How To Make Shredded Meat (Chicken, Beef Or Pork) In A Food Processor
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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.
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.
neat technique. Much faster than two forks or your fingers!
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
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
That looks just like hand-shredded! Thanks for sharing the tips!
Great technique, I have never done it this way but it would save my fingers…I always bend up burning them!
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!
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!
I love using shreded chicken, but using two forks can be time consuming if you need more that a breast or two, can’t wait to try this….THANK YOU!!!
Hi there,
I went looking to see if anyone knew if one could use a food processor to shred pork for Pulled Pork Sandwiches. I found you and tried it tonight. Wow! It worked like a charm. We just finished dinner and it was a hit. I only used the pulse setting on my breville. Wonderful and well shredded. Thank you.
Great tip, worked perfectly. Thanks so much!!!
I have a question! Do you put the chicken down the opening on the the top cover and not push it down? I am making a large batch of chicken salad soon and look forward to trying this! Thank you!
Yes, I use a slicing disk blade (NOT the shredding blade) and put the chicken down the opening on the top cover. I don’t push it down because if you push it down, the pieces of chicken will be too big. When it’s not pushed down, the gravity pushes it down just the right amount for the shredded chicken pieces to be the correct size :)
This technique worked great (and I would have used the shredder if I was trying to figure it out myself!). Thank you1
will the meat shred better if it is slightly frozen?
I never tried using it on slightly frozen meat. Since the meat is cooked, it shreds very easily already, freezing is not needed.
Thank you!!! This was so much faster than using my hands and 2 forks, it always hurt! I just wasn’t sure which blade to use, so thank you!!
Thank you for teaching us how to use the blade that sat in my cupboard for over 10 years.
Quick question….is it better to shred cold cooked chicken breast or hot/warm cooked chicken breast.
Also, can’t wait to try doing your shrimp ideas.
You are welcome! It doesn’t matter if the chicken is cold or warm, the food processor will shred it the same way.
Thank you for the tip…My hands shake so this is way safer for me than using a knife or taking time to use a fork!!!
Worked Great for my Philly Steak and Cheese! Been Manually shredding for years… No MORE! Thank you!
You just saved me a lot of time and wear and tear on my hands-I make my dogs food, and I usually cut up cooked chicken breasts to mix with other ingredients. What a chore! I tried your shredding method with my food processor, done in ten minutes! Thank you!
Thank you for the wonderful tip. My blades are dual – one side does the grating and the other side does the slicing. Worked perfectly with no issues and my chicken was shredded – once I figured out which side to use. LOL.
Nice tip now I’m ordering a food processor (again) lol never knew it could shred meat! I prefer my ninja for chopping. I cook a lot and have had to shred all meats by hand and its need easy to shred lean beef!
Can you use beef that’s already been sliced?
yes!
My Cuisinart slicer blade has multiple settings for thickness. Which one do you recommend for shredding the meat? It dials from 1 to 6. Thanks!
Hmmm sorry no idea, mine doesn’t adjust. I would try the medium setting and see how it works, then adjust from there.
Used this on leftover, sliced pork loin. Worked perfectly, and I am having pork burritos for dinner tonight!
Thank you so much for posting this, I am new to using a food processor and you’re post to give me a fast and easy to understand answer!
I needed this. The tip about not pressing down while using the slicer is so helpful! I think I was missing basic things like that to make my food processor more useful