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This crockpot pulled chicken is so easy to make – everything just goes into the slow cooker without any special prep. It’s fall-apart tender, juicy and delicious. We put it on rolls with our coconut coleslaw and crisp dill pickle chips.
It was sweet, salty, savory and so satisfying. I invited my family over for crockpot bbq chicken sliders and everyone loved them. My son even asked for refills on the chicken (which is a big deal). l’m pretty sure all of the adults had seconds. Great reviews all around on this one! If the picture above hasn’t convinced you yet, the next one will!
This is a great way to make meat for company or your family when you don’t have time to stand over the stove. You can throw everything in your slow cooker before church and it’s ready when you come home. Such a treat! PS. the coleslaw can be made when you start the chicken – just refrigerate it until ready to serve..
Ingredients for Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken:
3 lbs (about 5-6 count) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of fat
1 1/2 cups BBQ Sauce (Try Homemade BBQ Sauce or Sweet Baby Rays Honey BBQ)
1/2 medium onion, grated (with juice)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp worchestershire sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
How to Make Crockpot BBQ Chicken:
1. Stir together all sauce ingredients in a 5-6 qt slow cooker.
2. Add chicken and turn to coat. Cover and cook on high 2 to 3 hours or on low for 6 to 7 hours. Check on it early since timing can depend on the thickness of your chicken and the size of your slow cooker. It will also cook faster if making a smaller batch. Chicken is done when cooked through to an internal temperature of 167˚F and easy to shred.
3. Remove chicken to a cutting board and shred each breast using two forks. Place shredded chicken back in the crock pot and stir to coat with the yummy sauce
↑↑↑ Wishing I had leftovers…
Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 lbs chicken breasts, (boneless, skinless)
- 1 1/2 cups BBQ Sauce, I used Sweet Baby Rays Honey BBQ
- 1/2 medium onion, grated (with juice)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
Instructions
- Stir together all sauce ingredients in a 5-6 qt slow cooker.
- Add chicken and turn to coat. Cover and cook on high for 2 to 3 hours or for 6 to 7 hours on low. Check on the chicken earlier if using smaller chicken pieces, if making a smaller batch, or if you know your slow cooker runs hot. Chicken is done when cooked through to an internal temperature of 165˚F and is easy to shred.
- Remove chicken to a cutting board and shred each breast using two forks. Place shredded chicken back in the crock pot and stir to coat with the yummy sauce.
Nutrition Per Serving
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Serve in buns with the best coconut coleslaw and dill pickle chips. Yum!!
Thank you for recipe! It came out delicious!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Excellent recipe – quick easy, and delicious! I made a couple of changes- I added a little lemon juice to the recipe and used less brown sugar because my BBQ sauce is very sweet. I don’t own a crockpot so I baked in the oven. I cooked 40-45 minutes, covered, at 400F, then I reduced the temperature to 350 F and cooked another 10-15 minutes. Served it on a bun with fried onions and creamy coleslaw.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Marni! I’m happy you enjoyed this recipe!
Can I make with frozen chicken breasts ?
Hi Kathleen, I have not tested that, but I recently read that adding frozen meats to a slow cooker can be unsafe so it’s best to do a quick-thaw in cold cold water at least before adding them.
I just found this recipe this week (November 2020), and it was perfect! I used Stubb’s original BBQ sauce and let it go on high for 3.5 hours or so and another 20 minutes on low. So much easier than other recipes that have you sear the chicken first. This took no time and we have lots of leftovers to look forward to!
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!
I made this today in my Instant Pot (as a slow cooker). Cooked for 6 hours on low then 40 min on high with a new batch of sauce once shredded. Turned out amazing and will now be my #1 go to pulled chicken recipe.
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
I added some honey mustard 1/2 cup to the mix and adobo seasoning 1/4 tsp. It smells amazing!
Can I use chopped onion instead of grated?
That will work too, Adrienne!
Hi Natasha, I really want to try this recipe but I don’t have a slow cooker and was wondering if it would work if I used an instapot?
Hello Inna. I think that would be a great experiment but without testing it, I really can’t provide specific instructions. I love my instant pot, but things don’t always translate the way I hope they would to the instant pot. I will add it to my list, but if you experiment before I do, let me know how it goes.
Hi, could someone please enlighten me how many oz or ml would be in 1.5 cups of BBQ sauce, looking forward to trying this!! Thank you
Hello Tara, you may use our Ingredient Weight Chart for some guidance.
8 oz is 1 cup
1 cup is 8 liquid ounces
or 250 mls.
Therefore 1.5 cups would be
12 liquid ounces or 375 mls.
Hi Natasha! Any idea if I use sugar free BBQ sauce an diabetic brown sugar, what the total carbs would be for this?
Hi Cheryl, I don’t have a recipe for that but I bet your local grocery store may have a BBQ sauce that is sugar free.
Hi, can you tell me roughly how many this recipe could feed? I’m making pulled chicken sandwiches for about 12.
Hi Amy, I would scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post and check the serving size there. We do have a recipe slider allowing you to adjust how many recipes you would like to make.
Absolutely love this recipe, made it for the first time last night and we had with with Nachos (guacamole/sour cream and lots of red onion/corn and red capsicum. Absolutely delicious and will be adding it to our meal rotations
I’m so glad! Thank you for sharing this great review!
Was looking for a good, simple slow-cooker recipe and came across this one. AWESOME! Easy prep. Hands down probably the most satisfying pulled “anything” I’ve ever had … or Made! Thanks!
We love this recipe! So so good & so easy! Thank you for sharing this wonderful review!
Made this tonight. It was delicious! I was wondering what the olive oil is used for? And if I could leave it out next time. What do you think?
Hi Bridget, it adds a little more moisture and juiciness to the meat when it’s shredded. The recipe should still work without it if you are looking to cut the calories.
Just made this last night so we had something easy to make/eat during The Stanley Cup game last night ( Go TBLighting lol).
It was beyond a hit. So simple to make and hands down one of the best BBQ Chicken sandwiches anyone has ever had. So much so, that they all came back over today to watch Sunday football and asked there were leftovers. lol
This is 100% a recipe I’ll be saving and I’m pretty sure they’ll be asking for it every Sunday for football season. lol Thank you so much!!!
That is awesome to know, Lisa. I am so glad that everyone enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for sharing that with us and for your great feedback.
How long should this cook when making with rotisserie chicken?
Hi Andrea, I haven’t tested this with rotisserie to advise. We also took a look at our reader comments and haven’t found anyone trying it to advise on a time or process. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
I have made this recipe for a while..its easy and tastes just fine for a quick prep recipe but I can not imagine adding brown sugar, its too sweet as it is with just the BBQ sauce, in fact I cut the BBQ sauce with hot sauce to lower the sweet in it.
Hi Patty, you definitely could use less sugar if using a very sweet bbq sauce.
Made Pulled Pork yesterday from a recipe on another site. It was good.
Made this Pulled Chicken recipe today. It’s 10 times better than the pork. Healthier & easier to prepare. Great flavor. This is better than you can get at any restaurant.
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
I should point out, I used DINOSAUR BBQ SAUCE and a little FRANKS REDHOT ORIGINAL SAUCE
Thank you so much for sharing that William!
My 17 year old made this tonight … with the coconut coleslaw and homemade buns. What a delicious meal! Thanks for sharing. We will make this again.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the wonderful review!
Excellent. Added more barbecue sauce because and I 4 lbs of chicken. Simple easy and all ingredients on hand. I did season my chicken before putting it in the crockpot with just salt pepper and garlic. Delicious!!
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing that with us, Tiffany.
I never comment on recipes but this BBQ chicken was so good and so simple that I couldn’t resist. I followed your recipe and used a combination of chicken breasts and thighs. I made your coconut slaw too – delicious! Thanks for sharing!
You are most welcome, Heather. Reading your comments and feedback makes me feel happy, thank you!
Are you able to make this in an instant pot? If so do you know how long it would take?
Hi Kirstyn, I think that would be a great experiment but without testing it, I really can’t provide specific instructions. I love my instant pot, but things don’t always translate the way I hope they would to the instant pot. I will add it to my list, but if you experiment before I do, let me know how it goes.