Shredded Taco Chicken Recipe.

[Cooking4Fun]

Easy Shredded Mexican Chicken

This flavorful shredded Mexican chicken comes together in 30 minutes, start to finish and is perfect for filling tacos, burritos, or topping a salad.

houseofyumm.com

I tried this recipe but it didn't look much like the picture. The chicken was tough to shred with a fork. Any tips? Two forks to pull apart because it's very hot?

Chicken wasn't red like it is in picture.

I cooked for 15 minutes covered. Temp was 180F. Wasn't sure if I should of gone for 20 minutes or more so to breaks apart easier. By the time I got done shredding the chicken the pan was dry so there was little point to return the chicken to the pan. It was still set to medium by the way. Drop to low after removal from pan to shred?

What is a good approach for this?

 

[caseydog]

I looked at the recipe, and I'm guessing that chicken was tough and dry? Especially if you used breast meat.

180F is not 165. If you used breast meat, we're talking shoe leather. Cooking it longer would have made it even tougher and drier.

As a Texan, I don't think I've ever seen a TexMex chicken taco recipe that calls for boiling chicken in chicken stock. Boiling the breast in stock is not going to keep the meat moist or tender if you overcook it.

I would use chicken thigh, but if you must use breast, butterfly it before seasoning and searing, so the whole breast is of equal thickness. That way, it will cook faster and evenly. Do NOT cook chicken breast to 180F. 160F is plenty. Skip the boiling. The butterflied breast, not overcooked, should shred without a lot of effort.

Chicken thigh, besides tasting better, is much more forgiving if you overcook it.

Another alternative is to slice your chicken, instead of shredding it. That's more common around here. This is some chicken breast, butterflied, cooked hot and fast in a cast iron pan, and sliced for tacos.

CD

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

You shouldn't boil the chicken, you should poach it. That means the broth should cover the entire amount of chicken completely and it should be barely percolating, so you should have plenty of broth left once the chicken is cooked. If cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees, it should shred easily.

If it's not red enough for you add more chili powder and/or paprika to the mix.

 

[dragnlaw]

I found the instructions and explanations on this recipe a bit weird.
Certainly not very user friendly.
No explanation as to how high up the broth should come around the chicken in the pan.
No comment on "simmering" vs "boiling", just says to 'cook' in the broth.
No comment on how much broth should have reduced or be left to make the sauce or whether or not to cook down, remove, etc. To my way of thinking, "sauce" is a thickening of a liquid, not just some leftover poaching liquid. Of course, once shredded the meat may well absorb a very liquidly sauce, but it would have been nice if she mentioned that.


As Sir LOB says, poaching liquid should generally cover the meat. To my way of thinking 1 cup of liquid is not going to cover 2 lbs of meat. At least not the 2 lbs of chicken meat she has pictured.

and yeah, as casey says, letting the meat get to 180 is now overdone. Cooking4fun, remember - all times ever given in a recipe are guidelines only. There is no way for anyone to know how hot your appliances get, pan, quantities, etc all play factors. Perhaps your pan was slightly larger, or thinner, all sorts of stuff. I will give credit for her photos. It not only shows the ingredients, which I personally always appreciate, but it also shows the relative size of the pan to her meat, even though she does not say whether it is an 8, 10 or even 12 inch skillet.

So all in all, the ingredients sound great, but the written explanations/instructions for the recipe certainly leave a lot to be desired.

 

[taxlady]

I just had a look at the recipe. She explains all the steps, before the actual recipe. The actual recipe is sort of a summary of her explanation. Earlier on that page, she does say to poach the chicken. She mentions cooking it to 165°F several times. To me, this recipe looks like it should work, especially if one reads all of the stuff on that page that comes before the recipe.

 

[dragnlaw]

I totaly agree, taxy. Yes, she gave temperature, yes, she mentions poaching. Not saying she didn't. My feelings are that she said absolutely nothing within the body of the recipe itself. Use CMT and you are left with very little info at all.
Perhaps most would remember what the content of it was, but 6 months or a year later, I sure as heck would not. Almost a guarantee a beginner woiuldn't

 

[caseydog]

I just had a look at the recipe. She explains all the steps, before the actual recipe. The actual recipe is sort of a summary of her explanation. Earlier on that page, she does say to poach the chicken. She mentions cooking it to 165°F several times. To me, this recipe looks like it should work, especially if one reads all of the stuff on that page that comes before the recipe.

Poaching would be a much better than boiling/simmering the chicken if you plan to shred the meat.

It's not something I would (or any Texans/Mexicans I know) do, but I'm sure it would make a great NY/Mex taco.

CD

 

[taxlady]

I totaly agree, taxy. Yes, she gave temperature, yes, she mentions poaching. Not saying she didn't. My feelings are that she said absolutely nothing within the body of the recipe itself. Use CMT and you are left with very little info at all.
Perhaps most would remember what the content of it was, but 6 months or a year later, I sure as heck would not. Almost a guarantee a beginner woiuldn't

Okay, CMT won't automatically capture that info. I add notes in the note section of a recipe, when I think it's something I need to know and might not remember. For this recipe, I wouldn't need those notes. And, unless the site goes away, you can always click the link to the recipe from the recipe in CMT.

 

[dragnlaw]

I guess, further to my point... is you should not have to make those notes.
After so many recipes from sites such as... Chef John, Woks of Life, Recipe Tin Eats, ATK and I could go on .. maybe I'm spoiled.

 

[caseydog]

Okay, what is CMT? I did a search, and all I got was the Country Music Television network. I'm guessing it has to do with measurements?

CD

 

[GotGarlic]

Okay, what is CMT? I did a search, and all I got was the Country Music Television network. I'm guessing it has to do with measurements?

CD

A recipe management app called Copy Me That.

 

[GotGarlic]

I guess, further to my point... is you should not have to make those notes.
After so many recipes from sites such as... Chef John, Woks of Life, Recipe Tin Eats, ATK and I could go on .. maybe I'm spoiled.

No, you're right - a good recipe describes all the steps for making the recipe. There are millions of bad recipes out there.

For the OP, I'd suggest this recipe from Rick Bayless: Chicken Tinga Tacos

 

[caseydog]

A recipe management app called Copy Me That.

I guessed that the "C" was for Canadian, and the "M" was for Measurement. I had no guess on the "T."

I have heard of Copy Me That from K-Girl, but didn't make the connection, having never used it.

CD

 

[caseydog]

For the OP, I'd suggest this recipe from Rick Bayless: Chicken Tinga Tacos

+1

If you want to make real Mexican food, Rick Bayless is the man... and he's a Chicagoan. Go figure. He's done his research. I love his videos shot in Mexico.

That Chicken Tinga Tacos recipe looks good! The piloncillo may be hard to find locally in NY, but you can get it online. Light brown sugar will work as a substitute. Italian oregano is fine, too, if you can't get Mexican oregano. They are very close in flavor. If you can't get queso fresco, I would go with the mild feta. Those things are in every supermarket here, but I'm not sure about other parts of the US.

CD

 

[pepperhead212]

+2 Another fan of Rick Bayless here, and that one original Salsa Negra (the one he made with moritas, not the later one with canned chipotles [those they have their uses, too]) is something I am almost never out of, though I used the end of it just under a month ago, for my birthday dinner. I have to make another batch of it.

That one book of his - Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen - has probably the most Mexican recipes I've made on multiple occasions! And he's got a generous number of recipes with epazote - one of those things I have growing, and don't use often, but give my trimmings to the owner of the Mexican store in town, along with extra peppers, in late summer. Bayless has a lot of online recipes, too, but he has some of the best books, and the style used in the books, with an addition after almost all recipes, giving other things to do with the recipes, like advance preparation, and variations and improvisations for most of them. And the cross indexing, where I can look up recipes for almost any ingredient. Better than looking online, as there are far too many incompetent "chefs" posting recipes that it looks like they haven't even tried.

 

[Cooking4Fun]

I looked at the recipe, and I'm guessing that chicken was tough and dry? Especially if you used breast meat.

180F is not 165. If you used breast meat, we're talking shoe leather. Cooking it longer would have made it even tougher and drier.

As a Texan, I don't think I've ever seen a TexMex chicken taco recipe that calls for boiling chicken in chicken stock. Boiling the breast in stock is not going to keep the meat moist or tender if you overcook it.

I would use chicken thigh, but if you must use breast, butterfly it before seasoning and searing, so the whole breast is of equal thickness. That way, it will cook faster and evenly. Do NOT cook chicken breast to 180F. 160F is plenty. Skip the boiling. The butterflied breast, not overcooked, should shred without a lot of effort.

Chicken thigh, besides tasting better, is much more forgiving if you overcook it.

Another alternative is to slice your chicken, instead of shredding it. That's more common around here. This is some chicken breast, butterflied, cooked hot and fast in a cast iron pan, and sliced for tacos.

View attachment 68337

CD

Actually it was plenty moist. It just didn't shred very easy at all. I was thinking it would be like beef falling apart in a stew. Just loose strands.

 

[Cooking4Fun]

A recipe management app called Copy Me That.

Yeah, never heard of that.

 

[taxlady]

I was favourably impressed with Rick Bayless from that video. The recipe looked interesting, but like more effort than I have the energy to devote to it. The thing that jumped out at me was when he was tasting for seasoning. He dipped a teaspoon into the food and tasted. But, when he went back to taste again, he used his stirring spoon to drip some of the sauce into his teaspoon. No double dipping, I love it.

 

[jennyema]

Never boil chicken. It makes it super tough.

Chicken shreds more easily with the grain .

 

[GotGarlic]

Actually it was plenty moist. It just didn't shred very easy at all. I was thinking it would be like beef falling apart in a stew. Just loose strands.

Chicken thighs will shred like that for. Breasts don't. Sometimes I use them, but I'm careful not to overcook them and I have to use a knife to get them to the size I want.