Cold winter days really leave me craving comfort food.  Now I know that it is the beginning of the year and I should be thinking of salads and raw vegetables to help balance out the extra food I ate over the holidays, but I am really in the mood for a sandwich!

One of my favorite sandwiches (besides a classic BLT :)) is a BBQ’d pulled pork or chicken.  I love it when the city hosts Rib-Fest, and we all go and line up for 1/2 racks of ribs and pulled pork sandwiches.  My sister, Cherie, quite often makes pulled pork and pulled chicken at home (she has 2 BBQ’s and a smoker), and I was curious if I could make a good pulled chicken sandwich in my apartment.  I thought this would be a challenge as we don’t have a balcony so we don’t have the benefit of a BBQ.

I started searching on-line for pulled chicken.  I found a lot of recipes out there and it gave me hope that I didn’t need a BBQ to have a good pulled sandwich.  I came across a blog called Handle the Heat.  I was interested, as I love spicy food.  There I found the inspiration for a spicy pulled chicken sandwich under the post Mexican Pulled Chicken!

I made a few alterations (of course!).  I added hot sauce, chili flakes, BBQ sauce (to add that smokey flavour) and paprika.  The end result was tasty, tender and a bit spicy.  Just the way I like it!

I think this will become a favourite of ours, a tall pint of cold beer, a Spicy Pulled Chicken Sandwich and maybe some coleslaw or chips on the side.  Now that is what I call comfort food 🙂

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Inspired by Handle the Heat                                                                                                                   April 2010

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• Pinch Red Chili Flakes
• salt and pepper
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup salsa (I used Medium Heat)
• 1 ½ cups chicken stock
• ¼ cup BBQ sauce
• Couple dashes Hot Sauce

Directions:

1. In a heavy pot with a lid, heat olive oil and add onion, garlic, spices and salt & pepper
2. Cook onion till it starts to soften.  Add chicken, chicken stock, salsa, BBQ sauce and hot sauce and bring to a simmer.  Cook for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
3. Remove chicken from pot and set aside.  While chicken cools, bring sauce to a simmer, uncovered until reduced by half.  When chicken has cooled, shred it with two forks.  Stir chicken back into sauce and reduce heat to low.