The number one reason I decide to just order a pizza is because I don’t feel like making the meat. Can you relate? I don’t love touching the slimy, wet, raw meat…cutting out the arteries and veins…and then cooking it too. I dread it. So, lately I’ve been thinking ahead. I’ll throw the chicken, roast, pork or whatever into the crock pot, shred it, bag it and freeze it. It makes life so much easier and I have to do the yucky stuff only once! I can have dinner ready on any given day in less than ten minutes! Perfect!
I will get like 15 or more pounds of chicken (or other meat), stuff it in my crockpot with about a cup of whatever broth I have on hand…and cook it on low for 8 to 10 hours until done. If I don’t have time to shred it that day, I’ll just put it in the fridge until the next day when I might have more time.
I then put about two cups of meat into several freezer ziploc bags, squeeze out the air and then throw them all into a gallon sized freezer ziploc bag. Freeze. Done. Life, simplified.
Now, on to the good stuff…and the reason I pulled out a bag of frozen chicken today! Have you been to Rumbi Island Grill?? Or, is it just a Utah thing? This place has yummy salads! One of my favorites is the Voodoo Chicken salad, so I was super excited to see their chef on Good Things Utah a while back giving out the recipe. So, this is the real deal…no copycat’s here!
There’s a good number of ingredients in the dressing but it makes a big batch and you’ll have enough for days to come (plus family/friends)! Plus, if your chicken was made ahead of time…this is a 5 minute meal!
Okay, for the salad you need: lettuce mix, feta cheese, tomatoes (I don’t like tomatoes…so, none pictured), tortilla chips (or if you are ambitious, make your own strips, chicken and the dressing.
For the dressing you need: dijon mustard, lime juice, chili paste, crushed red pepper, lite mayo, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, white sugar, minced garlic, and pureed ginger.
To make the dressing you combine all dressing ingredients in a bowl, except for the ginger. Mix with your hand mixer for about 2 minutes. Using a whisk, stir in the ginger until blended.
* Note – It took me so long to find chili paste at a store! Most stores don’t have it. But, I finally found it at Smith’s in the asian food section. I could only find a garlic chili paste but that worked fine. Chili paste and chili sauce are NOT the same thing.
The salad consists of the lettuce (obviously), warm chicken, crushed tortilla chips or homemade strips, feta cheese, tomatoes, and the dressing! So good!
With your frozen chicken bags, you can also make these yummy meals in a matter of minutes:
Rumbi Island Grill’s Voodoo Chicken Salad
For the salad:
Lettuce
Feta Cheese
Diced Tomatoes
Crushed Tortilla Chips or Homemade Strips
Voodoo dressing
Cooked chicken (diced, shredded, etc.)
For the dressing: (you may want to cut this recipe in half if you don’t want tons of leftovers)
1/4 cup Dijon Mustard
1/4 cup Lime Juice
1/4 cup Chili Paste (found in the asian food section)
2 TBS. Crushed Red Pepper
3/4 cups Lit Mayonnaise
1 1/2 cups Sesame Oil
1 cup Rice Wine Vinegar
1/2 cup Soy Sauce
1 1/2 cups White Sugar
1/4 cup Minced Garlic
1/3 cup Pureed Ginger (found in the produce aisle)
Directions: Mix all of the dressing ingredients, except the ginger, in a bowl with a hand mixer for a couple minutes. Add the ginger and stir with a whisk until well blended. Top your salad with the chicken, tortillas, feta cheese, tomatoes, and the dressing.
I need to start making chicken beforehand like this. I hate dealing with it practically every night!
This sounds delicious…I love the idea of having the meat already cooked! I need to do more of this too.
I sooo love this idea! Have been in this mood all week. Last night was pizza night.
I’m so lazy, I buy a rotisserie chicken at costco and shred that to freeze.
yum! that salad looks amazing! i’ll have to give it a try!
and, so smart to freeze shredded chicken. i get too lazy to thaw and cook anything lately…
Great tips! I love that salad thanks for the recipe! I’m so glad I found your blog!!
Why oh why did you have to do that post TODAY? That looks so freakin good.
Great salad! I just wonder… how do you go about thawing your frozen chicken?
Yummy! I just ate at Rumbi today! Can’t wait to try this!
Arteries and veins, huh? LOL
Thanks for all the pre-cooked chicken recipes. We grill just about every Sunday (weather and season premitting) and I just have my husband grill extra meat for meals during the week. I needed some new chicken recipes to add to my repetoire. So, thanks again!
Monica, since I only have 2 cups of shredded chicken in a bag it thaws pretty quickly. I’ll either leave it on the counter for an hour, leave it in the fridge overnight to defrost, or just throw it right in a hot pan and heat it back up. You could also defrost it in the microwave…just don’t dry it out.
Thanks for coming by!
Mariel
i love this salad! it is one of my most favorite meals of all time. i have it in a ward cookbook but had forgotten about it until i read your post. thanks for the reminder!
These are such great ideas. I am the worst at making dinner. Tonight, I was super stoked when my neighbor brought me pizza. Yay! No dinner making for me! But, unfortunately, it comes with a price. Lots of calories!
Fabulous! You better believe I’m going to buy 15 pounds of chicken at Costco tomorrow!