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:
Help! Help! I want to triple the batch. Would that be bad? How would it affect the cooking time in the slow cooker? Thank you!!
Hi Susan – Just increase the slow cooker time by 50% 🙂 It will be fine!
Hi Nagi, i’m hoping you can help diagnose what went so wrong with my try of this tonight 🙁 i followed the instructions exactly. I used my brand new Crockpot and cooked the recipe as advised for 2.5hrs on high. The chicken was done, however I ended up with so much liquid, (easily over 3 cups) – i was at the stove for 30 mins trying to reduce it – to no avail. I also doubled the cornflour/water quantity, this only worked slightly and we still ended up with shredded chicken stew tonight 🙁 Would you know what went wrong?
Hi, when using a slow cooker or pressure cooker, do you ONLY follow steps 1 or 2? Or do you need to continue with steps 4-7 (removing the chicken, then transferring liquid to a sauté pan, etc)? Sorry for the confusion!
Thanks!
Hi Elena, no problems at all! I should have made it clearer and will add this to the recipe 🙂 Yes you need to transfer to a saucepan to reduce the liquid otherwise it will be too thin 🙂
Thank you! Can’t wait to make it!
This is exactly what i was looking for! I want to make filipino chicken adobo using boneless chicken breasts, but when I’ve done it in the past, the center of the chicken didn’t absorb the flavor. This will solve that problem. Thanks!
Oh Nagi – my family died and went to heaven last night (with full tummies!). I fixed this dish for the first time and it was such a hit, there was fighting over who got to have the last little bit. I made a double batch, as there are 6 of us, and it still wasn’t enough! My husband got thirds before anybody else had a chance at seconds.
Thanks for such delicious quality recipes. I’ll definitely comment as we try more of your dishes! Keep cookin’ and bloggin’.
WOO HOO! I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed this Jenny, thank you so much for letting me know! N x
This was SO good. This is the second recipe I try of yours. I first made the shredded beef tacos and my boyfriend LOVED it! I cook everyday so he doesn’t really comment everyday on the food but it was a hit! Which is why I decided to try this recipe and once again it was a hit! I am so excited to try more recipes on your website since the last two were full of flavor!
That’s so wonderful that you enjoyed this Irma! Thank you for taking the time to come back and let me know! N x
I doubled the recipe in an electric pressure cooker and loved it! I only cooked it for 15 minutes though and my chicken was still a tad frozen. I then let it sit on the saute setting for 20 minutes and the sauce thickened up nicely with the corn starch mixture. It was really sweet though so might add less jam next time. thank you!
I’m so glad you liked it Courtnie! Yes adjust the jam if you want it less sweet. Wow, you must have even more of a savoury palette than me!! I’m definitely more of a savoury and sweet girl myself 🙂
The recipe sounds great, but if I can’t print out just the recipe I will never try it. I have a desk top computer, and can’t carry it into my kitchen. I will not print out multiple pages for instructions! Why can’t you have a print icon to just print the recipe?
Hi Nancy, glad you like the look of this. There is a print button on the recipe under the small photo of the recipe. 🙂
This looks delicious! I’m going to make it today. If I double the recipe to cook in the slow cooker how will this affect the cooking time? Sorry – I’m a total novice! Thanks so much.
Sorry for the late reply Lisa! 🙂 Rare weekend off! If you double it, it will probably only take another 30 minutes in the slow cooker. 🙂
Hi Nagi, thanks for the recipe! I’m Paleo so had to modify it a bit to conform. Used liquid aminos instead of soy sauce and used maple cyrup instead of jam – worked out delish! Also used boneless/skinless chicken thighs instead of breast meat and it worked quite well also – very tasty. Cooked it in dutch oven on the stove, it was ready in 50mins simmering on low but I didnt add any extra water in. Thanks again for the idea!
being paleo, did you substitute the cornstarch? with something else?
Woo hoo! So glad you enjoyed it JS! Clever conversion into paleo – thanks for the tips!
Oh and, one final tip for all Paleos out there – using arrowroot powder instead of corn starch for sauce thickening works like a charm. I used 1 tbsp of powder diluted in a little bit of cold water for every 150ml of liquid – gives a beautiful glossy sauce! Thanks again, Nagi 😉
Very good! I had to use red wine vinegar. I added ginger, crushed red peppers, and used sesame oil. My girlfriend loved it because she’s diabetic and it was pretty friendly while having a sweet flavor. 4.7
YAY! So glad you enjoyed it Bobby!
2 things
Pressure cooker people: do not double this recipe! I doubled it trying to make enough for the week and it did not come out right. The sauce never thickened up. It reduced by half, but never got that syrupy consistency. Maybe I needed to let it simmer longer? But it was already about an hour.
Peppercorns: I am a HUGE fan of spice and love heat (hot chili stew please!) and whatnot, but I hated the peppercorns in this dish! It didn’t provide as much heat (i was expecting red chili flake heat), as it did an odd kinda soapy flavor from the peppercorns. I’ve heard peppercorns can do that to a dish. It made it taste funky with each bite that had a peppercorn in it. We ended up spitting out the peppercorns like watermelon seeds. If I do this recipe again and use the peppercorns again, I’ll strain them out. Regular ground pepper is probably the best route, though.
Maybe the doubling up is what screwed up the whole thing, if the recipe is bad, or if it’s just not my type of taste.
Hi Xandra – doubling it was the problem. Liquid doesn’t evaporate with the pressure cooker so there would be significantly more liquid if you doubled the recipe so yes, it would need to simmer for much longer.
I love slow cooker food whats not to like just put everything in before work and come home to a meal with minimal fuss.
I love soy sauce (Kikkoman is the best) and this is a lovely easy dish and tastes great, bit dubious about the jam but couldnt taste it in the end, dead easy to make will definitely have again cheers Nagi.
Scotty
The jam is the secret ingredient in this!! 🙂 So glad you approve Scotty, thanks!!! 🙂
Hi Nagi,
I already have chicken shredded from a different recipe that no one want to eat but me. So I’ll try your recipe instead. What should I do for the liquid that is suppose to be reduced? This recipe should be a winner with the family!
Hi Hanni! Just toss the liquid through the shredded chicken! 🙂 Hope the fam loves it!!
I have made this twice now and really like it. I make it on the stovetop and it works great, although I would say it does’t take the full time from the recipe. We eat it with sriracha over brown rice with steamed broccoli!
Thanks Rachel! Glad it cooks faster for you 🙂 So glad you enjoy this!!
Made it and served with white rice. Very good. I was not sure whether i had to cover pot when chicken was simmering on the stove. But i did not. Do you? My chicken took about 1/2 hour or less to be ready to be shred. Thanks.
Gosh, that’s an oversight on my part! Sorry about that 🙂 I’ll update the recipe – yes it should be covered. I’m so glad you enjoyed it! N x
I made this for dinner today and I give this recipe 5 stars! I used apricot preserves, apple cider vinegar and added some red chill flakes when reducing the liquid. I used a crockpot and my chicken was done in 4 hours on low. So tender. Thanks for the recipe!
Wonderful! I’m so glad you enjoyed it Sabrina! Thanks very much for letting me know you enjoyed it!
OMG Nagi, never thought that one could cook a dish like this in the pressure cooker – but it turned out delicious and is ready so fast! Thank you very much for this incredible recipe (and all the others – I LOVE your blog!!!)
Cheers from Switzerland! 🙂
I’m SO glad you enjoyed it Sopna!! Thank you very much for taking the time to let me know! 🙂 N x
Love your recipe! Can you make it with frozen chicken in the pressure cooker?
Hi Kathie! Must say I’ve never tried it from frozen. I would be concerned the middle wouldn’t cook as quickly??
Hi Nagi! This recipe looks so delish but I almost have all the ingredients in my pantry. I am missing jam so is there any substitute for jam in this recipe? Thank you! ?
Hi Addanna! The closest substitute would be honey. Or molasses if you have it! Basically the thickest, stickiest sweet thing you have! Hope you love it!
Thank you so much. I’d be trying that out for dinner. Can’t wait to see how it goes 🙂 and OMG your recipes are so great and for the fact that you pay attention to detail! You’re a lifesaver! Keep doing what you’re doing 🙂
Hi Nagi. This recipe looks so delish and I almost have everything I need in my pantry but! I am out of jam ??. Is there any substitute for jam in this recipe? Thank you ?
Hi Adanna! I’m sorry, I thought I responded to this. 🙂 You can substitute with anything sweet – honey is a good sub, or molasses or even brown sugar!