Hands down one of my favorite meat recipes

This simple mix of herbs and spices works well combined with a Mexican style dish or with Mediterranean sides. It reheats well, and is easy to make as a large enough batch for several meals throughout the week. A perfect addition to salads, sandwiches or to serve along with some veggies and grains.

Cooking Notes

If you’d prefer to use a whole chicken instead of just breasts, I highly recommend it! Although a bit gamey, the leg meat is much more nutritious. One of my favorite aspects of this recipe is that when you prepare chicken in this way the herbs coat every bite, masking much of that stronger flavor. Buying a whole bird is much more economical too. A whole pasture-raised chicken weighs about 4 pounds and will usually run about $20. When you pull and shred all the meat off the bird you end up with a heap of super nutritious protein. One chicken will usually last me and my husband for 3-4 days worth of dinners and a couple small lunches for me.

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Your whole boiled chicken. It may not be pretty, but experiencing meat in this way really allows gratitude to surface – for the the animal and the life sustaining nutrients it provides your body. I bless and thank every bird.

If you’re boiling a whole bird, just make sure it’s immersed in water and boil for a total of 25-30 minutes. To “pull” the chicken, simply pull apart by hand going with the grain of the meat to achieve nice shreds. This is time consuming, but worth it. Do it with a friend!

Reserve the cooking broth in jars. You should end up with 2-3 quarts. Run jars under hot water first so they don’t crack before filling with hot liquid.

Use a few tables spoons of the brothy water when reheating the meat throughout the week. It’ll keep the meat juicy and flavorful. The remainder can be used to make homemade bone broth with the bones from the whole chicken, or use as is the for other dishes like soups, sauces, grains, sautéed greens, and the like.

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Pulled chicken incorporated into leftovers of a veggie version of my Buckwheat Lentil Mushroom Porridge.

Chipotle Chili Pulled Chicken

Created by Patryce Kinga Bak on May 4, 2016

This dish is HOT. Not like spicy hot, but like mouth watering, “I can hardly believe how delicious this is,” HOT. Make it spicy hot to boot! Serve it Mexican style or with a Mediterranean twist.

Prep Time: 40m
Cook Time: 40m
Total Time: 1h 20m

Serves: 6

Ingredients

3 tablespoons EV Olive oil or Butter
6 Garlic Cloves, minced
2 large Onions, chopped
1/2 tablespoon Chipotle Chili powder
3 tablespoons dried Oregano
1 tablespoon ground Cumin
1 teaspoon Celtic Sea Salt
4 Organic Pasture-Raised Chicken Breasts
2 quarts Filtered Water

Instructions

Bring water to a boil in a large 3+ QT pot.
Wash breasts (or whole chicken). Using tongs, carefully place into boiling water, so that they are submerged. Cover and simmer on medium-high heat for 15 min. (30 min for whole chicken)
Transfer to a plate or large bowl. Place in the fridge or freezer to cool.
While the meat is cooling, chop onions and mince garlic.
Using the same pot you boiled the chicken in, add butter to the pot. Let it heat for a couple minutes. Add onions and salt. Cook until they’re near translucent, about 7 minutes.
Add the garlic, chipotle chili and cumin. Sauté for a 2-3 minutes.
Add 1 cup of broth. Scrape up any bits from the pan with a flat wooden spatula. Let simmer for a 3-5 minutes while you start to pull the chicken. Turn off the heat, cover with lid and continue to pull.
Add the pulled chicken and oregano to the pot. Stir well so that the chicken shreds are completely covered with the herbs and spices.
Add another 1/2 cup of broth, mix and simmer about 7 minutes, until the liquid has been absorbed.