I used a lot of boiled chicken in recipes. From Enchiladas to Tacos to soups and casseroles. It’s pretty much a staple in my house. However, boiled chicken is well…..boring. Even adding other flavors later it just needs something to give it a little boost.
I like to do big batches all at once- so a large stock pot like these here are my best friend! I can do many pounds all at once. A Food Saver comes in really handy for freezing portions for long periods of time. Then allow it to thaw overnight in the fridge.
Ingredients:
Chicken breast
Water to cover (or use chicken broth for even more flavor)
Onion (peeled and quartered)
Pepper
Salt
2 Garlic Cloves (peeled and cut in halves)
Directions:
Place chicken in large pot and cover with water or broth. Place onion and garlic in pot. Season with pepper and salt generously. Boil (simmer)until cooked. Small pieces may take 10-15 minutes but whole breasts can take 30. The longer you boil- the more tender it is. Sometimes I let it simmer (not quite boiling) for 2 hours for whole breasts.
I remove the onion and garlic before shredding the chicken. Then I place a piece of wax paper on a cookie sheet and put cup sized scoops of the chicken on the paper and freeze for several hours until hard. Then I place in a freezer bag and remove cups of chicken as needed.
What a great time saver. I don’t know what I’d do without my freezer. I freeze everything! Don’t waste that good flavored boiling water. When you shred your chicken, throw the bone and cartilage back in the water, add a carrot, some celery, and a bayleaf. Simmer a while longer and you’ll have delicious homemade chicken broth.. Strain everything out and fill sandwich size ziploc bags with a cup and a half of broth and freeze flat on a cookie sheet. I usually cool it in the refrigerator before I bag it and skim any fat
that rises to the top.
Also, if you have oranges, limes, or lemons that are about to go bad, first zest them and freeze the zest, then squeeze the juice and freeze in ice cube trays and put in a ziploc bag when frozen. You’ll always have juice and zest ready for recipes!
Why boil? Doesn’t it get tough? Barely bring to boil then simmer? For how long?
When I said “boil as normal” – that’s what I meant sorry my wording was confusing.
Have done this in a crock pot to simmer for a couple of hours? I would throw carrots and celery stalks whole with bag leaves for a punch of flavor. Family size chicken breast and thighs or extra whole chicken for variety and flavor.
Crock pot times on Low _____ or high_____
Pressure times for last minute changes time_______?
SO I’ve done in the crock pot- I usually do low for 8 hours. Never tried on high so I can’t comment on that. Pressure cooker 40 minutes with frozen chicken and 1 cup of water (I actually did that today with about a half cup of taco seasoning but no salt or pepper because the seasoning has a LOT of salt and it came out perfect- then i removed most of the water and held on warm for chicken tacos!) If i was using thawed chicken 25 minutes would probably be enough. The awesome thing about it is you could always put it back on pressure for more time if 25 wasn’t enough. LOVE pressure cooking.
This is genius and makes dinner prep so much easier. The chicken is on the stove this rainy Sunday morning and my house smells cozy and delicious. Thank you for sharing.