Recipe: Hand Pulled Chipotle Chicken

A "set and forget" recipe that's full of flavor – and protein.

spicy, tangy, smoky, pull apart-y chicken — one of my favorite recipes.

Chipotle peppers, chiles that have been been dried and smoked, add a lot of complexity to what could be bland chicken. And there is no dry, bland chicken in this newsletter! The process of taking boneless, skinless chicken breasts and turning them into tender, fall apart, well seasoned meat is not as hard as you might think.

The versatility of this recipe is its superpower: put it on salad, on tortillas, wraps, roll, nachos, or just with cheese, cilantro, lime juice and hot sauce like me. Stored in an airtight container, it will last 5 days in the fridge. A great weekday staple that doesn’t feel the same every day.

I was first introduced to this recipe through my husband: this is his go-to contribution for his annual summer trip with his fraternity brothers. It’s out on a river on the edge of Washington and Idaho — and it’s a hit every year. I took the recipe and improved upon it just a little bit here and there to eek out as much flavor as easily as possible.

The chicken essentially gets braised in a flavorful liquid and cooks down until it’s totally pull apart and tender. The chipotle peppers are made in Adobo, which is highly concentrated sauce of spices, vinegar, garlic, paprika, and tomatoes. It does a lot of the heavy lifting in this recipe and is so good.

THE RECIPE:

Ingredients:

1 Large heavy bottomed pot or Dutch Oven (6 quarts or bigger)

4 Pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast

3 Tablespoons neutral cooking oil (Canola or Avocado oil)

1 Large yellow onion

4 Garlic cloves

1 Tablespoon Ground Cumin

1 Tablespoon Ground Coriander

1 Tablespoon Ground Oregano

2 bay leaves

1 Tablespoon Kosher Salt (Diamond Crystal)

6-8 Cups chicken broth

1 Can chipotle peppers in adobo (La Costeña brand is great)

2 Tablespoons Refined Coconut Oil

1. Peel and roughly chop the onion and garlic. Do not be precious with this step — they both will cook down to almost nothing during the braising so large-ish chunks is fine.

2. Cut the chicken breast into 2-inch pieces. Think a little bit larger than a meatball. All of the chicken will break down during cooking. By cutting into pieces, that process happens faster and they cook more evenly.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of the neutral cooking oil over medium heat (reserving the final tablespoon for later). When it starts to shimmer — you’ll notice the surface of the oil will “ripple” slightly when you look at it in the light — add the onion. Stirring occasionally until translucent and just starting to brown.

4. Make a little well in the middle of the pot and add the final tablespoon of oil. Place the garlic in that little pool and let it sizzle for 30-60 seconds. Add the coriander, oregano, and cumin. Stir together and let the spices bloom for another 60 seconds. This pulls out even more flavor from the spices which makes a more flavorful base.

5. Add half a cup of the chicken broth and scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pot. That’s flavor!

6. Add the chicken, bay leaves, salt, chipotle peppers and coconut oil. Note about the peppers: if you like it spicy, add the whole can of peppers with the sauce. If you like it more mild, empty the can into the pot, and pull out all the peppers but one or two. The peppers will break down during cooking — the more peppers in the pot, the spicier it will be.

7. Add the broth until the chicken is covered by the liquid. Stir to combine. If you need more liquid, add water.

8. Heat on medium-high until boiling, then lower the heat and simmer (small bubbles coming to the surface and breaking). Let the liquid reduce down and concentrate, leaving flavor-packed chicken. This step can take a while: 2+ hours. Stir occasionally to make sure there’s no sticking at the bottom of the pot. As the chicken breaks down in the braising liquid, it’ll become soft — you’ll hear the change. It will go from a boiling sound of water moving in the pot to a sizzling sound when the water cooks off.

9. When you hear that shift in sound, start to push the back of a wooden spoon into the chicken/peppers to break them down. Some pieces may take longer than others, so do this step in stages. Once it’s all broken down, give the pot a stir to make sure there isn’t a big pool of liquid at the bottom. If all clear, take it off the heat. Locate the bay leaves and remove.

SERVING:

From here, you can do a lot with this chicken! It stores up to 5 days in an airtight container. Make sure it’s at room temperature before storing - the heat will cause condensation inside the container and water will collect making the chicken a little soupy.

Put it on a salad and dress with sour cream, cilantro, red onion, pickled jalapeños! Make sandwiches the next day. A rice bowl would also be incredible. The world is your oyster.

IF YOU WANT TO IMPRESS FRIENDS:

Turn the broiler on in your oven and place a rack towards the top (that’s where the broiler is located) — if you don’t have that setting, crank it to 500. Make sure your oven is clean! As in, no big food pieces left behind at the bottom.. otherwise it will burn and smoke. And that is not chic when trying to impress friends.

While the oven is heating, line a sheet tray with foil and spread a layer of the chicken to cover the entire tray.

Once the oven is ready, place the tray on the top rack just under the broiler and blast it for 5 minutes. The top edges of the chicken will get toasty/crispy/crunchy. And there is, in fact, no better way to enjoy this chicken.

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