Thursday, October 4, 2012

"Smoked" Pulled Chicken Sandwiches with Broccoli Slaw


My camera broke, so I've been using my mom's. Considering how nice her camera is, I was hoping all of my pictures would turn out amazing, but I clearly need a photography lesson (I've known this for some time now....). I hope this photo can still make your mouth water, at least a little.

Please raise your hand if you are sick and tired of boring chicken (my hands are both raised, and so are the hands of many of my clients at work, and Nick's hands and feet are all raised).



Nick and I both love pulled pork sandwiches, but we also know that they are not so great for us. Most places that serve pulled pork not only use the fattiest part of the pork (obviously, it makes the best pulled pork!) but they add insult to injury by loading it with sugary and salty BBQ sauce. The other day I set out on a mission to make a pulled chicken sandwich that was not only delicious, but also simple and somewhat healthy. Here is what I came up with.....

"Smoked" Pulled Chicken Sandwich
(Makes 4 large sandwiches)

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts (~2 pounds)
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
1/2-3/4 cup BBQ sauce
3-4 T liquid smoke

1 cup broccoli slaw
4 T your favorite slaw dressing

4 whole wheat buns

Directions

1. Pour the broth into a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Add the chicken to the sauce pan and make sure the broth is covering the chicken (if it's not, add some water). Boil chicken for 18-20 minutes.

2. Take out the chicken and let it cool for about 20 minutes. Once it's cooled, use your fingers or a form to shred the chicken.


3. Add the BBQ sauce and liquid smoke, and blend it into the shredded chicken (I used my hands for this).

4. In a small bowl mix the broccoli slaw and slaw dressing.

5. Create your sandwiches!



ESTIMATED Nutrition Facts
Not bad, right? Aside from the sodium (yikes) this sandwich looks pretty healthy to me!


Nick loved this sandwich, and is already asking me to make it again. To me that means it's a keeper!

QUESTION: What have you done with chicken lately to jazz it up? Do you ever use liquid smoke?

13 comments :

  1. I have definitely gotten sick of chicken, though not right now because Eric does not really eat chicken much which lately has meant I don't either.

    I usually don't like pulled chicken sandwiches because I feel like they use yucky parts of the chicken, however I bet I would like it if I made it myself. May have to give this a try!

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  2. Aaaa...chicken! Its the running joke in our house...'whats for dinner? Chicken?' It is so true..you have to stay on top of making it new was to break the monotony. This is such a great alternative to the pulled pork..I love your creativity!
    I have used liquid smoke...its just been awhile.
    Any chicken with a curry simmer sauce of salsa verde is a winner in our house! Good post!

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  3. liquid smoke? I've never heard of it! you are teaching me so much lately Gina with your cooking projects!!!
    I find chicken boring so I never cook it at home but this one looks so delicious, marking it down, :)

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  4. Your pulled chicken sandwich looks and sounds great! I love the crunchy slaw in there! And, no, I have never used liquid smoke. I'll have to look for it!

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  5. My favourite thing to do with chicken is to make a spicy peanut sauce and put them into a slow cooker. The sauce is mainly peanut butter and coconut milk so it's not terrible, just a little higher in calories because of the PB than I would like.. but boy, it tastes amazing.

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  6. Never used liquid smoke, do I need to change this? what else do you use it for? chicken- I find best chicken is either cooked on bone or with skin. We have 4 regular chicken recipes and I will raise my hands and feet too that we're bored.

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  7. I use liquid smoke a lot in vegetarian cooking to give soups and stews a "meaty" flavor without adding something like a ham hock-- I love it!

    These sammies look great!

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  8. I LOVE liquid smoke! I just discovered it recently. I always put it in chili now...wouldn't be the same without it. And I like soaking tempeh in liquid smoke and maple syrup and then frying it up for some fake breakfast meat.

    But this post makes me think I should indulge in some chicken. =)

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  9. I'm with Nick - these look awesome! Mark, however, would reject the slaw on the sandwich...because he's insane. I think that's what makes it as special as it is!

    I've used liquid smoke a time or 2...is it really 1/4 cup? I think I've used MAYBE 1/2 tsp at times, but never a lot. If 1/4 cup, I bet they are very smoky tasting...BBQ-style! :)

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  10. Never used liquid smoke before, but might need to change that! Love how easy this looks. Last week I made a really yummy pesto stuffed chicken which both my kids loved even though right before eating it, my son said he doesn't like chicken. What he later explained (after inhaling the pesto stuffed chicken) was that he doesn't like "plain" chicken. Clearly it's time to try new things!

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  11. girl this recipe is SMOKIN' i'm pretty bored of plain old chicken too but its in my fridge and i don't want it to go bad so i'm probably just going to have it tonight. wahhhh whatever! i'll drizzle with tahini and move on.

    liquid smoke though? uh WHAAAT that sonds pretty top chef badass.

    can we get a wedding update! or AT LEAST email me a wedding update! have you said YES?

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  12. YUM!!! So excited about this recipe! I love liquid smoke, and use it in our family's homemade bbq sauce recipe, but making the bbq sauce from scratch takes a long time and thus I don't fix it very often... This is the perfect solution for still having a nice smokey flavor! Thank you! I even have some bbq sauce waiting in the fridge! YAY!! :-)

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  13. We tend to make a lot of chicken too. I like to put this kind of recipe in the crock pot and it gets super tender. You need to get one!!! ;) Also like to crust chicken in walnuts or pistachios. I've never used liquid smoke. I don't know why but the name kind of scares me, ha!

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