How To Make Shredded Meat (Chicken, Beef Or Pork) In A Food Processor

shredded chicken in a bowl

You can use shredded meat in many recipes. For example, I use shredded chicken in the chicken salad, shredded BBQ chicken sandwich, and as an addition to pasta dishes and stir fries. You can also use shredded meat as a filling for quesadillas, enchiladas and burritos, as well as sandwich wraps. There are certainly many ways to use shredded meat, but what is the quickest way to make shredded meat? Certainly, the food processor!

Shredded the chicken, beef or pork only takes seconds when you use a food processor. But if you don’t use the proper blade and technique, you can end up with the crumbles or gooye glop instead of the shreds :) If you tried shredding meat in the food processor, and it looked nothing like the shredded chicken on the picture above, read on!

Here’s how to make shredded meat correctly in the food processor. First of all, don’t use the “shredder” blade. It seems counter-intuitive, since the “shredder” is supposed to be for shredding :) Well, that shredding blade works great for shredding carrots, but not for meat! For the meat, you need a “slicer” disk blade – the round top blade with a single slit.

slicing blade for the food processor

Fit your food processor with the top “slicer” disk blade, and add the meat on top. Now, here’s a very important technique you need to follow: don’t push the top with your hand. Pulse the food processor, and let the gravity do the work. If you press on the top pusher thingy, the food processor will make slices. If you don’t push, it will make shreds. The slicer blade with the combination of “no pushing” technique will produce the perfect meat shreds.

shredded chicken in the food processor

7 Responses to How To Make Shredded Meat (Chicken, Beef Or Pork) In A Food Processor

Dan on October 21, 2011 at 10:56 am

neat technique. Much faster than two forks or your fingers!
Kitchen Belleicious on October 21, 2011 at 6:38 pm

You know I have yet to use that blade thing that came with my processor- now I have a reason too! This is a great how to post and one everyone should read! Awesome
Nami | Just One Cookbook on October 21, 2011 at 6:42 pm

I learned a big lesson today. I always wonder what “that” is. It’s a slicer. LOL. How embarrass… I have FP and use it occasionally, but I tend to use my own chopping that I barely take out my FP. I didn’t know we can shred meat this beautifully!!! I got to try this method next time. Good thing I didn’t throw away the slicer… just kidding. =P
Angie@Angiesrecipes on October 21, 2011 at 10:40 pm

That looks just like hand-shredded! Thanks for sharing the tips!
cassie @ bake your day on October 29, 2011 at 8:09 am

Great technique, I have never done it this way but it would save my fingers…I always bend up burning them!
Clint Anderson on March 9, 2012 at 12:14 pm

This looks so easy ,I will do this first thing in the morning with my beef roast thats in the crock pot right now..Thanks for the great tips!
Dara on September 4, 2012 at 8:46 am

Thanks for the info. My mother-in-law just gave me my very first food processor and I was hoping that it would shred chicken since most sites say to use a standing mixer. This was super helpful, thanks!