More than 30shredded chicken recipes that willgive you tons of choices for easy weeknight meals. These recipes give you a little bit of everything from your Mexican favorites like shredded chicken tacos and enchiladas, to shredded chicken sandwiches, shredded chicken salads, shredded chicken barbeque, casseroles and everything in between. This will keep your dinner menu full of delicious options!
Shredded chicken makes a great option for getting dinner on the table quick! You can use it to make a meal quick and the variety of things you can make with it is almost limitless! The types of food spans from Mexican, to Asian, to classic American favorites. The bestpart is that many of these recipes can be made in just a few minutes if you already have the chicken on hand, or are a slow cooker set it and forget it to do the hard work while you go about your day. My favorite recipes below have ** by them!
If you love Easy Chicken Dinners as much as I do, make sure to check out my list of the Best Baked Chicken Recipes. Many of my favorite and most popular recipes are included!
How to make shredded chicken
Shredded chicken can be made in almost any way that you preferto make chicken and can be made fresh, bought, or made ahead of time and refrigerated or frozen. You can shred any part of the chicken, but I most often useshredded chicken breast or rotisserie chicken. These are some of my favorite ways to make shredded chicken:
- Oven baked Shredded Chicken: Lay chicken breasts flat on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle each side with salt and pepper. Bake at 375˚F for 20-25 minutes or until cooked throughout.
- Store bought Shredded Chicken: Buy a rotisserie chicken and pull meat off
- Crock Pot Shredded Chicken: Place chicken breast in a crock pot with 1 cup chicken broth and a bay leaf and season with salt and pepper. Cook on low for 6 hours. You can see a recipe for crockpot shredded chicken made with chicken thighs here.
- Boiled shredded chicken- Boil water or chicken broth and boil chicken until done throughout.
- Leftover shredded chicken- If you have leftover from another meal, like fried chicken, you can remove the chicken from the bones and use it as shredded chicken. If the leftovers already have a strong flavor, you may not want to use it as shredded chicken unless it is going into a recipe that has similar flavors.
- Canned shredded chicken- Canned chicken can be used in shredded chicken recipes, but usually this is the least tasty of the options.
Chicken should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165˚F throughout to be safe. Over cooking chicken can cause the chicken to be tough or rubbery. I recommend a simple meat thermometer
to help you get it just right!
How to shred chicken
Once you have the cooked chicken, shredding the chicken is very easy! First make sure that any bones were removed from the chicken then use one of the following methods to shred the chicken:
- Forks– Use two forks pulling the meat apart from each other in opposite directions to shred the meat. Repeat this action until the meat is shredded to your desired consistancy.
- Mixer– If you have a lot of chicken to shred, this can be one of the quickest ways to get it shredded quickly. Roughly chop the chicken breast into large pieces, then place it in the mixer bowl and with the paddle attachment and turn it on to the low. Let it turn until it is shredded then remove the chicken. You can see more instructions on how to shred chicken with a Kitchenaid mixer here.
- Knife– Technically if you are using a knife, you aren’t shredding your chicken, you are chopping it, however, chopped chicken can mostly be used interchangeably with shredded chicken so if you want to do it without getting your hands dirty this might be the method for you.
- Chicken shredding claws– While there are many ways to shred chicken, these meat claws make it insanely easy! You use these in the same way you use forks to shred chicken, however, it is just easier all around because of the design. If you make shredded chicken often it is well worth investing in a pair of these since they are inexpensive and work well.
- Crockpot– Chicken slow cooked will usually be very tender and you can often just stir it with a fork to get the shredded texture you are looking for. if it isn’t quite tender enough to shred by just stirring, you can remove the meat and place it on a cutting board and then use one of the methods above.
30+ Shredded Chicken Recipes
This is more than a month’s worth of easy shredded chicken recipes. Use the above methods to cook and shred the chicken then use it up in any of the ways below. You can even make a big batch to use though out the week or month by freezing it in meal sized portions. My favorite recipes are designated with ** below.
Shredded Chicken Tacos
Many of these taco recipes are made in a crock pot, but you can also stir in similar seasonings to pre-shredded meat to get the same flavors without the crock pot.
- Creamy Shredded Chicken Tacos**
- Crockpot Shredded Chicken Verde Tacos
- Shredded Chicken Street Tacos
- Authentic Shredded Chicken Tacos
- Green Chile Chicken Taquitos
- Shredded Chicken Baked Chicken Tostadas**
Shredded Chicken Sandwiches
Shredded chicken makes a great filling for sandwiches. This can be a cold sandwich like chicken salad, or a hot sandwich like a barbecue chicken sandwich. The heartiness of chicken makes these sandwiches not just a quick lunch option, but also a nice filling choicefor dinner. See the salad section below for all of the chicken salad sandwich options.
- Hawaiian Shredded Chicken Sandwich
- Baked Caprese Subs**
- Shredded Chicken Pesto Caesar Wraps
- Crockpot Shredded Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches
- Hot Shredded Chicken Sandwiches
- Creamy Shredded Taco Chicken Roll Ups
Chicken Salad Recipes
Both green salads and lots of creamy chicken salad recipes are represented on the list below. Use shredded chicken in creamy chicken salads and serve it as a sandwich, on a bed of lettuce, or inside an avocado or tomato.
- Caprese Chicken Salad**
- Loaded Greek Salad(green salad)
- Greek Chicken Salad
- Guacamole Chicken Salad
- Cranberry Almond Chicken Salad**
- SkinnySouthwestern Chicken Salad(green salad)
- Loaded Chicken Salad**
- Barbecue Chicken Salad
- Buffalo Ranch Chicken Salad
- Asian Chicken Salad(green salad)**
- Fajita Chicken Salad
- Ranch Chicken Salad**
Shredded Chicken Pasta Recipes
These pasta recipes are a great hot and filling dinner, made super easy to make with premade shredded chicken. You will be able to get a full meal on the table in no time!
- One Pot Summer Pasta
- Asian Chicken Pasta Salad**
- Greek Chicken Pasta
Other Shredded Chicken Recipes
Last but not least, this list contains some of my favorite recipes for using up shredded chicken. There are many more ways to use shredded chicken besides the categories above. From gourmet nachos to chicken noodle soup, you will find some of the best shredded chicken recipes below.
- BBQ Chicken Casserole
- Crockpot Asian Chicken**
- Barbecue Ranch Chicken Nachos**
- Barbecue Chicken French Bread Pizza**
- Chicken Broccoli Cheddar Crescent Ring
- Chicken and Rice Casserole Recipe**
- Chicken Noodle Soup**
These are some of my favorite shredded chicken recipes and some tried and trues! This should arm you with plenty of easy lunches and dinner for even the busiest days. Use the shredded chicken you have on hand, buy at the store or make up a large batch and freeze to use throughout the month. If you have a go-to shredded chicken recipe that I missed, make sure and leave me a comment below so I can try it out with my family too!
** Designates our family’s personal favorite recipes. These regularly go on our meal rotation!
Shredded Chicken FAQ’s
How do I cook chicken?
To make shredded chicken, you can cook chicken using your favorite method including, baking chicken in the oven, slow cooking chicken in the crock pot, boiling chicken breast, or cooking it in a pressure cooker.
What type of chicken can be shredded?
You can use any cut of meat for shredded chicken including chicken breast, chicken thighs, chicken legs, and chicken wings. Both white meat and dark meat can be combined when shredding chicken.
Where to buy shredded chicken?
If you don’t want to cook chicken yourself, you can buy canned chicken at a local grocery store, or purchase a rotisserie chicken and pull the meat from the bones. Some grocery stores also sell pre-shredded chicken in the deli section.
What to make with shredded chicken?
Any recipe that calls for cooked chicken can use shredded chicken. Great recipe ideas include casseroles, salad, tacos, protein bowls, etc.
