Get Dinner On The Table Fast With These 30 Shredded Chicken Recipes

Having shredded chicken on hand is one of our top genius shortcuts to making quick, easy weeknight dinners. Our favorite recipes for casseroles, salads, and soups only get better when adding shredded chicken. Whether you opt for picking up a juicy rotisserie chicken or making your own Instant Pot shredded chicken, you'll be that much closer to having chicken empanadas, avgolemono soup, and chimichurri chicken salad ready for dinner.

First off, how do you make shredded chicken anyway? Poaching chicken is one of the best ways to cook it for shredding, and it keeps the chicken moist enough so that it's tender enough to shred. Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, use two forks and simply pull the breasts apart. Fun fact: You can also use a stand mixer to shred chicken! Just place cooked chicken in the bowl of your stand mixer, use the paddle attachment, and turn the mixer on medium speed until all the chicken is shredded.

Don't feel like poaching? You're in luck. Instant Pots and slow cookers are prime kitchen tools for making flavorful, tender shredded chicken. Try our recipes for Instant Pot shredded chicken and Crock Pot salsa chicken and you'll see why!

Now that you've got all this shredded chicken, you don't have to stop at just making homemade chicken pot pie or Crock Pot chicken noodle soup. Shake things up by using shredded chicken to top your next batch of sheet-pan green chile chicken nachos, toss into a bright, crunchy mandarin orange chicken salad, or stuff into these bruschetta chicken stuffed avocados.