No Crock-Pot, No Problem
Being a big fan of Mexican food, I’m always looking for ways to simplify or improve my favorite dishes. Mexican Shredded Chicken has been a favorite of mine for years, but it can be quite hard to make at home as it takes a long time to allow the spices to penetrate the chicken. A workaround for this is to just throw everything into a crock pot and leave it alone all day. While that’s good, I wasn’t in the mood to settle for good on this particular day. I wanted great. This recipe for Mexican Shredded Chicken is just that!
Selecting Your Chicken
Your two options are breasts or thighs. If you’re eating a keto diet and trying to get as much fat as possible, this an easy choice. We’re going with thighs. Thighs contain much more fat than chicken breasts which are nearly fat-free. I always opt for bone-in cuts when possible as the flavor is just so much better. The first step here is to heat a cast iron skillet on medium heat. You can use any kind of skillet you want, we’re not putting this in the oven, so cast iron isn’t required. Once the pan is up to temperature, add some ghee to it and place the chicken thighs in. They don’t need to cook through, we’re just looking for a bit of color on both sides. These will cook for two hours total, so them being under-cooked isn’t a concern of ours. We like to buy skin on chicken thighs and use the skin to make these incredible Skin-ny Chicken Dippers.
The Key to Delicious Mexican Shredded Chicken: Let’s Talk Sauce
This is where all the flavor is, so of course it’s the key component of making a delicious batch of Mexican shredded chicken. Most of the ingredients are what you would expect, but there is one ingredient that takes this sauce to the next level that you may have to go out and get.
It’s Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce! These guys have a great depth of flavor and are exactly what you’re looking for to give this chicken the Mexican authenticity it needs. I pick these peppers up from my local grocery store in the Ethnic/World foods isle. The brand I used is Goya. Here’s a link to the peppers for reference.
Adobo sauce has some sugar in it, but don’t worry too much, we’re only using a few peppers per batch. The rest of the ingredients are all relatively common for any home cook. The full ingredient list is shown at the end of this post.
The preparation of the sauce is simple. Throw everything in a blender, add some water and blend until liquid. When the chicken is browned to your liking, add the sauce directly to the pan on top of the thighs.
From this point, we will be cooking on medium heat for 90 minutes while the thighs are whole. Flip the thighs periodically. I flipped them four times over the course of the 90 minutes. During this time you also need to keep an eye on the water level. When the sauce gets reduced down just add more water to it and allow it to reduce again. I like to aim to keep the water level over halfway up the chicken.
Shredding the Chicken
After 90 minutes, shred the chicken off of the bone and cook for 30 more minutes. I use tongs and a fork to shred the chicken while it is still in the pan cooking. If you have trouble doing that, or if it doesn’t come off the bone as easy as you’d like, there is no problem with taking the chicken out for a few minutes and allowing it to cool, shredding it, and then throwing it back in the sauce to cook further.
The chicken is already fully cooked at this point. The remaining cook time is just to get the sauce to flavor the chicken as much as possible. After the Mexican shredded chicken has been cooking in the sauce for 30 minutes, allow the sauce to reduce all the way down. You can speed up this process by turning the heat up, or just let nature take its course. Keep an eye on it when it starts getting close to being fully reduced. If you go too far the sauce will burn quite rapidly.
Once the sauce is reduced to your liking, you’re ready to dig in. Cilantro and lime juice go great with this Mexican shredded chicken. If you’re looking for recipes to use this authentic Mexican shredded chicken in, try our fathead empanadas! Be sure to try some of our other favorites like keto tamales and keto taco salad!
Mexican Shredded Chicken
Ingredients:
- 1.5 lbs chicken thighs Bone-In or Boneless – Either Works
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 4 peppers Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce
- 1 tsp Pink Himalayan Salt
- 1 tsp Oregano
- 1/2 tsp Cumin
- 1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 1 medium shallot
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1/2 lime lime juice Juice of 1/2 lime
- 2 cups Water Plus more when sauce reduces
Instructions:
- Heat a skillet on medium heat. We used a cast iron skillet but any type if skillet will do. This dish does not go in the oven.
- Heat 1 tbsp of ghee in the skillet. Add chicken thighs once ghee is up to temperature. Lightly brown each side of the thighs.
- In a blender combine Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce, salt, oregano, cumin, cayenne pepper, shallot, garlic, lime juice and 2 cups of water. Blend until liquid.
- Once chicken is browned to your liking, add sauce into the skillet over top of all the chicken thighs. Cook for 90 minutes, flipping chicken periodically.
- When the sauce reduces down, continue to add water to restore it to it’s previous volume.
- After 90 minute shred the chicken. I shred it in the pan while it is cooking with a fork and tongs. If it does not come off the bone easy enough you can remove the thighs from the sauce and use a knife, then place the shredded pieces back in to cook further. (This step is easier if you’re using boneless thighs and can just be done in the skillet.)
- Cook the shredded chicken for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes allow the sauce to fully reduce down 1 last time. Keep an eye on it as it will burn if it reduces too much. Garnish with lime and cilantro and enjoy!
Notes
Written by
Matt Gaedke
Matt is a former college basketball player turned computer engineer who discovered his passion for health and nutrition after cutting sugar from his diet in 2016. That year he founded KetoConnect with Megha in order to share their ketogenic lifestyle through recipes, videos, and educational content. Matt is always seeking to grow and try new things, a passion he shares with his wife and two amazing sons.
Hi Matt & Megha. YOu guys are great and you have been such a big help to me on my keto journey. I love your recipes. THey help me to have the variety I crave. I love this recipe. I am concerned though. When I add the URL from the recipe to My Fitness Pal the calories are double what you show here. What am I doing wrong? You guys use that app too right? I think Megha aid that in one of your videos. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I’m trying to do the Mexican shredded chicken 5 day meal plan but don’t want to blow thru my 1500 calories and stop losing weight. Gina
Has anyone tried to cook this in an Instant Pot/pressure cooker? I’m worried about overcooking it
I just did this last night in the instantpot. I doubled the recipe so I have lots of leftovers for lunches this week. I doubled every ingredient except for the water, I did 3 cups. I seared the chicken on sauté in batches, then put everything in, cooked at high pressure for 25 minutes with a natural pressure release. I used a hand mixer to shread the chicken in the pot with thcheese sauce (I used boneless skinless) then put it back on sauté to reduce the liquid for a while, I want to say like 15 minutes or so. Stir it once in a while so the bottom doesn’t burn. It turned out great!
Juat made it and it was really good! I added a whole onion into the blender. It is quite spicy so if you dont like spicy things eliminate the cayne pepper and add only 1-2 chipotle peppers
Hi There
i want to try this recipe for a party i have coming up for around 30 odd people, and want to try in the slow cooker, how long do you suggest cooking in slow cooker for?
Thanks :-))
On low for 5-6 hours.
This is so delicious!! I’m about to go to the store to get chicken to make more. I might double it this time since I felt sad when I ran out of left overs last time!
Can you just clarify for me…Do I pull the peppers out of the can and just use those? None of the sauce that it’s the can with the peppers? The last batch I just dumped the whole can, peppers, sauce and all into the processor and I’m wondering if that was why it was so spicy. I loved and it just the same but might need to cool it off a bit for this next batch. Wondered if I made it wrong before. Thanks!
Ya, just use the peppers. Grab them out and toss them in with a bit of the sauce still on them but don’t dump all the sauce in or it will be very spicy.
Hi Mehga,
This recipe is just delicious. My husband who is not on keto but a picky eater simply loves it. Thank you for the delicious recipe.
My question to you and Matt is that do you guys could carbs from spices. I put all the same ingredients in the calorie counter that I use and the net carbs came out to be 7 gms for one serving. I was highly disappointed as I love this dish. Should I be concerned about the carbs coming from spices? I see the nutrition info you provided list only 2 net carbs.
Thanks again for all the hard work you both put in your recipes and blog!
Cheers
Sonali
SO glad you enjoyed this! If a recipe relies heavily on the spices, we try to count as much as we can – they can all add up! Onion powder, onion flakes, and any other flakes that used to be big but are now small. They all add up!
Hi!! I’ve got a bowl full of shredded chicken off a whole chicken. Any idea about steps and quantities?
Of course it’s already cooked.
Do I continue to cook on medium heat for the 90 mins?
Yep, at a simmer. Add some liquid if it reduces too fast.
i only have chicken breasts on hand. what would change with the macro nutrients. thanks, love your website
It wouldn’t change all that much, just a few grams of extra protein and a few less fat.
Just tried making this chicken tonight, and served it to my family. We all loved it–it was full of flavour and spice, which is just what we like! I used this chicken to make enchiladas with another recipe from this site–the 2-ingredient coconut flour tortillas. I topped it with a sour cream enchilada sauce and Monterey Jack cheese. The results were amazing! I have already been asked for the recipe. This is definitely going on my list of “craveable”! I will be making this again!!
SO GLAD YOU LOVED IT!!! It’s such a great taco meat also, add it to all the things!
I love this recipe! Do you think it would work well with pork or beef shoulder to get the macros heavier on the fat end? Thanks!
Hi! I want to try making this, this weekend. Is it possible to use your Low Carb BBQ Sauce with this? Thank you! Love the recipes.
yes!! It would be perfect!
Hi! I plan to try this recipe this week. But is there any way I can make this in a slow cooker instead? If so, what would the time be – same 90 minutes? Thanks!!
Hey there Lindsey! We’ve not tried it in a slow cooker, but imagine a few hours in the crock pot would be just fine! 3 hours on high, 6 hours on low is usually standard for shredded chicken 🙂
Guys, this sauce was amazing! I didn’t have chicken on hand so I cooked some ground beef and let it stew and it was amazing! Served over rices cauliflower and added some cheese for a keto burrito bowl.
I made this with boneless thighs and have been thinking about it ever since! It’s so good. I was wondering how it would turn out with ground beef so thanks for your review!
I am currently making this will pork.
Hi, how long will this keep in the fridge? Can I freeze this and then reheat later?
It keeps for about 7 days in the fridge. You should be able to freeze it for about 2 months.
any thoughts about using chipotle paste instead of the actual peppers?
I think that would work perfectly, just gotta get the ratio right.
This looks amazing!!! Super silly question, but if I want to do this in a crock pot, do you know what the process and time would be? Thank you!!
Hmm, that will be tough since we do not have much experience using a crock pot. I would say turn the crock pot on a higher setting and just cook until the chicken falls off the bone and the sauce is reduced to your liking.
Please help! I just made the large batch found in your PDF but I can’t for the life of me figure out the serving size for tonight’s dinner! How do I know what 1 thigh is if its all shredded up? lol Sorry if this is an obvious answer. I wanted to weight the chicken and assign macros to it but I am confused.
Just use 1/5th of the total amount it made!! You can eyeball it 🙂
Thanks! 😀 (I also tried your muffin recipe today too… awesome!)
This recipe is sooo good. The chipotle peppers in adobo sauce really put it over the top! Trying it in my crockpot this weekend for a party we are hosting (taco bar…yum)!
Wooh, great to hear Melinda! It’s definitely one of our favorite meal prep dishes.
Melinda, where can I find the crockpot version of this recipe? Would you mind to share?
I noticed that there is a cooking time difference in this version vs. the meal prep recipe version.
I cooked it following these directions (90 mins, shred, 30 mins, reduce sauce) with boneless thighs and found the meat was a bit overdone for my liking.
The meal prep version has a 60 minute cook time followed by the lid off time which is combined with the shredding. Personally I found that amount of time with boneless thighs worked out to better meat.
Perhaps the longer time is necessary for bone-in thighs?
Excellent recipe. Addictive heat and flavour!
Ya Josh, the cooking time increases for bone in thighs. The meal prep recipe is slightly different and should be about good for boneless thighs. Thanks for the feedback!
This is really good. I tasted the Adobo sauce and didn’t really like the flavor of it. After I blended the sauce, I really didn’t like the smell of it. But I went through with it and finished cooking the chicken in the sauce and when I tasted the final product it was amazing. Thanks for the recipe.