Our compilation of best shredded chicken recipes includes incredibly delicious and super-easy recipes for everything from shredded chicken salads and chicken soups to dishes such as chilaquiles and tacos topped with pulled chicken. You can quickly and easily poach your own chicken and shred it when it cools, use leftover roast chicken, or buy a rotisserie chicken to make these recipes.
It’s absolutely scorching here in Siem Reap, where every day the weather apps are saying it feels ten degrees hotter than it is. The actual temperature of 37°C is quite hot enough, thank you – which is why I’m making Mexican shrimp cocktails, chilled summer soups, icy-cold smoothies, and these shredded chicken recipes.
Of course the sizzling temperatures are no surprise. Each year we brace for April, the hottest driest month of the year in Cambodia – despite being we’re well and truly acclimatised after a decade. It’s nowhere near as sweltering as it got in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, where we lived for eight years. It just feels like it! Fortunately, it’s not been as hot here as Thailand, where temperatures reached 45°C on the weekend. Let’s hope for our friends there that it didn’t feel like 55°C. Ouch.
All of this is to explain why we have containers of poached chicken breasts in the fridge, and today I was testing out cold Southeast Asian-inspired pork salads. Recipes for those coming soon! Despite the heat, we’re still sharing warming chicken soups for our readers in the southern hemisphere where it’s getting chilly already.
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And if you’re looking for more cooking inspiration, we have many hundreds of recipes from around the world in our archives from places we’ve lived, worked and travelled. Note that you can save your favourites by clicking on the heart on the right of any post to create your own private account. Now let me tell you all about our best shredded chicken recipes.
Best Shredded Chicken Recipes from Chicken Salads to Chilaquiles, Tacos and Soups
This collection of our best shredded chicken recipes features everything from light shredded chicken salads to Southeast Asian rice porridges. We strongly suggest bookmarking this page as we’ll be adding more recipes over coming months.
Vietnamese Chicken Salad Recipe
Topping our list of best shredded chicken recipes is this classic Vietnamese chicken salad recipe, will make you a fantastic year-round salad.
It’s fresh, fragrant, textured, and flavourful, not only courtesy of the ingredients, but that quintessential Southeast Asian salad dressing of fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, garlic, and chilli. We make it with pulled poached chicken but you can use rotisserie chicken pieces.
In summer, you can eat it just as it is, as a one-bowl meal or with other salads, and maybe slices of crusty baguette. In winter, you can serve it with warm chicken alongside a warm Vietnamese rice porridge or hot Vietnamese soup.
Vietnamese Chicken Salad Recipe with Crunchy Cabbage and Crispy Fried Shallots
Shredded Chicken Salad Recipe with Cucumber, Carrot and Daikon
This shredded chicken salad recipe with cucumber, carrot, daikon, and sesame chilli oil makes a deliciously light yet filling salad that’s perfect for a casual lunch or dinner, and it’s one of our best shredded chicken recipes.
Like so many of our original dishes, this shredded chicken salad recipe was the result of an experiment with leftovers. We had a little Sichuan sesame sauce left over from a bang bang chicken salad we’d had for dinner the previous night, plus loads of grated carrot and daikon from the char siu pork burger recipe with Asian slaw.
We had shredded poached chicken breasts in the fridge (but you can use your leftover rotisserie chicken instead), plenty of crunchy cucumbers, and sprigs of fresh coriander I’d picked from our balcony herb garden. I threw it all in a bowl, added chilli oil to what was left of the sesame sauce, drizzled that over the lot, dished it up, and sprinkled on some sesame seeds. So good.
Shredded Chicken Salad Recipe with Cucumber, Carrot, Daikon, and Sesame Chilli Oil
Bang Bang Chicken Salad Recipe
Our bang bang chicken salad recipe is another of our best shredded chicken recipes. It’s based on one of our all-time favourite Chinese dishes, the classic Sichuan bang bang chicken typically served as one of an array of starters at Sichuanese restaurants.
It was while testing poached chicken breast recipes that the idea of transforming the delightfully tongue-tingling, spice-laden bang bang chicken into a lighter yet still filling salad came to us, and it’s been on repeat for lunch and summer dinners ever since.
But of course you can use rotisserie chicken pieces instead. Crisp lettuce, crunchy cucumbers and fresh coriander really lighten it up, turning it into a salad as addictively delicious as its mother dish.
It’s a cinch to make, too, and comes together quickly, even more quickly if you use pieces of your leftover rotisserie chicken, breasts, thighs, skin and all.
Bang Bang Chicken Salad Recipe for a Fresh Light Take on the Spicy Sichuan Speciality
Lao Shredded Chicken Salad Recipe for Yum Gai Tom
Another of our best shredded chicken recipes, this Lao shredded chicken salad recipe with fragrant herbs, fish sauce and lime juice makes yum gai tom. It’s based on a recipe by the late Phia Sing, head chef of the Royal Palace in Luang Prabang, from the book Traditional Recipes of Laos.
It’s made with crunchy cucumbers, fresh coriander, dill and mint, and poached chicken breast, but it’s another shredded chicken salad for which you can easily exchange the poached chicken with leftover rotisserie chicken pieces.
Phia Sing used a whole chicken, in fact, along with two ripe tomatoes, which he dipped in hot water for a minute, peeled, halved, sliced lengthways and discarded the core and seeds. I’ve skipped the tomatoes, but you could certainly add those.
The palace chef also used shallots and garlic, which he placed in the embers of a charcoal fire (I will give that a go one day and report back), and only used coriander. I’ve added fresh mint and fresh dill, which are found in a lot of Lao salads, and are so refreshing.
Lao Shredded Chicken Salad Recipe with Fragrant Herbs, Fish Sauce and Lime for Yum Gai Tom
Classic Banana Flower Salad Recipe
This recipe for a banana flower salad – also called a banana blossom salad – makes the Cambodian banana flower salad called gnoam trayong chek in Khmer, another one of our best shredded chicken recipes, as well as one of our best summer salad recipes.
It’s super-easy, you just need to work fast so your banana flower doesn’t brown. It’s a fragrant and crunchy salad that is all about the texture and aromas. This salad falls into the category of ‘gnoam’ salads here in Cambodia. A gnoam, which you’ll also spot spelt as nhoam, is a fresh salad that’s prepared with cooked ingredients, such as poached chicken in this case.
The other sort of salad you’ll come across in Cambodia is called a p’lear, which features raw ingredients, such as raw fish that’s ‘cooked’ in a citrus-based dressing, like a ceviche is, or with raw beef, served like an Italian carpaccio.
Classic Banana Flower Salad Recipe for Cambodia’s Gnoam Trayong Chek
Spring Chicken Salad Recipe with Cabbage, Greens and Fragrant Herbs
This Mediterranean style spring chicken salad recipe makes a fantastic year-round salad with what are traditionally considered spring vegetables, such as sugar snap peas, cucumbers and cabbage.
Fragrant with fresh mint and dill, drizzled with a garlicky lemony Middle Eastern style yoghurt dressing, and sprinkled with sesame seeds and sumac, this salad uses leftover rotisserie chicken, but you could always use poached chicken.
Spring Chicken Salad Recipe with Cabbage, Greens and Fragrant Herbs
Shredded Chicken Tacos Recipe with Avocado and Vegan Chilli
Our shredded chicken tacos recipe with smashed avocado, vegan chilli and Mexican pickled onions and pickled cabbage makes a fantastic filling lunch or light dinner that’s a cinch to make and can be assembled quickly.
It’s another one of our best shredded chicken recipes as you can really use any parts of your rotisserie chicken, or poach chicken breasts, which you can pull apart when they cool down.
Plan ahead and prepare the chilli in advance and it means no cooking – aside from warming up the tortillas in a pan. Pop a fried egg on top for a breakfast taco.
Shredded Chicken Tacos Recipe with Avocado, Vegan Chilli and Mexican Pickles
Mexican Chilaquiles with Shredded Chicken Recipe
This easy Mexican chilaquiles recipe with fried eggs, shredded chicken and green salsa makes chilaquiles verdes, and it’s another one of our best shredded chicken recipes.
A pre-Hispanic Aztec dish, chilaquiles has long been a popular Mexican breakfast dish, but one that is eaten at any time of day.
Filling and comforting, it makes for a fantastic lunch or dinner, while my Mexican friends used to tuck into late-night bowls after an evening spent bar-hopping and clubbing, swearing it was the best hangover cure.
To make your shredded chicken for chilaquiles, you can use all and any part of your leftover rotisserie chicken, or poach chicken breasts then pull them apart when they cool down.
Mexican Chilaquiles Recipe with Fried Eggs, Shredded Chicken and Green Salsa for Chilaquiles Verdes
Mexican Chicken Tinga Taco Recipe
Another of our best shredded chicken recipes, this easy Mexican chicken tinga taco recipe makes warm soft flour tortillas with delicious Mexican chicken tinga – or tinga de pollo – grilled corn charred on a griddle pan, zingy pickled purple shallots and pickled purple cabbage, sprinkled with crumbly Mexican cotija and aromatic coriander.
Chicken tinga, which is essentially comprised of shredded chicken breast, has a soft texture and avocado is soft, so we felt our chicken tinga recipe needed a little crunch, hence we use corn.
The Mexican chicken tinga is easy to make (and it makes fantastic leftovers). You just divide the chicken tinga and corn between the tacos, then garnish with the quick pickles, Mexican cotija (or another similarly white cheese) and fresh coriander, and serve with dishes of pickles, cotija cheese, lime quarters, coriander, and hot sauces.
Mexican Chicken Tinga Taco Recipe with Grilled Corn, Pickled Shallots and Purple Cabbage
Mexican Chilaquiles with Shredded Chicken Recipe
This easy Mexican chilaquiles recipe with fried eggs, shredded chicken and green salsa makes chilaquiles verdes, and it’s another one of our best shredded chicken recipes. A pre-Hispanic Aztec dish, chilaquiles has long been a popular Mexican breakfast dish, but one that is eaten at any time of day.
Filling and comforting, it makes for a fantastic lunch or dinner, while my Mexican friends used to tuck into late-night bowls after an evening spent bar-hopping and clubbing, swearing it was the best hangover cure.
To make your shredded chicken for chilaquiles, you could really use any part of the chicken, but we think whole chicken breasts are best, and best poached, and if you poach them until they are just-done, they should stay moist.
Mexican Chilaquiles Recipe with Fried Eggs, Shredded Chicken and Green Salsa for Chilaquiles Verdes
Green Minestrone Soup Recipe
While I originally created this as a vegetarian recipe, it’s absolutely delicious with shredded chicken. What I love about it is that it makes an easy, versatile, year-round soup that starts out as a light fresh spring soup the first day you make it, but leave it overnight and it evolves into a warming, hearty autumn or winter broth.
This is truly a wonderful soup with pulled chicken and you can easily use your leftover rotisserie chicken meat in this broth; large or small chopped pieces, up to you. Veggies can be substituted according to the season but use frozen peas and frozen beans in autumn and you can pretend it’s spring! Just don’t forget the potatoes.
I leave the soup to simmer until the potatoes are soft and starting to break apart, the butter beans are rich and creamy, and the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese rind is melting and oozing. So comforting.
Burmese Chicken Coconut Soup Recipe for Ohn No Khao Swe
This ohn no khao swe recipe for Myanmar’s Burmese chicken coconut noodle soup is one of the most popular chicken recipes on the site and another of our best shredded chicken recipes.
Our ohn no khao swe recipe will make you one of Myanmar’s most-loved soups alongside mohinga. Terence’s rendition combines the best of the many bowls we slurped on our travels, starting with the first ohn no khao swe we savoured at Yangon’s grand old hotel, The Strand.
Ohn no khao swe consists of egg noodles in an aromatic chicken soup with a coconut milk base, and chicken drumsticks, although we use poached chicken breasts in this recipe, and you can use rotisserie chicken pieces. Garnish with crunchy fried noodles, boiled eggs, shallots, fried garlic, dried chilli, lime, and coriander (cilantro).
Ohn No Khao Swe Recipe for Burmese Chicken Coconut Noodle Soup
Thai Rice Soup Recipe for Khao Tom Gai
Our easy Thai rice soup recipe with chicken and soft-boiled eggs makes khao tom gai, a beloved single-bowl meal in Thailand eaten any time of day, whether for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, or supper. It’s another one of our best shredded chicken recipes.
While I make a stock from the water the chicken is poached in then simmer leftover rice in that aromatic stock, you could make a stock from your rotisserie chicken carcass or use a store-bought stock or stock cubes.
Instead of topping the rice soup with the shredded poached chicken, use your rotisserie chicken pieces, as well as soft-boiled eggs with runny yolks, a sprinkle of sliced scallions and crispy fried onions, and sliced chillies to add heat.
Thai Rice Soup Recipe with Poached Chicken and Soft Boiled Eggs for Khao Tom Gai
Cambodian Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe for Kuy Teav
This traditional Cambodian kuy teav recipe makes one of Cambodia’s most popular breakfast noodle soups called kuy teav sach moan. It’s made in the home but also eaten at markets, roadside kuy teav stalls and simple eateries.
We use succulent poached chicken breasts in this recipe, but anything goes in Cambodia, where brown chicken meat is favoured, so you can use whatever chicken meat you have left on your rotisserie chicken leftovers.
This chicken soup is in the restrained style you’d typically find in a simple local eatery or market or street food stall in Cambodia. A good clear flavourful stock is the hallmark of this soup rather than a bowl abundant with ingredients.
Classic Cambodian Kuy Teav Recipe for Cambodia’s Favourite Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken and Potato Soup Recipe
This easy chicken and potato soup recipe makes a homemade potato and chicken soup from scratch that is comforting and healing. It’s the kind of soup to make if you’re unwell, a little down or in need of hugs, and it’s another of our best shredded chicken recipes.
Because while the base of this warming winter soup recipe is an easy chicken stock made from the poached chicken breasts that go into the soup, you can just use store-bought stock, chicken bouillon or chicken stock cubes, pull apart your leftover rotisserie chicken pieces and add those to the broth near the end.
It’s a simple, hearty soup that’s subtly seasoned but given texture at the end with crunchy croutons and crispy fried shallots and is enlivened by fresh fragrant dill – or any aromatic herb of your choosing, as it’s also incredibly versatile.
Chicken and Potato Soup Recipe for a Comforting Soup that Starts with an Easy Stock
Creamy Corn Chowder Recipe with Potatoes, Parmesan and Croutons
My corn chowder recipe makes a creamy potato corn chowder with Parmigiano Reggiano, scallions and croutons. Add those chicken pieces you’ve pulled from the carcass and it becomes another of our best shredded chicken recipes.
The chowder is ever so lightly spiced with a little curry powder, turmeric and paprika – so gently spiced it just adds warmth. A rind of Parmigiano Reggiano melts in the chowder adding a kick of umami.
The deliciously dense creamy corn soup is traditionally thickened with milk or cream, however, I use potatoes to give it a creamy consistency, and crunchy homemade croutons to add texture. Shredded chicken pieces are the perfect addition.
Creamy Corn Chowder Recipe with Potatoes, Parmesan, Croutons and a Potted Chowder History
Cambodian Chicken Rice Soup Recipe for Borbor Sach Moan
Our Cambodian chicken rice soup recipe makes borbor sach moan, Cambodia’s chicken congee, and it’s another of our best shredded chicken recipes. Our Cambodian recipes are incredibly popular with our readers, and this remains one of the most-read.
This nourishing dish is a classic Cambodian-Chinese comfort food favourite and while this recipe uses chicken breasts poached in stock, here in Cambodia, you’ll also find bowls of borbor with pork, meatballs, fish, dried fish, seafood, snails, and frog legs.
A range of condiments are also sprinkled, splashed and doused on Cambodian congee, including fish sauce, dried fish floss, chilli oil, chilli flakes, pickles, and fresh aromatic herbs. Borbor doesn’t get as much attention as Cambodian breakfast noodle soups, such as kuy teav and nom banh chok, but it’s just as delicious.
Cambodian Chicken Rice Porridge Recipe for Borbor Sach Moan, Cambodia’s Congee
Please do let us know in the comments below if you make any of our best shredded chicken recipes as we’d love to hear how they turned out for you.
