goodwilltasting

It’s playoffs time.  The time of the year when champions are made, when we separate the men from the boys. So bro, get off the phone with Little Caesar’s, and bring these bad boys to your next tailgate.

Pulled chicken is super easy to make. Here’s everything you need (sans one Spanish onion):

Note: Normally I would do this with a pork shoulder but we had just had a slow roasted pork shoulder over New Year’s so we were all porked out. A lot of recipes will tell you to use just breasts, but thighs are fattier and, let’s face it, better tasting. I figure putting both breasts and thighs will make it a little more balanced. Slice up the onion, throw it on the bottom of your slow cooker, pile on the chicken, season, and toss in a bottle of beer.  Here I’m using a bottle of Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale to be more festive.

Cover that bad boy, set it on low, and 6-8 hours later you should get fork-tender, juicy, delicious chicken. Two forks is all you need to shred those babies up. I like mine chunky. You can make yours stringy if you like. You’re not gonna hurt my feelings.

There will probably be a lot of liquid in the slow cooker once the chicken is done so get rid of as much as you can before shredding. You can save it for a tasty broth later on.

So good.  You could eat it just like that, or add some sauce like I’m about to do. Oh yeah, Stubb’s BBQ sauce is legit.

Boom.

Let it cook a little while longer in the slow cooker to let the sauce thicken up. Now, onto the slaw. This recipe I got from chow.com.

Now put it all together and…

Game Time.

Pulled Chicken:

5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 medium Spanish onion
1 bottle light beer, in this case Sierra Nevada Celebration
1.5 tsp garlic salt
1.5 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
1 bottle of BBQ sauce (I recommend Stubb’s)

Slice the onion, place along the bottom of a slow cooker, place chicken on top, season with garlic salt and pepper. Pour the bottle of beer into the slow cooker, then set on low. Go to work, or the gym, or something that will take a few hours. After about 6 hours, check on the chicken. It should be fully cooked and fork tender. There will probably be a lot of liquid so ladle out as much as you can, then shred the chicken with 2 forks.

Add about 3/4 bottle of BBQ sauce into the chicken, mix, then let cook for another hour or so to let the sauce thicken, and that’s it!

Kale Apple Slaw with Poppy Seed Dressing (adapted from Chow.com):

DRESSING:
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tsp poppy seeds
1/4 tsp kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper
3 tbsp olive oil

SLAW:
1 pound kale (1.5 bunches)
2 medium size Fuji apples
2/3 cup of small diced red onion (about 1/2 medium onion)