Lucky me! Dimity was in town for a visit, which inevitably turns into a meal production. We both agreed that squealing over the absolute icky-ness of tearing apart a raw chicken was positively worth every second! We would have paid for this meal in a split second. It was marvelous! The textures were perfectly balanced, with a bonus nutty crunch from the macadamia. The coconut and barbecue danced so playfully, it was beautiful, and the cilantro and avocado sealed each bite with a welcome refresher. Divine. (By the way, homemade barbecue sauce is such a satisfying treat!)
Or, toss it in a bowl without the tortilla!
Pulled Barbecue Chicken
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
- Whole free-range chicken – 1 whole free-range chicken
- Olive oil – 1 tablespoon
- Yellow onion – 3/4 cup, diced
- Garlic – 1.5 tablespoons, minced
- Whole tomatoes and sauce – 2.5 cups peeled, whole tomatoes and sauce
- Honey – 1/3 cup
- Red wine vinegar – 1/4 cup
- Coconut vinegar – 2 tablespoons coconut vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
- Molasses – 1 tablespoon
- Cloves – 1/2 teaspoon, ground
- Cinnamon – 1/4 teaspoon
- Sea salt – 1/4 teaspoon
- Bay leaf – 1 bay leaf
- Red chili flakes – Pinch red chili flakes
Instructions
- Prepare the chicken! I had no clue what to do, and as usual, am feint at following instructions. I tucked my hands into the chicken before opening The Joy of Cooking or Googling a strategy. Thankfully Dimity was in town, and dialed our Mamma for quick tips. She said “find the natural joints and cut.” Pretty intuitive, huh? So that’s what I did. I pulled apart the legs and chopped them off. I sliced off the breasts. I sliced off the wings. And then I sliced off any remaining meat. I put everything in a bowl, rinsed it thoroughly, and pat it dry with paper towels. We left the chicken covered with paper towels while we prepared the barbecue sauce.
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high.
- Add the onion to the saucepan and saute until it turns translucent. Add the garlic and saute for about 2 more minutes, until the garlic turns golden.
- Add the remaining ingredients and whisk together. Turn the heat down to a simmer, and simmer the barbecue sauce for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Put the chicken in an oven proof dish, like a cast iron skillet or square baking dish.
- Pour the barbecue sauce over the chicken. (Save your barbecue saucepan – you will use it later!)
- Put the barbecue chicken in the oven and bake for 45 minutes.
- Remove the barbecue chicken from the oven. Using tongs, pull out the chicken and put it in a separate bowl to cool. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, begin to pull it off the bones. Pull it! Shred it!
- Transfer the barbecue sauce back into the saucepan and simmer on low heat for 20 minutes. It will reduce to about a third of the original quantity. When the sauce is finished, remove from the heat and transfer to a serving bowl.
