This Crockpot Pulled BBQ Chicken makes the perfect pulled chicken! Great on its own or on a sandwich! This pulled chicken recipe is so simple– just throw all of the ingredients into your slow cooker and let it cook. In no time you have a delicious meal – Fix it and forget it!
Why you will love this Shredded BBQ Chicken Crock Pot recipe
- Easy make ahead recipe – set it and forget it.
- Great for a crowd – this recipe makes enough for a party!
- Uses pantry staples.
- Versatile recipe – put the shredded chicken on top of a salad, on a bun or make into a quesadilla
- Enough for leftovers!
BBQ Pulled Chicken Crockpot Ingredients
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 18-oz bottle Sweet Baby Ray’s Hickory & Brown Sugar Barbecue Sauce
- 1⁄3 cup light brown sugar
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1⁄4 tsp smoked paprika
- 1⁄4 tsp chipotle chili powder
- 1⁄4 tsp ground white pepper
- Slow cooker liner (optional) – these are the best, they make clean up a snap!
SEE FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD BELOW
How to make BBQ Pulled Chicken in the Crock Pot
- Place chicken breasts in the Crock-Pot. Turn heat to low.
Pro-Tip: Do not cook chicken from frozen. Make sure the chicken is fully thawed before adding to Crockpot. If your chicken breasts are larger in size use 3. If they are on the smaller side use 4. - In a separate bowl combine Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbecue Sauce, light brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, chipotle chili powder, and ground white pepper. Use a whisk to stir and combine.
- Pour barbecue sauce mixture into the Crock-Pot with the chicken breasts. Use a spoon to stir and coat all chicken with barbecue sauce mixture.
Pro-Tip: Ground black pepper can be substituted in place of the ground white pepper if needed. If you don’t have Chipotle chili powder on hand you can substitute with regular chili powder. - Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours, or high for 3-4 hours.
- When chicken is tender shred cooked chicken using fork while still in the Crock-Pot. Mix shredded chicken and barbecue sauce together until well coated.
- Serve on buttered and toasted hamburger buns.
Serving suggestions for Crock Pot BBQ Chicken
When serving, butter and toast your hamburger buns. It adds great texture and flavor!
Top your barbecue chicken with homemade coleslaw when serving. It adds a nice crunch to this already delicious sandwich and is perfect for dinner tonight.
How to store this BBQ Pulled Chicken Crock Pot recipe
BBQ pulled chicken is absolutely wonderful as leftovers! Be sure to store in an airtight container in the fridge, and simply pop it into the microwave when you’re ready to enjoy the leftovers. Yum!
You can also freeze it for a quick make-ahead freezer meal. I love freezing the leftovers and saving them for a night when we are busy. I just pull it out of the freezer the day before we will eat it and let it thaw. Then, we can just reheat it and it’s delicious as ever.
You are going to love the ease of slow cooking BBQ pulled chicken. This great recipe is so simple to make, by just throwing chicken, BBQ sauce, and some seasonings into the crock pot. Served up with a fresh toasted bun and it makes for one heck of a delicious sandwich.
BBQ Chicken Crock Pot FAQs
If you can avoid cooking on high, this will help keep the chicken from drying out.
According to the USDA, you can cook frozen chicken in the crockpot.
Yes, you absolutely can put raw chicken in a slow cooker.
Slow cooker chicken should cook until it has an internal temperature of 165°F using a meat thermometer. This would generally be about 4 to 5 hours on the low setting or 2 to 3 hours on the high setting
If you have the time, I always recommend cooking chicken on low in the crockpot. It typically comes out better and is less likely to dry out.
It is easiest to shred chicken when it is still warm. Let the chicken cool slightly before shredding.
Typically no, BBQ sauce will not burn in a slow cooker.
More Easy Chicken Recipes
Creamy Garlic Parmesan Chicken | Chicken Foil Packets | Chicken Fajita Pasta | Chicken Lo Mein | Crack Chicken Casserole | Firecracker Chicken | Grilled Chicken Wings | Crockpot Teriyaki Chicken | Slow Cooker Butter Chicken | S’moked Chicken Thighs | Sweet Baby Ray’s Crockpot Chicken
Shredded BBQ Chicken (Crock Pot Recipe)
Video
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breasts
- 1 18 oz Bottle Sweet Baby Ray’s Hickory & Brown Sugar Barbecue Sauce
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- ¼ tsp smoked paprika
- ¼ tsp chipotle chili powder see note
- ¼ tsp ground white pepper
Instructions
- Place chicken breasts in the Crock-Pot. Turn heat to low.
- In a separate bowl combine Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbecue Sauce, light brown sugar, apple cider
- vinegar, olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, chipotle chili powder, and ground
- white pepper. Use a whisk to stir and combine.
- Pour barbecue sauce mixture into the Crock-Pot with the chicken breasts. Use a spoon to stir and
- coat all chicken with barbecue sauce mixture.
- Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours, or high for 3-4.
- When chicken is tender and pulls apart easily with a fork it is ready to be shredded.
- Using two forks, shred chicken while still in the Crock-Pot. Mix chicken and barbecue sauce
- together until well coated.
- Serve on buttered and toasted hamburger buns.
Jenn’s Notes
- If your chicken breasts are larger in size use 3. If they are on the smaller side use 4.
- Do not cook chicken from frozen. Make sure the chicken is fully thawed before adding to Crockpot.
- Ground black pepper can be substituted in place of the ground white pepper if needed.
- If you don’t have Chipotle chili powder on hand you can substitute with regular chili powder.
- Butter and toast your hamburger buns before serving. It adds great texture and flavor!
- Top your barbecue chicken with homemade coleslaw with serving. It adds a nice crunch to this already delicious sandwich.
Ingredients
- 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 12 oz bottle BBQ sauce (We love Sweet Baby Rays)
- ½ cup Italian salad dressing (We always use Wish Bone)
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Mix BBQ sauce, Italian dressing, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce together in a small bowl
-
Place chicken breasts in the crockpot.
- Add sauce mixture over the chicken in the crockpot.
-
Cover and cook 3-4 hours on high or 6-7 hours on low.
- Shred the chicken and mix with the sauce from the crockpot.
- Serve on buns.
Nutrition Info
Post Updated: Originally Posted March 2, 2016
Delicious! My husband loves this!
Perfect to double and make as sliders for a crowd. The taste is excellent and it is very easy to prepare, set it, forget it. (with the timer of course lol)
Absolutely amazing tasting.
It is a #1 in our household
Have made it twice so far and fixing to make another batch.
This is the best recipe I have found for chicken in the slow cooker. And the tip for using your stand mixer to shred it is so good! It worked perfectly. All of your tips and suggestions are great, thank you for sharing.
Made this tonight for dinner and it was delicious! Served open face on a toasted brioche bun with homemade coleslaw on top. The toasted brioche bun made a huge difference from other BBQ chicken sandwiches I’ve made. Will definitely keep this one and make again.
I just realized my Crockpot is on the fritz!! I have an InstantPot also, would these ingredients have time to settle in an IP by chance? I’m sure the spices will, but curious about the vinegar. Any thoughts?
On the pulled chicken original recipe how many does it serve? Is it better than the updated version? Making it for the 4th serving a crowd!
Thanks!!
This is not the original recipe with BBQ sauce and italian dressing Please relink the original…it was sooooo good and sooooo easy!
Sorry about that!! I just added the old recipe to the bottom of the recipe card!!
I only see the instructions, not the amounts of the ingredients? I also miss the old recipe and can’t find it saved anywhere!
That was so strange – for some reason it deleted the ingredients! Take a look now – I updated it!
Thank you! 🙂
Parece que fica muito gostoso, vou experimentar fazer