Shredded chicken is a versatile ingredient that can be used in many dishes, from salads and sandwiches to soups and casseroles. It's also easy to make, either in a slow cooker, an instant pot, or on the stovetop. Here are some healthy shredded chicken recipes you can try for your delicious and nutritious meal.
1. Shredded Chicken Salad with Greek Yogurt Dressing
This salad is light and refreshing, with crunchy lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, and almonds. The dressing is made with Greek yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, and dill, which adds a tangy and creamy flavor. You can use leftover shredded chicken or cook some fresh in a skillet with some salt, pepper, and paprika. Toss everything together and enjoy!
Shredded Chicken Salad Recipe
- Cuisine: American
- Prep: 5 minutes
- Cook: none
- Servings: 2 servings
- Author: Haley Hughes
Ingredients
- 2 5 oz cans Chicken Breast
- 3 Tbsp Plain Greek Yogurt
- 2 Stalks Chopped Celery
- 2 Tbsp Diced Onions (optional)
- 3 Tbsp Raisins or 3/4 cup sliced grapes or diced apples
- 1/3 cup Almonds
- 1 Splash White Wine Vinegar
- 1 Pinch Salt and Pepper
Directions
- Mix all ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.
- Split both servings into tupperware and bring it for lunch!
- Put chicken salad on some pita chips, whole grain bread, use as dip for vegetables, topping for a salad (salad on salad) or whatever your heart desires.
See detailed directions for Shredded Chicken Salad in this video bellow:
2. Shredded Chicken Tacos with Avocado Salsa
These tacos are packed with flavor and texture, with tender shredded chicken, spicy salsa, creamy avocado, and fresh cilantro. You can use store-bought salsa or make your own with tomatoes, onion, jalapeño, lime juice, and salt. To make the avocado salsa, simply mash some ripe avocados with lime juice, salt, and cilantro. Warm up some corn or flour tortillas and assemble your tacos with the chicken, salsa, avocado, cheese, and more cilantro if you like.
A Shredded Chicken Tacos from ‘Food Techlife’
These are one of my favorite types of tacos to make because they have so much flavor! A taco just with onion, cilantro and lime already tastes amazing. Now add some avocado crema (sour cream) and things get crazy good.
Ingredients
- 2 Tomatoes Large
- 6 Radish
- 2 Onions
- 1 Cilantro Bunch
- 1 Pepper Jack Cheese
- 1 Sour Cream
- 2 Chicken Breasts (Thighs work also but are tedious to shred)
- 4 Avocados
- 3 Limes
- 1 Pack Corn Tortillas
- 1 Black Pepper to taste
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Chipotle Powder
- 1 Salt to taste
Instructions
Chicken Breast
- In a container place chicken breast, add salt and one lime for a quick marinade (5 min while you take out the rest of the ingredients).
- Heat cast iron pan and add 1 tbsp of oil. Adjust flame to medium.
- Pat chicken dry with a paper towel and add to the hot pan. Flip once browned and cook through. Once fully cooked, remove from the pan.
Base Sauce for Chicken
- Dice 2-3 tomatoes depending on size.
- Dice 1/3 of a large onion.
- Heat another pan with 1 tbsp of oil and add the diced tomatoes and onions. Salt to taste and grind a bit of pepper.
- Mix and cover for 5 min. Set the flame to low.
- Uncover and mix. Once the tomatoes have been reduced to the peel then it's done.
Side Ingredients
- Remove the ends of the radishes (after washing them thoroughly) and dice into small cubes. Place in a container.
- Dice 1/3 of an onion and set aside. Roughly chop a cilantro and combine with diced onion.
- Optional: Add 1 lime to the onion and cilantro mix.
- Grate Jack Pepper cheese – set aside.
Avocado Crema
- To a blender add: a large bunch of cilantro, 1 1/2 of avocados, 1 tsp of salt, 1 1/2 lime juice and 3 Tbsp of sour cream. Blend until nice and smooth. Taste for desired acidity and salt.
- Empty out into a container.
Shredded Chicken
- With the chicken having cooled down, you can begin to shred it. Just pull the meat into long strands. The thinner they are the easier it will be to consume them. I like them thin.
- Heat the same pan where you made the chicken. Add 1 Tbsp of oil.
- Add the shredded chicken once the pan is hot.
- Add pepper to taste, 1 tsp of garlic powder, 1 tsp of chipotle powder, salt to taste.
- Add the base sauce we made earlier.
- Mix well for about 3 min or so and taste. Adjust seasoning if needed and remove from the heat.
Assembling the shredded Chicken Tacos!
- Heat the corn tortillas on a pan with medium heat. First, add a drop or two of oil to the pan and use the tortilla to spread it out. Just warm them making sure not to over do it otherwise they get toasted and turn hard. Wrap tortillas in a paper towel and place them inside a sealed container.
- Grab a warm tortilla and add shredded cheese.
- Add the hot shredded chicken on top of the cheese. This will help melt it.
- Add your Avocado Crema on to the chicken.
- Add your onion and cilantro mix.
- Finally top it off with the diced radish for some texture and color.
- Fold and enjoy!
See detailed directions for Shredded Chicken Tacos in this video.
3. Shredded Chicken and Vegetable Soup
This soup is hearty and comforting, with shredded chicken, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and herbs. You can use chicken broth or water as the base, and add some noodles or rice for extra carbs.
A Shredded Chicken Soup recipe from ‘Green Healthy Cooking’
A quintessential comfort food, super easy, nutritious and delicious. This Chicken Soup gives you kisses from the inside of your belly!
- Prep time: 15 minutes
- Cook time: 30 minutes
- Total time: 40 minutes
- Servings: 4 people
- Author: By Lorena Grater
Ingredients
- 1 onion
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 1 inch fresh ginger
- 1 Tbsp chili paste - ají amarillo is my favorite
- 3-4 stalks celery
- 2 carrots
- 2-3 sprigs thyme
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 lbs chicken breast
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 1 lemon
- sea salt
- pepper
Instructions
- Peel onion, garlic, and ginger. Chop onion and garlic, and grate ginger.
- Peel carrots and thinly slice. Cut celery into small pieces.
- Preheat a large pot over medium-low heat and once hot, add a drizzle of olive oil and fry onions, garlic, and ginger in it until the onion is translucent. Then add chili paste and stir-fry for a few more seconds.
- Add carrots and celery, thyme, and chicken broth, as well as sea salt and pepper is needed, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add chicken breasts, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Remove the chicken and place on a cutting board, add quinoa to the pot and cover again and set a timer for 15 minutes.
- In the meantime, use two forks to shred the chicken.
- When there are 5 minutes left on the timer, add the shredded chicken back into the pot and also frozen peas. Stir often.
- Turn off heat and drizzle juice of one lemon into the pot, give one last stir and serve immediately.
- To make the soup, sauté the onion and garlic in some oil until soft, then add the carrots and celery and cook for a few minutes. Add the broth or water, the chicken, and some bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender. Add the noodles or rice and cook until done. Adjust the seasoning to your taste and serve hot.
See detailed directions for Shredded Chicken Soup in this video.
4. Shredded Chicken and Cheese Casserole
This casserole is cheesy and satisfying, shredded chicken, cheese, bell pepper, onion, red beans, and flour tortillas. You can customize it with your favorite toppings, such as sour cream, cilantro, avocado, or jalapeños.
A Chicken Tortilla Casserole recipe from ‘Wyse Guide’:
This chicken tortilla casserole is one of the most favorite dishes in any season. It is packed with chicken, beans, tomatoes, and tortillas. The best part is that once this casserole is baked, it can be customized by anyone in your family. Top it with guacamole, sour cream, spicy peppers, or anything your heart desires, and it will be a delicious weeknight meal.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Servings: 15 servings
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 large bell pepper seeds removed and diced
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- ¾ tsp cumin
- 2 15-oz cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 15-oz can tomato sauce
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 lb)
- 1 15-oz can red kidney beans drained and rinsed
- 6 flour tortillas
- 4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
Instructions
- In a large skillet, heat 2 tbsp of neutral oil over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, and salt. Sauté until the vegetables are translucent and beginning to brown, 4-6 minutes. Add the chili powder and cumin. Stir the spices into the hot oil to bloom the spices for 30 seconds.
- Add the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce and stir to incorporate. Place the chicken breasts over the tomatoes and bring the mixture to a low simmer. Once at a simmer, cover and cook until the chicken breasts reach 160°F, 12 to 15 minutes. After the chicken has cooked, remove the breasts from the pot and set them aside to cool. Add the kidney beans to the tomatoes and stir to combine.
- When the chicken is cool enough to handle, shred the breasts into small pieces.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Remove the tomatoes and beans from the heat. Grease a 9×13 baking dish and spread ½ cup of the tomato mixture over the bottom of the baking dish. Add the shredded chicken to the mixture and combine. Lay two tortillas over the thin layer of tomatoes. The tortillas will overlap. Add ⅓ of the tomato mixture and spread evenly. Sprinkle with 1 cup of cheese and ½ of the chopped cilantro. Repeat these layers two more times ending with the final two cups of cheese on top of the casserole.
- Bake in the preheated 350°F oven until the cheese is beginning to brown and the casserole is bubbling throughout, 45-55 minutes. Once baked, remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes before serving.
See detailed directions for Chicken Tortilla Casserole in this video.
5. Shredded Chicken Sandwiches with BBQ Sauce
These sandwiches are easy and tasty, with shredded chicken smothered in BBQ sauce and piled on soft buns. You can use your favorite BBQ sauce or make your own with ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce, hot sauce, and spices.
A Shredded Chicken Sandwiches recipe from ‘Break the Spice’
Ingredients: (4-6 sandwiches)
- 1 lb/450g chicken breast
- Bread (any kind)
- 4 tbsp Butter (preferably unsalted)
- 4 garlic cloves
- Optional: cheese and pickles
Sauce:
- 4 tbsp bbq sauce
- 3 tbsp ketchup
- 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- 1 tsp hot sauce
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Slice chicken breast into even thin filets.
- Heat 1-2 tbsp butter in a pan and pan fry the chicken until cooked through (about 2 minutes per side). Be careful to not overcook the chicken or it will turn chewy.
- Take the chicken off the pan and let it rest for 5 minutes. This will help the chicken juices redistribute and keep it moist.
- To the same pan add 2 tbsp butter and fry minced garlic until fragrant. Optional - add some chili flakes for a kick of spice.
- Pour in the prepared sauce and simmer until it’s thick. Taste and adjust seasoning as per preference.
- Once the chicken had rested, shred it or finely chop it.
- Once the sauce has thickened and seasoned to your liking, add the chicken and mix well.
- Toast one side of the bread/bun with some butter. Layer the chicken filling over the toasted side. Additionally add some pickles/pickled jalapeños, cheese and enjoy!
See detailed directions for Shredded Chicken Sandwiches in this video bellow:
Healthy shredded chicken recipes are easy to make, versatile and delicious. They are also a great way to use up leftover chicken or cook a large batch for meal prep. Shredded chicken is high in protein, low in fat and can be flavored with different spices and sauces. Try some of these healthy shredded chicken recipes today and enjoy a satisfying and nutritious meal.
Thanks for reading!