How can leftover chicken be used?
If you need ideas on how to use up leftover chicken, you have come to the right place. Chicken and Chillies are perfect partners. They combine excellently. The results will be so good your family and friends will never guess that you have used leftover food. Indeed, unless you told them otherwise, they might even think that the chicken was purposely made just to make your dish.
So, what can be made with left over chicken? The possibilities are limitless.
In its simplest form leftover chicken can be eaten cold with some homemade Chilli mayonnaise or a sweet Chilli sauce. It is great as part of a cold meat buffet or when used to make chicken mayonnaise sandwiches.
Leftover chicken can also be used to make cooked food. One fantastic use for it is in omelettes. Simply mix together a couple of eggs with little water , cut the chicken into pieces and you are set to go. All that is now required is to heat some butter in a pan. Add a chopped Chilli and then after frying it for a minute add the eggs . As soon as the eggs start setting add the chopped chicken ( and maybe some cheese). Place these ingredients on one side. Cook until the egg mixture has cooked through then fold the other half of the omelette over the chicken and Chillies . You can flip it over at this stage to make sure both sides are golden brown. It's as simple as that . Your omelette is now ready to serve
Left over chicken can sometimes be dry . A good way of correcting this is to put it in a sauce or cook it with ingredients like vegetables . Stir frying with beansprouts and Napa cabbage, for example, will reintroduce moisture to the chicken. The following ideas will not only solve dryness but also give the leftover chicken dish great flavour
Curry
Leftover chicken can be added to a curry sauce base. This is similar to the way many Indian restaurants can offer the wide range of menu choices that they do. The curry sauce base is pre-made. Other ingredients are added to change the character of a dish. An example of a dish made in this way is this recipe for Chicken Jalfrezi.
Stir fries
Leftover chicken and Chillies make great stir-fry friends. Simply heat some onions in oil. Cook them until they are transparent. Add some chopped bell peppers, a fresh Chilli or two and then stir fry the chicken. Once the chicken is heated through add some mushrooms. Saute the mushrooms until they are starting to become soft .Then add bean sprouts and some Chinese lettuce leaves. Allow these to start wilting then add some sweet Chilli stir-fry sauce. Allow the sauce to start simmering. Your stir-fry will be ready at this point
Other stir-fry recipes that can be made with leftover chicken include Pad Thai and Nasi Goreng from Indonesia. In both these recipes, just fry the chicken for less time.
Soups
Some great soups like Tom Yum from Thailand, Chicken and prawn Laksa from Malaysia can be made with leftover chicken. In these dishes instead of cooking the chicken as called for in the recipes, simply add it at the end to warm through.
Finally
Don’t forget how good left-over chicken can be in salads. You can use the crispy recipe above for the chicken or if you have any leftover spicy Southern fried chicken use that as well.
Enjoy!