Slow Cooker Vietnamese Pulled Chicken

Slow-Cooker Vietnamese Pulled Chicken

Busy week coming up? Cook up these easy poached chicken breasts infused with the flavors of the ubiquitous Vietnamese sauce nuoc cham in your slow cooker on Sunday. Then enjoy the leftover chicken three different ways over the days to come—ladled with the broth over rice noodles, layered with vegetables on a sandwich and mixed with mayo to make a creamy chicken salad.

• 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 3 shallots, very thinly sliced
• ¼ cup fish sauce (see Tips)
• 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
• 2-4 Thai chiles, very thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

• 2 teaspoons lime zest
• 4 pounds skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts
• 2 cups julienned or grated carrots
• ½ cup lime juice
• ⅓ cup sliced fresh mint
• ⅓ cup sliced fresh basil

1. Combine broth, shallots, fish sauce, brown sugar, chiles (or crushed red pepper) and lime zest in a 6-quart slow cooker. Nestle chicken meat-side down in the broth. Cook on High for 3 hours or Low for 6 hours.
2. Remove the chicken to a clean cutting board. Discard the skin and shred the meat. Return the chicken to the slow cooker and stir in carrots, lime juice, mint and basil.

• Equipment: 6-quart slow cooker
• To make ahead: Refrigerate for up to 3 days
• Tips: Look for pungent fish sauce, made from salted fermented fish, with other Asian ingredients. We use Thai Kitchen fish sauce in our nutritional analyses—it’s widely available and lower in sodium than other brands.

Nutrition information:  Serving size: 1 cup Per serving: 157 calories; 3 g fat(1 g sat); 1 g fiber; 8 g carbohydrates; 24 g protein; 13 mcg folate; 60 mg cholesterol; 4 g sugars; 2 g added sugars; 3,317 IU vitamin A; 6 mg vitamin C; 32 mg calcium; 1 mg iron; 482 mg sodium; 342 mg potassium

From: EatingWell Magazine, July/August 2017