Chicken has a reputation for stretching, but just how long can it last? According to some people, a rubber-like 5 meals or more! While I’ve never found that to be realistic—a cup of meat isn’t much, after all—3 meals is definitely doable if the meat is shredded.
I know that if I served whole pieces, a chicken would be only one dinner for my family. Instead, I shred the meat and turn it into different dishes, adding sides like bread and salad to make it more filling.
A rotisserie can be used if you’re short on time, but I like to roast a fresh chicken. Look for something around 7-lbs, or cook two smaller birds at once. When it’s fully cooked and cooled, shred the meat and separate into white and dark. It should yield approximately 6 cups of cooked meat with skin and bones removed.
I’d much rather eat white meat than dark, but if it’s mixed with a lot of other flavors, I don’t mind it as much (think chili, spicy sauce, etc.)
Here are some of my favorite recipes to use:
Cranberry Almond Chicken Salad
Sometimes I will make 3 dinners and other times I’ll do two chicken dinners plus the chicken salad for lunch. Beyond that, it’s just too much of the same (we do like variety around here)!
In addition to saving money, cooking/serving chicken this way also saves time, enabling me to do more things outside the kitchen.
What’s your favorite “rubber chicken” meal?
How many people are in your family, TJL? I’ve often wondered how exactly people make a chicken last so long so shredding the meat (and stretching it with other ingredients) makes sense. After all, I use1 breast for every 2 people when I just cook the breasts but if I cook them in the crockpot with sauce and veggies and then shred them, it definitely serves more than that. People also use the carcass to cook chicken noodle soup, then reuse the bones again to make stock, etc. I rarely buy whole chicken these days, but I might just get one soon to experiment and see how long I can make my chicken last when feeding 2 teens and 2 adults…
Oh I agree, counting making carcass soup or bone stock isn’t a “meal” to me; it’s just using leftovers that would normally be thrown out. I buy bone-in breasts most often but if I find a killer sale on whole chickens or chicken legs, I’ll get those too. My guy loves legs actually, but I’m a white meat snob. We have 4, but not teens. I would think 1 chicken wouldn’t even be enough for dinner with teens. Last week for Hanukkah when we had a party with 10 people, it took 2 family packs to feed everyone.
I’ve never been able to get more than two meals from a chicken. Once fresh roasted and then the leftovers go into a soup.
Those sandwiches look really yummy. I love having cold shredded chicken sandwiches with mayo!
I love making a chicken last for a few days.
I make a whole chicken in my crockpot and i have meals for days using in different recipes.