if you don’t want. The sauce will be thin and that’s totally alright. Just use a slotted spoon or some tongs when you scoop the chicken onto the flour tortillas so you don’t drench them. On the other hand, feel free to add more cornstarch than I have listed below. In fact I usually add more than what I have listed here. It thickens the sauce and helps it cling to the chicken better. This adds more flavor in my opinion. Plus it won’t soak the tortilla as much.

If you decide to add cornstarch, you can either thoroughly mix it into the water before you heat it, or if you’ve already heated everything just mix your cornstarch into a little cold water before adding it to the chicken.

Whew, that was a lot of information about cornstarch. I hope it made sense. Anyway, I’ve found that diced green chilis lend themselves extremely well to this dish. And I’m not talking fresh green chilis here, I’m talking about the cheap canned variety. You don’t even need to drain them, just plop the entirety of the can in with everything else and let it all simmer together.

As stated above, mixing the lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and cilantro together prior to constructing your tacos helps speed up the process. And I personally happen to think that it makes the end product look better as well. I don’t know why, just my personal opinion.

And again, more so than many other recipes, the measurements listed in the ingredient section below are only approximations. There’s plenty of room for variation due to the nature of our good friend the taco. Some people might want nothing but meat and cheese while others might prefer all vegetables. So do what you will everyone.

It’s a simple way to use up that chicken you might otherwise have forgotten about. One of my mottos states that, “chicken is way better in a taco than in a trash can. You know, unless of course it’s rotten.” I hope you enjoy the recipe, and please let us know what you think about it in the comments below. In fact, just comment about anything you want. We want to hear from you. And with that, I will say goodbye until next time.