Chicken and turkey are popular for being high in protein and low in saturated fats making a mealtime staple for athletes as well as in many healthy eating households. Falling back on the same old recipes starts to become mundane and a little too routine. Finding new ways to cook up the standard bird and keep it interesting (and keep your taste buds dancing) is time-consuming but in this series of recipes, I will highlight many different ways to prepare your poultry so your meal rotation is anything but boring. So whaddya say? Let’s play chicken!

It was a dinnertime dilemma. My daughter and I love Korean style barbeque chicken and the other kids love sloppy joes. Indecisiveness paired with hungry pint-size dinner guests is the mother of invention in this case. Why not marry the two flavors together into one unique dish?

Traditional sloppy joes typically get their sweet acidity from vinegar and tomatoes. The acidity in these shredded Korean style chicken comes from substituting rice vinegar in place of white or apple cider vinegar. Instead of using Worcestershire sauce, as would normally be present in sloppy joes, I’ve used tamari soy sauce which has a similar salty umami flavor.

Korean barbeque is known for using the flavors of garlic and ginger which I’ve added to the traditional sloppy joe mixture. Rounding out the sweet tomato and mustard components of a sloppy joe style sandwich, I’ve added gochujang. Gochujang is a fermented chili paste and is a very common Korean condiment. This chili paste imparts just enough heat to wake up your senses but not enough to knock you over. In other words, the kids will eat it!