BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwiches {Slow Cooker}
These BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches are an absolute no-brainer thanks to the slow cooker. Simple, tasty, and filling, you will have a happy family!
Loving this classic BBQ Pulled Pork recipe (also in the slow cooker), I couldn’t help but want, need and long for a chicken version.
Something easy to throw together on a busy day when I need dinner ready but don’t have time to slave over it.
Something hearty and filling to scarf before a rousing baseball game played by my resident 5- and 7-year olds.
Something nutritious and delicious and all-around family pleasing for those days when I don’t want to fight the “I want to gag” battle with my kids.
This BBQ Pulled Chicken recipe was just that “something” I needed and has become part of my slow cooker rotation, not to mention the fact that it helps diversify the ways I can use the almighty boneless, skinless chicken breast, which remains plentiful in my freezer.
Since my freezer also usually boasts a bag of already baked French Bread Rolls, this meal is an absolute no-brainer. And seriously, I don’t know what it is with me and my lazy tendencies these last few weeks, but no-brainers are just what I’m looking for. It doesn’t hurt when said no-brainer is extremely delicious, too.
What to Serve With This
- French Bread Rolls (for the bun)
- An awesome side like this: Barbecue Macaroni Salad, Coleslaw, or these Boston Baked Beans
- Fresh vegetables and/or green salad
One Year Ago: Healthy and Delicious Refrigerator Bran Muffins
Two Years Ago: Best Baked Manicotti
Three Years Ago: Easiest Brownies in the World
BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwiches {Slow Cooker}
Ingredients
- 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced into half moons
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, fresh or frozen
- 1 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon Tabasco sauce
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Whole wheat hamburger buns or rolls (see note)
Instructions
- Scatter the onions on the bottom of a slow cooker. Place chicken on top of the onions.
- In a medium bowl, combine the ketchup, vinegar, mustard, molasses, onion powder, cumin, garlic powder, Tabasco and salt. Pour the sauce over the chicken.
- Cover the slow cooker and cook on low until the chicken is fork-tender and the sauce has thickened slightly, about 5-6 hours (add an additional hour if using frozen chicken breasts).
- Remove the chicken from the slow cooker and shred the meat. Return it back to the slow cooker, mixing it with the sauce. Serve the chicken hot on whole wheat rolls, if desired.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted slightly from All You Magazine, August 26, 2011
I had plans to make this for dinner last night, but realized the crock of my slow cooker was cracked after the sauce was already made. I went to plan B, which was to slice each breast in half so they were thinner, then bake them, brushing the sauce over them every 10 minutes. I shredded them and dumped all the juices from the pan into the shredded chicken. It turned out good, but dry (which is what I expected due to my recipe change). Tonight, I mixed the leftovers with bacon, swiss cheese and pickled jalapeños, placed the mixture into a tortilla and baked until it was golden on the outside. They were to-die-for. There are not leftovers. Thanks for another great recipe, especially one that is versatile enough to work under different circumstances than written.
I can not stop raving about these!!!!! I think it’s one of your best recipes, and I’ve made a lot of them!! I’ve made several weak attempts at a homemade BBQ sauce in the slow cooker and none have even been close to good. As soon as I ate these I decided I can’t wait to make them for company. THANK YOU for another WONDERFUL recipe that’s easy and delicious!!!
Hi. This sounds great and I look forward to giving it a try. Can it be doubled for a crowd? Thank you! Linda
Yes, absolutely!
Hey Mel! I saw this meal under your freezable meals area on your blog. So I just make it and then freeze it? Do I need to make any extra sauce to make sure it’s not dried out when I reheat it? Thanks!
I’d like to make this meal while on vacation at the beach… do you think I could measure and pack the wet ingredients together (vinegar, Dijon, molasses etc) or am I better off bringing the large bottles? I make this often and it’s awesome!
I already have some of your bbq sauce for pulled pork in my freezer. Would that taste good with pulled chicken, or does this bbq sauce pair better with chicken?
Yes, I think that would be delicious!
I would like to use my Instant Pot on this recipe instead of a slow cooker. Can you offer suggestions on how much liquid (water, chicken broth, etc.) I should use to make sure I don’t dry the chicken out?
It should be fine as written with about 55-60 minutes at high pressure.
I did it for this long and had extremely dry/over cooked chicken. I just Pinterest search how long to do 5 lbs of shredded chicken (I doubled your recipe) and it said 10 minutes. I love your recipes but I would like to say that this time needs to be much less for the insta pot)
Hey Amanda, you are right, that’s way too long in the Instant Pot and I apologize for that. I think when this question came through I was thinking she was asking about the BBQ pork recipe not chicken. I’m sorry that my response was on the wrong comment thread and that it caused overcooked chicken for you!
Can I use turkey in stead?
Could definitely experiment…
Do you recommend thawing out frozen chicken before you put it in? Will it become too liquidy putting them in frozen?
Yes, if you can, I recommend using thawed chicken.
Wow, so flavorful. I used turkey tenderloins and cooked it for 5 hrs in my crockpot. Very moist. I will definitely make this again.
Can you give instructions for using the InstaPot? Thank you!
You should be able to combine all the ingredients and cook for 8-12 minutes on high pressure.
Can pork be used interchangeably with this recipe?
Sure, I don’t see why not, although I would probably cook the pork much longer as it takes longer to get tender in the slow cooker than chicken.
I finally tried this recipe over the weekend and the hubby and I loved it! I used some of the leftover pulled chicken for BBQ chicken nachos last night and it was so delicious! Thanks for another amazing recipe!
I am making them for the second time today, and my hubby can’t wait for supper!! These are amazing.
Hi Mel! I was thinking of serving this at my daughter’s birthday party for the adults to eat for lunch. The party is in a park in August. It will be hot. I was thinking it might be easier to serve cold. Do you think that would taste okay cold? Thank you!
I’m not sure about serving them cold – but maybe that’s because I’ve never eaten a cold BBQ chicken sandwich. Is there a way to use an electrical outlet at the park for a large roaster or crockpot?
In my crock pot right now as I prep for company tonight. When I bought molasses for this recipe, I bought the “full flavored” molasses. There was a mild option as well. (I had no idea!) What do you use? Thanks Mel!!! 🙂
Hey Kate – didn’t know Super One offered so many choices! 🙂 I almost always stick with the Grandma’s brand (yellow label). I think it’s mild flavored but I’m not completely sure.
Hi Mel:) I hope Idaho is treating you well these days! Here is my long-winded question for you: I would like to make this pulled chicken as well as your pulled pork this coming Saturday for my oldest son’s baptism luncheon, and I’m wondering what the best way to prepare these and have them hot would be. . . make them in advance, freeze and crock pot them back to warm? Get up super early and start the crock pot then? What would you suggest? I am not as worried about the pork, but I just don’t want the chicken to dry out if I am reheating it (and of course the main issue here is that I will be at the baptism all morning, not busy cooking in my kitchen like normally before a luncheon:)
You are the best! Thanks for all your (continual) hard work!!!
Hey Meg! Good luck with your luncheon! If it were me, I’d make both the pork and the chicken the day before (or up to a few days before), refrigerate and then throw it back in the crockpot in the morning before the baptism and reheat on low. I’d keep extra BBQ sauce (and the sauce for the chicken) on hand to add in that morning or when you get home to help in case it seems to need a little extra sauciness.
This was an easy dish and the chicken stayed nice and moist. We had sandwiches the first night and then used it on your BBQ chicken salad with cilantro lime dressing the next. Next time I will shred half for these sandwiches and chop up the second half for salads. Thanks for a terrific slow cooker recipe!
Can you freeze the leftovers?
Laura – Yes, absolutely.
I tried this recipe a few years ago and really did not like it. But I know I would love it with your home made BBQ sauce. If I were to do it with your bbq sauce, how much would I use? Would I still do the onions?
Bri – I’d probably omit the onions, especially if you didn’t like it last time, and I’d start with 1-2 cups of sauce and add more if needed. Good luck! Let me know if it turns out better for you this time.
Loved this recipe. I’d only done pulled pork before and was intrigued to try chicken breast thinking that its low fat content would be healthier, but perhaps less tasty. It turned out great, the chicken was moist and full of flavour and the family scarfed it down.
As I was mixing the sauce though I realised that it was essentially the ingredients for BBQ sauce. Those who want to simply this even further could probably just use that instead.
Has anyone cooked this on high instead of low? If so, for how long?
Hey Mel! I saw this meal under your freezable meals area on your blog. So I just make it and then freeze it? Do I need to make any extra sauce to make sure it’s not dried out when I reheat it? Thanks!
Hi Erica – yes, I make it and freeze it and then reheat either from frozen or let it thaw first. I don’t make extra sauce and it works fine.
I didn’t have molasses on hand and have never used it, so I just used about 5 loosely packed teaspoons of brown sugar instead- seemed to work great as a substitute, although I don’t know how it would have tasted with the molasses.
I made this recipe for my family and for a friend and both LOVED it. I lost the recipe and have been looking everywhere for it. I’m so happy to find it again:) I like that the ingredients are things I already have.
Hi Kristin – this sauce isn’t overly sweet. It’s more of a tangy BBQ sauce.
Is this more of a tomato-y sweet bbq chicken? I have tried so many crock pot bbq chx recipes and none have been great. I had some really sweet yummy shredded bbq chicken sandwiches years ago that had a tomato based red sweet sauce on it and I can’t find any recipes like it at all!
numm.mumm…oh – forgive me…I’m having a hard time putting my food down to give you the hearty congrats that are necessary. The combination of the BBQ chicken pulled sandwiches and your summer corn salad are almost too much to take. I’m in heaven! Paired with a little cole slaw to accessorize the pulled chicken…did I say – I’M IN HEAVEN!
Thank you!!!!!
Made it today for a potluck and it was a big hit. I would say this is more of sweet BBQ, but good nonetheless! I did not have time for the 5-6 hour cooking time, so I did a quick parboil, and then let the last of it cook up in the hour or so I had till the potluck. The chicken came out super moist! Thanks for the great recipe!
Has anyone tried using drumsticks? It’s all we had in the freezer…any thoughts?
Erin – you can use the frozen chicken in the slow cooker without defrosting and it should be just fine. Otherwise, thaw it overnight in the refrigerator.
Okay i have frozen chicken. how should i defrost it?!?!? i want it to be the best chicken EVER!!
Thank you, Mel. Love this! Made this last night, to give me an assist for a busy week. Will serve with cornbread.
I was not a fan of the flavor of this. Next time I do this, I will definitely use your homemade bbq sauce (I loved your pulled pork sandwiches).
This was delicious! My 1 year old couldn’t get enough of it! She kept eating as much as I’d give her. Everyone else loved it too. Thanks!
i love me some pulled pork, but chicken bbq runs a close second. nice one, mel!
We’re having pulled pork this week… I was thinking about making cherry BBQ for ours this week, but maybe I’ll give this recipe a try instead.
This recipe looks really yummy. I actually just made the BBQ Pulled Pork recipe last week, so I have a lot of the barbecue sauce on hand that I will probably use in place of the sauce. I’m glad to read that someone else used the BBQ sauce with success on the chicken. When I made the Pulled Pork, I also made the French Bread rolls with wheat flour and the dough was dry. I ended up adding water to make it the right consistency, but I still had a difficult time shaping the rolls because the dough ended up too dry. Did you have this problem? Should the recipe be adjusted slightly when you substitute wheat flour for white?
Michelle – about the rolls, it sounds like your rolls may have been overfloured. I never use exact cup measurements for flour when making yeasted doughs, which is why I have a special note about just that above each yeast recipe…it really helps to judge the dough based on texture. When adding wheat flour, sometimes you need to add less flour overall, however, when I’m using freshly ground wheat flour, I usually have to use more flour than stated in the recipe, because it doesn’t settle into the measuring cup the same as flour that hasn’t just been freshly milled. So there really can be a variance on the cup measurement. It sounds like if you want to sub wheat flour for the rolls, you’ll probably want to back off the flour a bit and look for the dough to be supple and smooth without being overly sticky. Hope that helps!
Tried this last night! It was perfect for a night where everyone was going in different directions! Thanks!
This looks delicious, Melanie! I love it when you post slow-cooker meals. Most people probably think to use their slow-cooker in the Winter for soups and stews, but I really love to use it in the Summer when it’s too hot use the stove or the oven! This recipe is perfect for any season…thanks for sharing!
I’ve never tried doing the chicken in the sauce. I’ll have to try it. I love when there’s yummy soft onions on the bottom =) I normally do cheap bone in skin on breasts, season with salt and pepper, throw in a bay leaf and a quartered onion and cover with water. I let it go overnight then strain and save the broth to use later and shred the chicken off the bone in the morning and mix it with the BBQ sauce (your homemade version or otherwise 😉 and toss it back in the crockpot on hold warm until afterwork.
Lisa, I have also found that I can’t let the chicken hang out in the crockpot all day. There are a few recipes where the chicken does fine on low for 8 or more hours, but it is usually swimming in liquid. All the other slow cooker recipes for chicken I find I take the chicken out the minute it is cooked through and still moist and tender.
Made this for dinner tonight, loved it. I added Srichacha instead of Tabasco and some red pepper flakes and loved the kick!
I like that you don’t become completely devoted to a certain recipe and use it only, you are still willing to try other things even if you’ve found “the best,” like your barbecue sauce. And you used Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake on those mint cupcakes, despite having your perfect choc cake recipe. This sounds really good, Mel.
@Laurie. Thanks for the input. I have been debating for awhile to just suck it up and spend more money on better chicken. I am glad to hear that I am not the only one.
Mel, I am going to make this tomorrow. I’ve been trying to think all day what I can throw in the slow cooker tomorrow…thanks for helping me out! 🙂
I just made BBQ chicken on Monday in the slow cooker but used your wonderful BBQ sauce recipe. This additional recipe will be great to use when I don’t have any of your on hand. Thank you for all of your wonderful recipies- I use them often!
http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2010/03/the-best-barbecue-sauce.html
@Lisa, I used to have this problem too until I started buying the Sam’s Club store brand boneless chicken breasts. They aren’t frozen and come in a big styrofoam tray in the meat section. I have never had a problem with them being dry or mealy in the slow cooker and they are usually cheap!
Absolutely LOVE BBQ chicken! Now I just need a slow cooker to try this myself.
I have tried to love my slow cooker when it comes to chicken breasts, but any recipe that takes more than 3 hours, the chicken comes out either dry or mealy or both. I even bought a new slow cooker, thinking that my other has become old and maybe does not work well, but I have the same problem. I am starting to wonder if is the chicken, you know the chicken you can buy for less than $2 a pound? Any thoughts?