5 minutes prep for dinner? Yes please! Especially if it’s this juicy pile of shredded chicken coated with a sticky Asian sauce! Make this Shredded Sweet Soy Sauce Chicken Breast in your slow cooker, pressure cooker or on the stove – instructions provided for all three.
Like Slow Cooker Crispy Chinese Shredded Chicken, this Asian shredded chicken is ideal to toss through noodles, use in salads or serve over rice!
Shredded Sweet Soy Sauce Chicken Breast
This is a bit of a unique recipe in my books for a couple of reasons. Firstly, there are very few recipes where I’ll say it really does not matter if you brown the meat first before cooking it. This really is a “chuck it all in, set and forget” recipe.
And secondly, I don’t cook with chicken breast much. I know it’s healthier and I do know a foolproof way of poaching it so it’s guaranteed to come out juicy (I’ve got the direction in this Foolproof Poached Chicken Chinese Noodle Soup recipe).
But chicken breast is more expensive and has less flavour than every single other part of the chicken! (Eerm, well, I must say, I stick to the ordinary cuts – wings, thighs etc. I’m told that chicken feet, liver, heart etc is very tasty, but I don’t have any immediate plans to find out for myself!)
I find it very amusing when I go to Asian butchers and find that “western” cuts of meat are so cheap because Asians don’t value lean cuts of meat like chicken breast, lamb back strap and pork tenderloin. Asians love “dark meat” – chicken wings, and red meat cuts that need to be slow cooked. More flavour!
However, when it comes to shredded chicken, breast is best (try saying that after 5 wines). You can make this with any cut of chicken, but chicken breast shreds the easiest. Plus, because the sauce it’s tossed in is so jammy, you don’t need a fatty cut of chicken.
I make this in my slow cooker, on the stove and even the pressure cooker. Just depends on my schedule on the day. 🙂 No marinating is required, no browning, nothing. This really is a super shortcut recipe that doesn’t compromise on flavor or quality at all. You know how there are some recipes which are turned into shortcut recipes? This is not one of those. This is how it is meant to be made.
It’s a handy “back pocket” recipe to have because you probably always have the ingredients to make this in your pantry. And the sauce flavour is quite neutral so it’s a great base for adding your own touch. I like to add ginger, sriracha or red pepper flakes, a dash of hoisin or oyster sauce, or sesame oil.
Typically I just serve it on rice, though I LOVE it in Chinese buns too. And I often make a double batch because the sauce and chicken are fantastic for making fried rice! I’ve provided directions in the notes to the recipe.
Oh, and it freezes well too! The sauce does thin slightly, but the flavour is all there. When I defrost it, I like to pan fry it as the caramelisation sort of revitalises it and the excess liquid evaporates.
Hope you’re having a wonderful week! – Nagi
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Shredded Sweet Soy Chicken Breast
Ingredients
Shredded Chicken
- 1 lb / 500g chicken breast (skinless, boneless pieces)
- 2 cloves of garlic , minced
- 1/2 onion , finely diced
- 1 tbsp oil (vegetable, canola, olive oil or grapeseed oil)
- 1/3 cup soy sauce (ordinary soy sauce)
- 1/3 cup white vinegar (or substitute with other vinegar except balsamic)
- 3 tbsp jam (Note 1)
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns or 1/2 tbsp ground black pepper (Note 2)
- 3/4 cups water
Sauce Thickening
- 2 tsp cornstarch / cornflour
- 3 tsp water
Instructions
- Slow Cooker: Place all the Shredded Chicken ingredients in the slow cooker and cook on low for 5 hours (or 2 1/2 hours on high).
- Pressure Cooker: Place all the Shredded Chicken ingredients in the pressure cooker. Cook for 35 minutes on high.
- Stove: Place all the Shredded Chicken ingredients in a saucepan large enough for the chicken to fit snugly in one layer. Add 1/2 cup extra water so the chicken is mostly, but not completely submerged. Cover and simmer for about 50 to 60 minutes, turning once or twice.
- The chicken is ready when it can be easily shredded with two forks. Remove the chicken from the liquid and shred it while it is warm. Set aside and cover to keep warm.
- Transfer the liquid from the slow cooker / pressure cooker to a saucepan and bring to simmer. (Note 3) Reduce to around1 1/4 cups - it should only take a few minutes.
- Mix together the Sauce Thickening ingredients and add to the saucepan. Simmer until it it thickens to a syrup consistency.
- Toss the chicken in the sauce and serve over rice. (Note 4)
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Very tasty and tender, but too much pepper even with only half a teaspoon of ground pepper. Will have to reduce this in future.
Hi Nagi! How would you recommend I make this with already cooked and shredded chicken breast?
Hi B! I just use the sauce ingredients (soy sauce, vinegar, water, etc) and make the sauce in the pan. Then, thicken with the cornstarch and should be good to coat the chicken! Works well and hubby gives it a thumbs up.
I have a whole free-range small chicken from a local farm… I’m wondering if I could make this with that chicken or if the skin would make for too much fat? Maybe if I omit the oil or skim it? I thought I’d cook until it was fall off the bone, then remove, debone and remove skin, then return to sauce.
I would remove the skin before cooking but I have no idea how easy it is to do when using a whole chicken. Otherwise once you cook the chicken with sauce, refrigerate the sauce. Chicken fat is saturated fat, and saturated fat will solidify when cold which makes it much easier to remove than skimming it off when it’s hot and much less waste!
This was super easy to make and so delicious! I cooked the chicken on the stovetop, and it was tender in under 30 minutes. The sauce thickened up perfectly. I appreciate how very reliable all of your recipes are; they have been a huge hit with my family!
Delicious! I added all of the things recommended in your notes. It wasn’t quite sweet enough for me so i added a few tablespoons of brown sugar right at the end and that made it a winner. Thanks Nagi!
Tripled the recipe and added fresh ginger in at the beginning. Increased slow cooker time by 50%. Reducing sauce and thickening took quite a while and required a bit extra cornflour/water than the scaled up amount. Beautiful result with leftovers for school lunches for the week.
Great recipe with so much flavour! I use this for quick and easy work lunches with some steamed rice and steamed vegies. I also think it’d work perfectly in asian fusion tacos
I made this on the weekend and again tonight with leftover chicken breasts it was that good! I used a pressure cooker and added some ginger and chilli.
I made this tonight! It was AMAZING! So easy and flavorful! Family LOVED it! Your recipes never fail!
I absolutely love this recipe. I’ve been making it for years and finally figured I should write a comment. The chicken has amazing flavor and holds up great for leftovers. It was a favorite for my husband and I pre- kids and now that we have two little ones its still a go-to recipe in my house. Thank you so much!
Excellent, so tasty- and easy. This is the second time I’ve made it using the slow cooker. Thank you, Nagi, We have started making a lot of your recipes. They are reliably good.
I love hearing this – that’s awesome Sue!!! N x
Amazing! I did this in the pressure cooker, the chicken fell apart trying to take it out and was so tender and tore apart easily. The sauce was so tasty! I love how easy it was to make. I’ll definitely make this again.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Brendan, thanks much for letting me know!! N x
So good!! Especially with some Japanese mayo on top!
Hi Nagi, I cooked this for dinner tonight and it was so easy and so delicious. I’ll certainly be cooking this again!
Thanks so much for the great feedback Mignon! N x
Hi, I tried this and it was very peppery. I used 1/2 tbsp of ground black pepper as called for in the recipe. Should that be 1/2 tsp? Unfortunately the pepper really took over. Will try it again with less. It was easy to throw together.
I went to make this tonight as I already had some shredded chicken breast to use up. Had read through comments before making and remembered yours. I had to alter the recipe for just 2 people, and noticed that no matter what Serving Size you let the recipe calculate for it does not adjust for the ground pepper variation. Hope Nagi sees this and looks into it. No idea how many people her original recipe called for which would be important here.
BTW basically made the sauce portion with Blackberry seedless jam, reduced, thickened and added my leftover shredded chicken to it and served over 3-minute microwave frozen jasmine rice. SUPER quick meal, and it came out so flavorful. Asked my husband if he’d like it again and he quickly said yes!
Thanks Nagi, nice to knock it out of the park for dinner with so little effort.
Gonna try this recipe this week as I have some steam buns I don’t know what to do with. Do you think this would be a good filling for steam buns? With green onion and cucumber?
Hi Martina! I was thinking to do the same and use this filming with some steam buns ? Did this work?
Made this tonight…doubled everything. Turned out a bit vinegary and watery but just adjusted to taste with some extra jam, extra cornflour and simmered sauce down for longer til syrupy…was really easy and yum…picky three year old loved it…yay!!! Another winner…Thanks Nagi!🤗
Another fantastic recipe. Devoured by my toddler and husband! I added sliced carrots to the slow cooker for a veg boost and served with rice, avocado and cucumber ribbons. The recipe was perfect with bone-in thighs too (as that’s all I had!). Yay for another keeper of a recipe. Oh I did have an issue getting the sauce to thicken but just added a little more cornflour.
Recently bought a slow cooker during our isolation & searching for recipes when stumbled across this delicious chicken recipe!
I couldn’t believe it was so easy and effortless. It was truly delicious with noodles and veggies – the whole family loved it. Another great Nagi recipe!
I can’t wait to try more of your slow cooker recipes 😋
This is a regular in our household! So delicious and easy!! I add in all the extras you suggest and do the slow cooker option and it’s perfect every time! Thanks Nagi 🙂
Perfect Sarah! N x