Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

So easy to throw into your Crock-Pot on a busy day: Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Sandwiches make for a simple, family pleasing dinner!

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How about a nice Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Sandwiches recipe in the April 9, 2017 edition of Sunday Scratchups: Your weekly recipe from scratch around ingredients that are either on sale or generally affordable. (I guess I’ve really been on a chicken kick lately, but it just keeps going on sale…) This is one of these “I have chicken thawed, now what haven’t we had in a while…?” recipes that I tweaked up a bit this time and ended up liking enough to share with you.

You can of course just throw chicken and BBQ sauce in your Crock-Pot to slow cook all together, but you get more depth of flavor and less… um… goopiness if you cook and shred the chicken & seasonings first, then add the BBQ sauce at the end. Yes, goopiness is the technical term, here.

I don’t like a lot of sauce on shredded chicken, so in this shredded BBQ chicken Crock-Pot recipe you get enough to flavor the meat and then people can add extra sauce to their own sandwiches to taste. (Mr. 10 did and High School Guy did not — but he managed to eat three heaping sandwiches nonetheless.)

I used Stubb’s original BBQ sauce here since it’s relatively low in sugar (and darn tasty), but substitute in your own favorite BBQ sauce of choice.

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Ingredients

1 medium yellow onion, sliced
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
1 tsp smoked paprika (substitute regular if you don’t have, but smoked adds a nice BBQ flavor)
1/4 tsp cayenne
2 cloves chopped garlic (or 1 tsp minced)
2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 cup BBQ sauce, plus additional for serving
Hamburger buns, for serving
Optional toppings: Pickles, coleslaw, red onion, shredded lettuce…

Directions

Arrange onion slices evenly across the bottom of your slow cooker. Place chicken on top and season with garlic and spices. Pour broth around chicken, then cook on low for 5-5.5 hours. Remove chicken to a separate dish and shred.

Discard cooking liquid, then add shredded chicken back into the slow cooker. Stir in BBQ sauce and cook on low another 20 minutes or until heated through.

Recommended: Serve BBQ chicken sandwiches on hamburger buns, topped with something crunchy and tangy such as pickles or coleslaw. Put out the rest of the BBQ sauce so that people can add to their sandwiches as desired.

An easy, kid-friendly family dinner

If your house is like mine, someone almost always feels compelled to argue or turn up their nose at something. Not so here: Everyone inhales BBQ chicken and asks for more! I highly recommend adding pickles or coleslaw to everyone’s sandwiches for the crunchy, tangy contrast, too.

You can easily double this slow cooker BBQ chicken sandwiches recipe if you’re feeding a crowd; the Crock-Pot is very forgiving and this is a great potluck or party dish buffet option. Just put out a big dish of shredded BBQ chicken, buns, and toppings, then let people go to town. 🙂

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, printable recipe

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5 from 2 votes

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

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You can of course just throw chicken and BBQ sauce in your Crock-Pot to slow cook all together, but you get more depth of flavor and less goopiness if you cook and shred the chicken & seasonings first, then add the BBQ sauce at the end. 🙂

Course dinner

Servings 8

Author Rachel Singer

Ingredients

• 1 medium yellow onion, sliced
• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 tsp smoked paprika (substitute regular if you don’t have, but smoked adds a nice BBQ flavor)
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 2 cloves chopped garlic (or 1 tsp minced)
• 2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 cup BBQ sauce, plus additional for serving
• Hamburger buns, for serving
• Optional toppings: Pickles, coleslaw, red onion, shredded lettuce…

Instructions

• Arrange onion slices evenly across the bottom of your slow cooker.
• Place chicken on top and season with garlic and spices.
• Pour broth around chicken, then cook on low for 5-5.5 hours.
• Remove chicken to a separate dish and shred.
• Discard cooking liquid, then add shredded chicken back into the slow cooker.
• Stir in BBQ sauce and cook on low another 20 minutes or until heated through.
• Recommended: Serve BBQ chicken sandwiches on hamburger buns, topped with something crunchy and tangy such as pickles or coleslaw. Put out the rest of the BBQ sauce so that people can add to their sandwiches as desired.

Notes

You can easily double this slow cooker BBQ chicken sandwiches recipe if you’re feeding a crowd; the Crock-Pot is very forgiving and this is a great potluck or party dish buffet option. Just put out a big dish of shredded BBQ chicken, buns, and toppings, then let people go to town!

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