So let me tell you a story. It was your average Sunday evening, we were getting ready to eat dinner and I decided I wanted a drink from our outside refrigerator. I head outside, open the fridge and notice that my beverage is not as cold as it should be. No big deal, we only keep beverages in the fridge, so if it has died at least it wasn’t our deep freeze that is full of meat. I double check the deep freeze and everything is frozen all is good right? WRONG! Two days later I decide I am going to do a double check and to my horror things are thawing. Thankfully, all was not lost as much of the meat had not completely thawed.
I am now the proud owner of approximately 8 pounds of chicken that cannot be refrozen and must be cooked or wasted. Being the ever resourceful woman that I am I pull out my handy dandy Instapot, throw in, the chicken, chicken stock, water, salt and pepper and let that bad boy get to work. Fifteen minutes later and a quick shredding of the meat and I am feeling a better about the disaster that just occurred in my garage.
You may be thinking to yourself what is she going to do with 8 pounds of cooked chicken? Honestly the possibilities are endless. Having a freezer full of already cooked and shredded chicken gives my dinner prep a head start and cuts down on the cooking time required to prepare a home cooked meal. Here two of my go to recipes as well as a few others to keep things interesting.
Chicken Tortilla Soup
This is something that we make in our family several times a month and the best part is that it usually makes more than one meal.
- 1-1/2lb of Cooked Chicken
- 1-1/2 teaspoon Cumin
- 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1 Tablespoon Fiesta Ranch Salad Dressing Mix
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 cup Diced Onion
- 1/4 cup Red Bell Pepper
- 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
- 1 can (10 Oz. Can) Rotel Tomatoes And Green Chilies
- 32 ounces, fluid Low Sodium Chicken Stock
- 3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
- 4 cups Hot Water
- 2 cans (15 Oz. Can) Black Beans, Drained
- 1 can (15 Oz. Can) Corn, Drained
Because the chicken is already cooked you don’t have the opportunity to season it the way that you would if you were going to bake it and shred it day of, but I don’t want to miss out on all that flavor so I use half of the same spices while warming up the chicken prior to throwing it in the soup to simmer.
Sauté your onion, bell pepper and garlic in olive oil. While those veggies cook down add in the remaining spices.
Here comes the best part. Dump everything together in a stock pot bring it to a boil and then let it simmer until you are ready to eat. I know it may not sound like much, but the Fiesta Ranch Salad Dressing Mix really does add a lot of umph to an already flavor filled meal. We love to top ours with cheese, cilantro, avocado, and tortilla strips, but the options for toppings are endless.
White Chicken Chili
This is a fairly new option in our rotation, but man is it a good one. We have prepared this two ways in our Instapot which makes the whole thing take less than 30 minutes from start to finish or in our slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours.
- 1-1/2 lb of Cooked Chicken
- 1-1/2 teaspoon Cumin
- 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
- 1-1/2 Tablespoon Fiesta Ranch Salad Dressing Mix
- 1 Diced Onion
- 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
- 1 can (10 Oz. Can) Rotel Tomatoes And Green Chilies
- 32 ounces, fluid Low Sodium Chicken Stock
- 1 can (15 Oz. Can) Great Northern Beans, Drained
- 1 can (15 Oz. Can) Black Beans, Drained
- 1 can (15 Oz. Can) Corn, Drained
- 1 8 Oz. Bar of Cream Cheese cut into chunks
Place everything in your slow cooker give it a stir and turn it on low for 6-8 hours. You will want to stir it again once it is done cooking to distribute the melted cream cheese. If you are an Instapot lover the steps are the same just set your Instapot to manual for 15 minutes. Because you have already cooked the chicken you can allow for manual release and don’t have to wait for the slower depressurization. Top with cheese, cilantro, avocado, or even corn bread if you are feeling crazy.
A few other tried and true options to keep things interesting:
Chicken Enchiladas
Chicken Nachos
Chicken Spaghetti
Now pull out your bag-o-chicken and get to cooking.
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