Shredded chicken in slow cooker

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Lovex4

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Aug 19, 2012
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Staten island, ny
I made this today for hubby to take for lunch tomorrow, and for the kids to have a fun dinner tomorrow, there's something about sandwiches for dinner that makes them not give me a hard time eating

I had only 4 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
So I threw them in the crock pot, added 2 cans of root beer
Cooked them on high about 3 hrs...took the chicken out shredded it...(easily) added one bottle of BBQ sauce and another can of root beer whisked it together and added the Chicken back in just to get the flavor of the sauce...that's it!!! Try it, it was delicious
 
I forget to mention when I took the chicken out to shred it, I discarded the root beer the chicken was cooked in and put in one bottle of BBQ sauce and a new one can of root beer
 
Sounds good! Something about root beer and slow cookers, they really go together. Regular Coke is nice to cook with too.
 
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Boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked in a crock pot like that will be totally dried out. After its cooked through, the continued cooking time does nothing more than draw all the juices out of the meat which then disintegrates.

And all the chicken flavor from the juices was in the cooking liquid you discarded.
 
jennyema said:
Boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked in a crock pot like that will be totally dried out. After its cooked through, the continued cooking time does nothing more than draw all the juices out of the meat which then disintegrates.

And all the chicken flavor from the juices was in the cooking liquid you discarded.

Actually it wasn't dried out at all, I usually don't use boneless for that reason, and I know that putting it back in with the sauce would normally dry it out more, and I know that I discarded the juice from the chicken...my point was that while boneless, and with discarding the juices it was cooked in, it was actually really delicious and sometimes if all you have in boneless, skinless...and not really in the mood for just fired or baked breaded chicken cutlets...this is a really great recipe...by all means cook it however you want lol that is the beauty of cooking after all...
All I had was chicken cutlet....and I was also looking for something different I could give to my husband for lunch instead of just the plain old breaded chicken....he loved it!!!
 
I've done lots of boneless chicken breasts in the crockpot, I've never had dried out chicken. It's one of my favorite ways to cook chicken!

I'm gonna try this next week, I love easy meals to stick in the crock. And I loooove root beer. Yum!
 
is cooking with root beer a popular thing? Or your little secret. Never heard of or tried it before
 
As long as you aren't leaving the boneless/skinless chicken in too long, they won't dry out. I do a shredded chicken with BBQ sauce. I leave it on low for about 4-5 hours (my slow cooker is nice and slow, doesn't boil, just simmers around the edge). It is very tender and juicy. Now any longer than that and it could be quite dry.

Last time I made it this way was really good, I could have eaten the chicken as is, without shredding it and putting it back into the sauce.
 
Siegal said:
is cooking with root beer a popular thing? Or your little secret. Never heard of or tried it before

One of my CP cookbooks has several recipes for meat/poultry with root beer.

I like chicken breasts done in the CP as well. As Bakechef advised, don't overcook, they'll be fine.
 
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With all due respect, cooking is science.

Cooking chicken breasts in a crockpot for 3 hours on high will dramatically overcook them. Once past the point of being fully cooked all continuing to cook them does is drive the chicken's juices out into the cooking liquid.

So the chicken will dry out. You probably don't notice it since you use a lot of sauce. If you like it then keep on keepin on!

But in general, chicken breasts aren't a good protein for a slow cooker.
 
I agree with Jen. Lean cuts like chicken breast and pork tenderloins are not good candidates for slow cooking. Better candidates for crockpots/slow cookers are fattier meats with more connective tissue. After all stewing and braising are processes that were developed to deal with lower quality cuts of meat.
 
iCasey said:
I've done lots of boneless chicken breasts in the crockpot, I've never had dried out chicken. It's one of my favorite ways to cook chicken!

I'm gonna try this next week, I love easy meals to stick in the crock. And I loooove root beer. Yum!

It really was great...lol..not dried out at all and it had nothing to do with the amount of sauce I used anyway...maybe three hrs was a little excessive...and I will definitely try a different cooking time next time I do this...however again...it wasn't dried out lol, since you said you've slow cooked boneless how long and low or high do you do??
 
Siegal said:
is cooking with root beer a popular thing? Or your little secret. Never heard of or tried it before

Actually my sister told me to use root beer... I have used coke before and it always comes out amazing!!!!
 
bakechef said:
As long as you aren't leaving the boneless/skinless chicken in too long, they won't dry out. I do a shredded chicken with BBQ sauce. I leave it on low for about 4-5 hours (my slow cooker is nice and slow, doesn't boil, just simmers around the edge). It is very tender and juicy. Now any longer than that and it could be quite dry.

Last time I made it this way was really good, I could have eaten the chicken as is, without shredding it and putting it back into the sauce.

Thank you!! It really came out awesome....always love slow cooker recipes
 
I'm not going to criticize! I am going to try it. It sounds great! Thanks so much for posting. :)
 
chopper said:
I'm not going to criticize! I am going to try it. It sounds great! Thanks so much for posting. :)

And I can definitely take criticism very well so please feel free to give your opinion. All comments are always welcome whether I agree or not lol, it's the beauty of living in this country after all isn't it?? :)
 
i'd like to try this one myself, lovex4, after reading your post. only thing is, i really have never cared for the taste of root beer. does the chicken taste like root beer? maybe i should do mine with coke instead, huh?
 
Like I said before, cooking is science .

Once past being fully cooked all you do is expel the chicken's moisture out. This will dry the meat.

It's just a fact. It's food science 101.

You dont notice or don't care, which is fine. My mom prefers dry poultry.

Braising is not a good technique with very lean protein. Pork tenderloin and filet of beef don't do well in a crockpot either.
 
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