Crockpot BBQ Chicken: Easy Pulled Chicken With Sweet-Tangy Sauce
By Isabella Quinn
Prep
5 min
Cook
150 min
Total
155 min
Servings
8
Level
Easy
This Crockpot BBQ chicken recipe can be prepared in 2 different slow cooker timeframes to fit your schedule. Prep time for this recipe is 5 minutes, and cook time is between 2.5 and 3 hours on high or 5 and 6 hours on low. Skinless, boneless chicken breasts are shredded and sandwiched with a sweet-tangy barbecue sauce made with Italian dressing, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce.
Trimmed chicken breasts are sprinkled with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder and placed in a slow cooker. The sauce ingredients are barbecue sauce, Italian salad dressing, Worcestershire sauce, and light brown sugar. Honey BBQ sauce may be used for added sweetness and tanginess. Fat-free Italian salad dressing is recommended but not necessary. The sauce should be stirred to coat the chicken breasts.
The chicken in the slow cooker should be tender enough to shred with two forks; shredding the chicken allows it to better absorb the sauce. Dry, overcooked boneless chicken breasts are a common slow-cooking problem. To prevent dry, overcooked chicken, test for doneness at the start of the recommended cooking time, as slow cookers may differ, and mix shredded chicken into the sauce.
Serve pulled chicken on large buns and slider buns, along with other foods such as pizza, salad, tacos, nachos, baked potatoes, rice dishes, and tortillas. Slider buns make a great choice for serving groups because they pair well with pulled chicken. Pulled chicken leftovers can be easily portioned and reheated in the microwave or on the stovetop at medium heat for later meals.
Why we keep this one around
- Saves you time spent preparing food, as you only need to spend five minutes preparing the chicken for the slow cooker in the evening.
- The slow cooker will cook the chicken while you do other things in the evening.
- Minimizes cleanup because the chicken is cooked entirely in the slow cooker. Products are available to make sauce cleanup easier in the slow cooker.
- Ingredients used include bottled barbecue sauce, Italian salad dressing, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and other packaged products.
- Does not need any extra kitchen equipment besides a slow cooker, mixing bowl, whisk, measuring cups and spoons, and forks for all assembly and shredding tasks.
- Possible uses include not having much time at home and versatile cooking techniques that can be used to prepare multiple meals in a day or over multiple days.
- Increases options for using leftovers. Leftover cooked chicken in sauce can be added to other dishes at later meals, such as pizza, tacos, nachos, salads, potatoes, rice dishes, and tortillas.
Ingredients
- •non-stick cooking spray (for spraying the slow cooker)
- •2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts (fat trimmed off)
- •1 ¼ cup barbecue sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's Honey BBQ recommended)
- •½ cup Italian dressing (fat-free recommended)
- •2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- •¼ cup light brown sugar (can reduce to 1/8 cup or omit for less sweetness)
- •1 tbsp garlic powder
- •1 tbsp onion powder
- •salt (to taste)
- •black pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- 1
Liberally spray the inside of a large crockpot or slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray, or use a disposable slow cooker liner.
- 2
Season the trimmed chicken breasts with salt, black pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.
- 3
Place the seasoned chicken breasts in the bottom of the crockpot.
- 4
Add the barbecue sauce, Italian dressing, light brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce to a medium mixing bowl.
- 5
Whisk the sauce mixture until combined.
- 6
Pour the sauce mixture evenly over the chicken breasts.
- 7
Cover the crockpot and cook on high for 2.5–3 hours or on low for 5–6 hours.
- 8
Check the chicken at the earliest listed cooking time with a meat thermometer.
- 9
Serve the chicken whole or shred it with two forks directly in the crockpot so it absorbs the sauce.
- 10
Serve on buns, or use on pizza, salad, tacos, nachos, rice, or by itself.
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