I spent a solid hour shredding chicken for tacos with two forks once. My wrists ached and I still had chunks the size of golf balls. Then a friend walked into my kitchen, laughed, and pulled out her hand mixer.

The two-fork mistake

Forks work, technically. But they are slow, and the chicken cools while you shred, so it dries out. I also burned my fingertips more times than I want to admit.

The hand mixer changes everything. Here is how it works.

How to do it

1. Put your cooked, still-warm chicken in a big bowl.
2. Grab a hand mixer with the regular beaters attached.
3. Run it on low speed and move it around the bowl for about a minute.

That is it. The beaters pull the meat apart into perfect shreds while you barely do anything.

Things I got wrong the first time

I used high speed because I was impatient, and half the chicken turned into paste. Low and slow is the whole trick. Also, use a deep bowl or chicken flies everywhere.

Warm chicken shreds best. If it has been in the fridge, give it twenty seconds in the microwave first. I have not picked up two forks since.