This is one of those incredibly easy recipes. I feel a little silly posting it because it is so simple but this is one of those lifesaver recipes that I tend to pull out a lot in summer.
It comes together in seconds, cooks right in the crock pot and dinner is on the table 5 minutes after you get home.
I tend to have much less motivation to menu plan and to cook as the weather gets warmer. We also tend to have very busy days and lots of evenings where there are dance classes or sports or whatever that might keep us out late.
So try this recipe out and see what you think- it might become one of your regular fallbacks for busy nights! Another option is to make these up before you head out and just wrap them in foil and you have a hot dinner on the go- much better then anything from a drive thru.
Here is how simple this is:
I like to add BBQ sauce and regular boneless chicken breasts to the crock pot. You just want to completely coat the chicken with the BBQ sauce- so half a cup or so. I also like to add about 1/4- 1/2 cup of water to help the chicken stay moist (depending on how large your chicken breasts are.)
Typically my chicken is frozen and I will cook about 2 breasts at a time. With that quantity it takes about 3 1/2 to 4 hours on low and makes two adult size sandwiches and 2 child size. You can certainly cook more and adjust the crock pot time to suit the quantity you make.
The chicken should be very moist and tender, pull the chicken breast out of the crock and pop it into your Kitchenaid mixer bowl. Add the paddle attachment and mix for just a few seconds. You should get perfectly shredded chicken. (You can do this by hand too- but it is really fast and easy in the mixer.)
While you are shredding your chicken, you might want to toast your sandwich roll or hamburger bun.
Sometimes I make these with french bread and sometimes a bun. The toasted bun helps to keep the sandwich from getting soggy.
Once the chicken is shredded I like to add a handful of shredded carrots. Some people like BBQ chicken sandwiches with cole slaw on top- my husband isn’t a cole slaw fan so I add a bit of shredded carrot to give the sandwich some crunch. The carrot flavor is very mild and you really don’t taste it.
Scoop the chicken mixture onto your bun and drizzle a bit more BBQ sauce on top. Gently stir with a fork to incorporate the sauce. I like to add just a drizzle of ranch dressing on the opposite bun. We like the combo of Ranch and BBQ sauce but you can certainly skip this step if you aren’t a fan.
You can make your own BBQ sauce if you like, I use Stubb’s BBQ sauce. It has a little kick and not all the junky stuff you might otherwise see. Plus Stubb’s is nice and thick unlike some other brands that can be a little watery.
I serve this with grilled corn, a simple salad or to make this really, really easy watermelon and cucumbers. Perfect for a warm summer night!
- BBQ Sauce (I like Stubb's)
- Frozen or Fresh Boneless, skinless chicken breast
- Fresh rolls or buns
- Ranch Dressing
- Shredded Carrots
- Add 2 fresh or frozen chicken breast to a crock pot set to low.
- Generously cover chicken with BBQ sauce on all sides.
- Add ¼-1/2 cup water - depending on the size of your chicken breast.
- Cook about 3½- 4 hours on low for frozen chicken (for small- medium size breasts.)
- Large breasts might need about 6 hours.
- Remove from crock pot- it should be very tender and moist.
- Shred by hand or place in a stand mixture with the paddle attachment for 30 seconds to shred quickly.
- Add in a handful of shredded carrot.
- Scoop carrot and chicken mixture onto a bun and drizzle with more BBQ sauce.
- Add a drizzle of Ranch to the other side of the bun and enjoy!
*Note: The real key to the recipe is to have a moist and flavorful chicken that isn’t all dried out. I have found that a really good, thick BBQ sauce will impart tons of flavor and you do want to be generous. I don’t have the chicken in a pool of sauce but defintely make sure there is sauce at the bottom of the crock for all the juices to simmer together and keep it moist. Most Crock Pot recipes will tell you to cook the frozen chicken for 6 hours but I have a little bitty crock I like to use and 6 hours way overcooks the chicken. It seems like 3 hours on low works for my little slow cooker. The chicken is falling off the fork for me when I am ready to pull it out.
And here are a few other easy recipes you might enjoy:
Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce— packed with veggies!
Perfect Chocolate Buttercream Frosting-– soooo amazing!
Hi Charlene,
Where do yoy find the Annie’s BBQ sauce? I can’t wait to try this! Love simple recipes in the summer!!
I’m sooo going to try this.
Emily- I see it at Target or stores like Whole Foods and Sprouts. Really any BBQ sauce will do I just try to make sure it has decent looking ingredients and then I don’t feel bad for not making my own 🙂
This is what Annie’s has
http://www.annies.com/products/Organic-BBQ
Since it is the star of the recipe I try to get a good one and not the cheapest because those can be so thin and flavorless. We really like Stubb’s BBQ sauce too 🙂
I’m so glad you posted this! I had found this “recipe” somewhere else and am making it for my daughter’s birthday this weekend. I’m making enough for 10 people, so I was going to use 10-12 chicken breasts. Here’s my dilemna – the party is at 11am so my plan was to start it when we go to bed (around 9), do low for 7 or 8 hours, and then it will auto switch to warm. Will it be ok? That means it’ll be sitting on warm for 6 hours before people even show up!
We aren’t up until around 8, so if I cook it on high, I’d only have about 3 hours before people get here.
Thoughts?
Hmm.. Stacia I wonder if you could cook it the day before and then heat it before the party in the crock? If you do it the day of I think 3 hours won’t be enough time. The night before you might have super dried out chicken…. I guess I would use a ton of BBQ sauce so you know it will stay juicy. I haven’t made that much chicken before so I think maybe 7-8 hours wouldn’t be too bad. I have a small Crock Pot and it seems to cook in about 3 hours or so so for 6x that amount I think overnight would probably be OK :).
I think this is a great idea for a party- very easy and filling.
Thanks! I planned on putting extra BBQ sauce in initially, and then maybe adding more right before the party to make sure it’s good. OR since hubby might stay up late that night, I might have him start it before he comes to bed to be safe…if I can make sure he remembers to do it 🙂
Such a great idea for a party – easy and all you need are buns! Very cost effective too.
Stacia-
When we crock pot and have a timing issue, we hook our crock pot up with an automatic timer (like the kind you use to have your Christmas lights come on at a certain time) which turns on the crock pot for whatever time we set it…you could do that and set it to come on in the middle of the night so that it’s ready right when you need it.