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This juicy and flavorful Slow Cooker Shredded BBQ Chicken is a tasty main dish, perfect for back-to-school lunches and dinners! Get the best barbecue flavor from your slow cooker with this easy chicken recipe.
Easy Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken
This shredded chicken recipe makes an irresistible nacho topping, sandwich filler, taco meat, and so much more. It’s full of savory barbeque flavor with a touch of sweetness from the brown sugar.
Not only is this recipe made with minimal ingredients, but it’s super low effort, too. Your slow cooker does pretty much all the work for you, and the chicken comes out as tender and juicy as can be. It’s great for family dinners, tailgating, and busy weeknights.
Recipe Ingredients
- Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
- Barbecue Sauce: Grab a bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce or make your own from scratch!
- Low Sodium Chicken Broth
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Light Brown Sugar
- Dried Herbs
How to Make BBQ Chicken in the Slow Cooker
- Add Chicken to Slow Cooker: Add the chicken breasts to the insert of your slow cooker.
- Make Sauce Mixture: In a mixing bowl, whisk together the barbecue sauce, chicken broth and worcestershire sauce. Then, whisk in the brown sugar and dried herbs until thoroughly incorporated.
- Coat Chicken in Sauce: Add the barbecue sauce mixture to the chicken and turn to coat.
- Cook: Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through. Check for doneness with an instant read thermometer. The chicken is cooked through when its internal temperature reaches 165˚F.
- Shred Chicken: Remove the chicken from your slow cooker, transfer it to a cutting board and shred it. Return the shredded chicken to your slow cooker and stir it around to coat.
- Serve & Enjoy: Serve your chicken over salads, on top of nachos, in burritos, tacos, etc.
Tips for the Best BBQ Chicken
- Check Internal Temperature: Start checking the internal temperature of your chicken once it’s been cooking for 4 hours. If overcooked, the chicken could become tough and dry. Remove it from the crock pot when its internal temperature registers at 165˚F.
- Return to Sauce After Shredding: Don’t forget to put your chicken back into the slow cooker with the sauce after you shred it. Let it soak up the flavor for a few minutes before serving.
- Don’t Use Frozen Chicken: If all you have are frozen chicken breasts, be sure to thaw them completely in the fridge before making this barbecue chicken.
Serving Suggestions
The possibilities are endless when it comes to this shredded chicken. You can do something totally different with your leftovers to change it up. Here are some of my favorite ways to serve slow cooker BBQ chicken:
- Serve in a Salad: I love incorporating my shredded chicken into a healthy homemade salad for a fresh and flavorful summer meal.
- Make it a Sandwich: Grab a few buns and turn this slow cooker recipe into a barbecue chicken version of Sloppy Joes!
- Serve over Lettuce Leaves: If I’m making this shredded chicken for lunch, I like to keep it simple and serve it over fresh lettuce leaves.
- Use as Taco Filling: This crock pot chicken makes an amazing taco or burrito ingredient! Wrap it in a tortilla with rice and veggies for a comforting and delicious dinner.
How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
- Store leftover BBQ chicken in an airtight container in the fridge. Enjoy your leftover chicken within 3 or 4 days. If you want it to last longer, you can store it in the freezer for up to 3 months!
- To reheat your shredded chicken, arrange it on a baking pan and cover it with foil. Bake it at 425°F for around 20 minutes, or until the chicken’s internal temperature reaches 165°F.
Slow Cooker Shredded BBQ Chicken
Ingredients
- 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 12 ounces of your favorite barbecue sauce, (I use Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce)
- 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon dried herbs, (I use a mix of oregano and thyme)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- salt and pepper,, to taste (optional)
Instructions
- Add chicken breasts to the insert of your slow cooker.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the barbecue sauce, chicken broth, and worcestershire sauce.
- Whisk in the brown sugar, dried herbs, garlic powder, and paprika until thoroughly incorporated.
- Add barbecue sauce mixture to the chicken; turn to coat.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours, or until chicken is cooked through. Check for doneness with an instant read thermometer; chicken is cooked through when internal temperature registers at 165˚F.
- Remove chicken from slow cooker; transfer chicken to a cutting board and shred it.
- Return shredded chicken to the slow cooker and stir around to coat. Taste for salt and/or pepper, and adjust accordingly.
- Serve over salads, on buns, sandwich bread, lettuce leaves, or however you'd like!
Equipment
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
I will have to try this asap. It looks amazing and I love using my slow cooker!
I hope you enjoy it! Thank you so much! ๐
We love our slow cooker for making chicken! This is so delicious made up in a sandwich!
I am very glad you enjoyed it! Thank YOU! ๐
Yummy! This looks so delicious! Can’t wait to make this! My family is going to love this!
Thank you so much, Beth! I hope you and your family enjoy it! ๐
This is so good!! Glad that I can make it in my slow cooker!
Thank YOU! I hope you enjoy it! ๐
Oh my gosh! This is so good! I can think of so many ways to use this!
I am very glad you enjoyed it! Thank YOU! ๐
This is so easy! Perfect after all the craziness these last couple weeks!
I hope you enjoy it! Thank YOU! ๐
I hope you enjoy it! Thank YOU! ๐
Hi! Could you substitute a pork butt in place of the chicken? This recipe sounds amazing!
Hi!
Yes, absolutely. It takes the same amount of time to cook.
How many pounds of chicken would you say you are using?? Chicken breast vary so widely in size, and I want to make enough for 12 and canโt determine how many extra breasts I might need? Thank you!
I used about 1.5 pounds of chicken. However, for 12 people, you’ll want to use 4-ounces of chicken breasts per person, so you’ll need at least 3 pounds of chicken breasts. Make sure to add more of all the other ingredients, too. ๐
I’ve made this before and it’s delicious! I want to make it and bring it to a party, wondering if you think I could double the recipe and fit it all in the crock pot and cook it in the recommended 4-5 hours? Thanks!
Hi!
Yes, that should work. Depending on your slow cooker, the chicken might need a little longer to cook through, but just start checking it for doneness around the 4 hour mark.
Hi, I want to try this today, the weather is supposed to be hot all week. If I double the recipe and make it for 16 do I need to cook it longer? Also is there any way the you can put the recipes in metric also?