It was over 60 degrees today – a true miracle for all those in the Northeast. To celebrate, dinner was summer inspired. Pulled chicken sandwiches with potato salad and pickles. I’m not a huge fan of pork, so I was happy to find a substitute to the famous pulled pork. The recipe is an adaption of one I came across on another food blog (see here for the original).

This was made in the crockpot, so if you’re going to recreate, you will need one. You will also need to do this 5 -6 hours in advance of serving.

For the chicken –

• 16 oz of tomato sauce
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp plus 2 tsp paprika
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 3 tsp dry mustard
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2.5 – 3 lbs of chicken breast and thighs (I used 2 breasts and 4 thighs)

Trim the chicken of fat. If you’re using thighs, there will probably be a lot of it. I’m pretty sure my chicken was obese. Chop up your onion and garlic. Set this all aside.

In the crockpot, combine the rest of the ingredients and mix together. This will be your sauce.

Add the onions and garlic. Mix. Add in your chicken and cover completely with the sauce. Cook on low for 5 – 6 hours until the chicken pulls apart. At the end point, remove half of the sauce (I kept in a separate bowl). Add your pulled chicken back to the crockpot and add sauce until it’s wet but not swimming. I probably dumped out about 1 1/2 cups worth of sauce in the end.

For the potato salad,  wash and chop up 4 – 5 red bliss potatoes. You will also need:

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp mustard
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1/2 tsp dill

Boil potatoes for about 20 minutes. Drain water once the potatoes are cooked through and plop into the fridge. Every 30 minutes or so, give the potatoes a stir to help the cooling process. After about 2 hours, the potatoes should be cold. Chop up half an onion and add.

Chop up your celery and add. Mix in mayo, mustard and vinegar. Sprinkle on dill and mix. Serve it up!