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Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

Pulled chicken sandwich with cole slaw and picklesPulled chicken sandwiches are a lean, healthy alternative to pulled pork and shredded beef and are delicious, to boot. No fancy rub used here—just salt and pepper to season the meat, a favorite barbecue sauce mixed in afterwards, and a good quality bun.

Barbecue The Chicken

Hot and Fast chicken

To make pulled chicken, you need to start with barbecued chicken. You can cook the chicken “low & slow” or “hot & fast”, which ever way you prefer. Since you’ll be removing the skin at the end, there’s no sense in wasting good rub and sauce on the meat during cooking. A sprinkle of salt and pepper on all sides of the chicken before barbecuing and some mild smoke wood are all that’s needed.

If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to make barbecued chicken for pulled chicken, try Hot & Fast Chicken but skip the rub and sauce shown in the recipe and use salt and pepper instead.

Plan on getting 6 good-sized sandwiches from a 3-4 pound whole chicken.

Pull The Chicken

Once you’re barbecued the chicken, remove it from the cooker and let cool for 15 minutes or until you can handle it comfortably.

Separate the breast from the leg quarter by cutting through the thigh joint.

Half chicken separated into leg quarter and breast/wing

Remove the skin from both pieces and remove the wing from the breast portion. The wing makes a tasty treat for the chef.

Wing and skin removed

Using two forks, shred the breast meat into bite-sized pieces.

Shredding breast meat with two forks

Using your fingers, pull the dark meat off the leg and thigh.

Pulling dark meat from leg quarter

Chop the dark meat to make it a bit finer.

Chopping the dark meat

Here’s the resulting dark and white meat from half a chicken.

Piles of chopped dark meat and shredded white meatCombine all the meat into a mixing bowl. Add a favorite barbecue sauce—about 1/4 cup (2 ounces) for each pound of chicken (pre-cooked weight)—and mix thoroughly.

Mixing chicken with warm barbecue sauce

Heat the sauced meat in the microwave for a few minutes until it’s warmed through.

Build The Sandwich

Toast some soft hamburger buns and put 4-5 ounces of pulled chicken on each sandwich. Drizzle with more warm barbecue sauce, if desired, and serve with coleslaw and pickles on the side.

Pulled chicken sandwich with cole slaw and pickles

This photo shows the nice texture you get from the shredded breast meat and the chopped dark meat.

Close-up view of pulled chicken texture

More Chicken Links On TVWB

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