I Tried the “1-Minute” Hack for Shredding a Rotisserie Chicken—It’s Life Changing

This is a game changer for more reasons than it being fast.

When a viral TikTok video claimed to debone and shred an entire Costco rotisserie chicken in 60 seconds, I knew I had to try it out. As a recipe developer and a busy mom of two, good culinary shortcuts are like gold. And this one did not disappoint!

The "1-Minute" Rotisserie Chicken Shredding Hack

The hack is delightfully simple. You start with a warm rotisserie chicken. Remove any trussing strings and place the entire bird into a gallon-sized zip-top bag. Seal the bag, then simply press down on, or “massage,” the chicken through the bag to effortlessly separate the meat from the bones.

At first, it feels silly—like you're giving the chicken a deep tissue massage. But the meat immediately starts breaking off into big shreds and chunks. Then you just have to reach in and pull out the bones and you’re done! The best part? There’s virtually no mess!

4 Reasons I Love This Hack

1. It’s fast. I timed myself and it took me three minutes to fully shred the chicken, including removing the bones, skin, and cartilage. Not quite 60 seconds, but still a much speedier way to break down a whole bird!

2. There’s very little clean-up. Since all the work happens inside the plastic bag, there are no cutting boards, utensils, or countertops to de-grease. Just a quick hand wash is all that’s needed.

3. The chicken is packaged and ready to be used. Keep the shredded chicken in the zip-top bag until you're ready to use it. It can be refrigerated, frozen, or immediately put to use in a multitude of clever ways.

4. It makes meal prep easier. With this method, you can efficiently break down as many chickens as you can handle, and portion the shredded meat into bags to stash in the freezer for easy future meals. Having shredded chicken on hand opens up many delicious and convenient meal options throughout the weeks and months ahead. I love it in tacos, creamy pasta dishes, and tamale pie, but you can easily repurpose it into salads, soups, quesadillas, pasta bakes, and more.
   

3 Tips for Making It Even Easier

While the basic shortcut is brilliant on its own, here are a few tricks to consider:

1. The original hack puts the whole chicken into a bag, but I prefer to remove the skin first for a "cleaner" shredded meat.

2. Save the bones for stock. Instead of tossing the bones, I put them in my Instant Pot to make a quick stock, really stretching that good deal.

3. While zip-top bags are convenient, if you’re avoiding single-use plastics, a reusable gallon-sized silicone bag works perfectly for this hack. And there’s still less clean-up than if you deboned and shredded the chicken by hand.
   

The cooking instructor in me gets a little pink-cheeked at this method, but after years of properly carving chickens and using my hands to shred chicken, this will forever be my favorite. Now the question is, can I find a bag large enough to hold a turkey before Thanksgiving?

Read the original article on Simply Recipes.