Shred Chicken with a Dough Hook

 Don’t you just love a good kitchen-hack?  I sure do!

Okay, so if you’re like me you have a behemoth of a mixer sitting on your counter.  You know the one: big, burly, weighs a ton but can whip butter like nobodies business!  Don’t get me wrong I absolutely adore my Kitchen-Aid mixer, my husband bought it for me a few Christmases ago and I’m always amazed at its miraculous powers.  Over the years I’ve found all sorts of great uses for it, I knead bread dough, mix cookie dough, make whipped cream…all with little effort on my part, just turn that bad boy on and it does its thing!  Sometimes I wanna hug it because it truly is a gem!

My most recent discovery is the ability to shred cooked chicken with my stand mixer and the dough hook attachment.  I make a lot of shredded chicken for a variety of recipes, and normally I’ve waited for the meat to cool down and used to large forks to shred by hand.  Those days are OVER, just place the meat in the mixing bowl, attach the dough hook and let it go.  In a matter of a couple of minutes you have nicely shredded meat (works great for pork and beef also) for tacos, taquitos or pulled pork/chicken sandwiches.  Nothing messy here, just a bowl and the attachment which go right into the dishwasher.  I love shortcuts like this one and hope you give it a try too!