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Polaca Style Shredded Chicken

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Christmas may be over, but the celebration continues with this Polaca Style Shredded Chicken. These are very popular in Mexico when celebrating Los Tres Reyes Magos day in January (Three Kings Day). They go great on tostadas and everyone will be coming back for more. Keep reading to find out how to make this great recipe. 

Polaca Style Shredded Chicken

This Polaca Style Shredded Chicken is a traditional Mexican meal that is perfect for any celebration.

If you have been reading my blog for a while, then you know that I love to talk about my Mexican heritage. A big part of that is the many celebrations and “fiestas” that the Mexican people participate in and hold dear. We just finished having an amazing time here for Christmas with my husband’s family here in the United States, and it was great to spend time with family. The holidays are quite a bit different here, but just as fun.

In Mexico, after Christmas and the New Year have passed, the people celebrate another holiday on January 6th – Los Tres Reyes Magos, or Three Kings Day. This was always one of my favorite holidays growing up. The celebration starts the night before with delicious food that everyone can enjoy along with traditional drinks and of course the breaking of a piñata. The best part of the night though is sharing a delicious Pan de Rosca. Pan de Rosca is large, sweet bread in a large circular shape. Inside there are small plastic figurines. During this celebration, everyone takes a turn cutting a piece from the bread and then they check to see if they got one of the figurines in their slice. If they do, then they have the honor of making tamales for everyone else at a celebration the following month!

The next day, the kids wake up to see what Los Reyes Magos brought them. It is usually a fun toy and some chocolate and since they don’t usually get the day off at school, they love taking their present to school to show it to the rest of the kids. It is such a fun tradition and I will always remember how much effort my abuela and my parents put into it so that my siblings and I could have a great day.

In order for Los Tres Magos to be a success, you have to have delicious food that makes a lot so that everyone gets enough. Usually my abuela would make lots of smaller “antojitos”, like tostadas, empanadas, quesadillas, and picaditas. These are very popular in Mexico, and they are great to feed a large group.

One of my favorite meals that she would make was this Polaca Style Shredded Chicken. It is filled with so much flavor and it is seriously addicting. It has the perfect amount of sweet and spice to make it a great choice. It is good alone, on a sandwich, or most traditionally, as a topper for tostadas! It is important to use high quality ingredients though as well so that you can get just the right flavor.

Polaca Style Shredded Chicken

Two of the principal ingredients that make this so delicious are Knorr® Tomato with Chicken Granulated Bouillon and La Morena® Chipotle Peppers in Adobo. Both the Knorr® and the La Morena® names are well known in Mexico and are used in so many different recipes including Polaca Style Shredded Chicken. These products are high quality and trusted names that you can depend on when making great Mexican recipes and to bring your family together for the holidays. It can be hard to find the same ingredients that I grew up using in Mexico here in the United States, so I am so glad that I can just drive a couple of minutes to Walmart and find both of these products in the Hispanic Aisle when I need to use them. If you LIVE FOR FLAVOR® and want to learn to make delicious and authentic Mexican food, then you need to have these products on hand!

Hispanic Aisle Walmart

Knorr and La Morena

This recipe is really simple to make. You should start by boiling a couple chicken breasts and then shredding it and setting it aside. You will also need to thinly slice a head of cabbage and a large white onion. Once you have done that add the cabbage and the onion to a frying pan with a tablespoon of butter and a small amount of olive oil over medium heat and cooking through until softened. Season with salt and pepper.

Polaca Style Shredded Chicken

Polaca Style Shredded Chicken

The next step is to add the chicken and continue cooking for a few minutes.

Polaca Style Shredded Chicken

Then, in a separate bowl, dissolve 1 teaspoon of Knorr® Tomato with Chicken Granulated Bouillon into 3/4 cup of water and add to the pan and let cook for 2-3 minutes.

Polaca Style Shredded Chicken

The last step is to blend 3/4 cup of ketchup with 1-2 La Morena® Chipotle Peppers in Adobo and then adding to the pan, stirring well. Finally, let it cook until almost all of the liquid has evaporated.

You can definitely add less chipotle if you don’t like it too spicy.

Polaca Style Shredded Chicken

When it is done, you can serve it with freshly cooked tostadas, on a sandwich or by itself. No matter how you choose to eat it, you can be certain that it will be a hit!

I hope that you will try this recipe for your Tres Reyes Magos celebration this year!

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4.50 from 2 votes

Polaca Style Shredded Chicken

Ingredients

  • 2 Chicken Breasts cooked and shredded.
  • 1/2 head of cabbage cut into thin slices
  • 1 large white onion cut into thin slices
  • 1 Teaspoon of Knorr® Tomato with Chicken Granulated Bouillon - 2.2 lbs
  • 1-2 La Morena® Chipotle Peppers in Adobo
  • 3/4 Cup of Water
  • 3/4 Cup of Ketchup
  • Salt and Pepper
  • 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
  • 2 Tablespoons of Butter

Instructions

  • Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan over medium heat.
  • Add the cabbage and the onion and cook through.
  • Add the chicken and season with salt and pepper.
  • Dissolve the Knorr® Tomato with Chicken Bouillon into the water and add to the frying pan. Let cook for two minutes.
  • Blend the La Morena® Chipotle Peppers in Adobo with the ketchup and add the frying pan.
  • Let cook until most of the liquid has evaporated.
  • Serve immediately with freshly cooked tostadas.
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Recipe Rating




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Michelle Houston

Wednesday 16th of January 2019

How long does it take to cook this?

Charbel Barker

Thursday 17th of January 2019

Hi Michelle,

As long as you are using cooked and shredded chicken, it should only take about 10-15 minutes total to finish cooking. If you take into account the time to boil the chicken and shred it, it could take about 20 minutes longer. Good luck!

Yvette Mendez

Tuesday 3rd of January 2017

This looks delicious and I must try it. It reminds me a little of what they call Tinga in Mexico City, except yours has the added cabbage which sounds like a perfect addition especially because I happen to love cabbage and am always looking for ways to cook left over cabbage after I've made posole. I will definitely try this recipe. I wonder if it gets its name La polaca from the germans who migrated there. My mom was German Jewish and Mexican. She always made us sauerkraut that was more on the spicy side and would add it as relish to polish sausage tacos on homemade flour tortillas. Believe it or not it was great. Lol.

Charbel Barker

Wednesday 4th of January 2017

Thanks for your comments Yvette! This is very similar to Tinga, but with the addition of cabbage as you mentioned. Here is my recipe for Tinga actually: http://mylatinatable.com/tostadas-de-tinga/. That is an interesting point about the name! I bet you could be right about its origins. I hope this turns out great for you :)

Dale

Saturday 31st of December 2016

It looks and sounds delicious. I like it spicey so I'll add more Chipotle.

Charbel Barker

Wednesday 4th of January 2017

I hope it turns out well! IT is very tasty :)

Adriana Martin

Tuesday 27th of December 2016

This sounds like a yummy easy option for any day, thanks for sharing your traditions with us ~ client

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