Crockpot Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches are an easy slow cooker made with just 5 ingredients! Tender, flavorful shredded chicken sandwiches are a great weeknight meal everyone loves.
These easy BBQ chicken sandwiches are a great meal to make for your next BBQ, they involve very little prep work and are so delicious. You can make these chicken sandwiches crockpot into sliders or on full size buns, either way they will be a huge hit for dinner!
Making Easy Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
Other similar recipes have chicken breasts and barbecue sauce in a crockpot with nothing else, this one has a few added ingredients which make it sensational. These added ingredients take these sandwiches to an awesome new level of flavor! I swear I can’t say enough good things about this simple BBQ chicken recipe because it is so gosh darn delicious! I like to top my sandwiches with fresh coleslaw! Our Easy Coleslaw recipe tastes just like KFC’s and comes together in minutes!
Why you should try this recipe today!
I simply adore this tasty recipe and I’m sure once you try it you will see why. But here are three reasons why I think this may just become your next go-to meal:
- Summer tastes without the summer heat. No need to heat up the house this summer because the slow cooker doesn’t create nearly as much heat as an oven. This is a perfect meal for hot summer days when you want to conserve your heating energy.
- Can’t go wrong with convenience. Nothing says “convenient dinner” like placing a few ingredients in a crockpot and walking away until dinner time. As simple as tossing a few things together, this dish really can’t get much easier.
- The recipe is always a crowd-pleaser. Make enough for just the family or add a little extra to accommodate dinner guests and this meal is sure to be well-received either way. It’s rare that we have leftovers, but even the leftovers taste incredible the next day!
Pulled Chicken Sandwiches Ingredients
Chicken breasts: You will need 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts that have been sliced in half.
BBQ sauce: Use a 12-ounce bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce or use 1 ½ cups of homemade BBQ sauce if preferred.
Italian salad dressing: Adding in ½ cup of Italian salad dressing really helps to add a kick of flavor to these chicken sandwiches.
Brown sugar: Use ½ cup of brown sugar to add a little sweetness and caramelized depth of flavor.
Worcestershire sauce: You will need 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce to really make this sauce mixture taste incredible.
Buns: No sandwich is complete without the bread. You will need 8 hamburger buns to make sure there’s enough for all of that meaty filling we’re making.
How to make Crock Pot BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
Cook
Place the chicken in a slow cooker.
In a separate bowl, mix the barbecue sauce, Italian dressing, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce until well blended. Pour the sauce over the chicken.
While it might look like it’s almost TOO much sauce, it really is a perfect amount after you shred the chicken, trust me.
Cover and cook on high 3-4 hours or on low 6-8 hours.
Shred chicken
About 30 minutes prior to serving, shred the chicken. You can do this inside the crockpot or by pulling the separate pieces of chicken out and onto a plate, shredding them, then returning it to the sauce. Honestly, though, this part is simple no matter how you do it- the chicken is so tender it shreds easily.
Return the shredded chicken to the crockpot and stir into the sauce. Cook for the remaining 30 minutes.
Assemble and Serve
Scoop out the meaty chicken filling and place it onto your hamburger buns.
Serve warm and enjoy.
What To Serve With Pulled BBQ Chicken
Several great examples include traditional picnic foods such as coleslaw, fruit salad, corn on the cob, french fries, broccoli salad, and more. You really can’t go wrong with side dishes for this simple meal because even potato chips or fresh fruit can be a great compliment.
SLOW COOKER BBQ CHICKEN SANDWICHES
Ingredients
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts halved
- 12 oz BBQ sauce
- ½ cup Italian salad dressing
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
- 8 hamburger buns
Instructions
Cook
- Place the chicken in a slow cooker.
- In a separate bowl, mix the barbecue sauce, Italian dressing, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce until well blended. Pour the sauce over the chicken.
- Cover and cook on high 3-4 hours or on low 6-8 hours.
Shred chicken
- About 30 minutes prior to serving, shred the chicken. You can do this inside the crockpot or by pulling the separate pieces of chicken out and onto a plate, shredding them, then returning it to the sauce. Honestly though, this part is simple no matter how you do it- the chicken is so tender it shreds easily.
- Return the shredded chicken to the crockpot and stir into the sauce. Cook for the remaining 30 minutes.
Assemble and Serve
- Scoop out the meaty chicken filling and place it onto your hamburger buns.
- Serve warm and enjoy.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
What kind of BBQ sauce should I use?
You can use any bottled barbecue sauce of your choosing, but I personally prefer a sauce that has a good bold and spicy flavor kick to it. Please note that whatever sauce you use will greatly affect the end results. A nice hickory smoke or honey brown sugar blend are also pretty popular flavor choices.
Should you let the chicken cool before shredding?
Yes, at least for a minute or two. If you shred the chicken while it’s still practically boiling level hot, you risk burning yourself with the meat of juice splashing as you shred it. Give it a moment to cool down enough so that you won’t be hurt, and then shred the chicken. The warm chicken shreds great, but cold chicken is difficult to shred, so make sure you don’t let it sit out for too long.
Can you put frozen chicken in the crockpot?
Yes, you can use frozen chicken, although it might take a little longer to cook, and the end results may be a little more watery from the ice on the chicken thawing off. But once you shred the chicken, it should all mix together well.
How do you pull chicken?
A simple way to do it is to remove the cooked chicken from the crockpot and place it on a cutting board. With two forks, start pulling the chicken in opposite directions until it shreds beneath your fork. Continue to work at it until the chicken has been completely shredded, and then place it back into the slow cooker.
Check out these other Amazing Chicken Recipes!
- Mexican Chicken Lasagna
- Fiesta Ranch Chicken Pasta Salad
- Chile Lime Smoked Chicken Wings
- Chicken Dumplings
- Orange Chicken
- Mexican Chicken Alfredo Pasta
- Baked Chicken Taquitos
- Chicken Parmesan Sliders
- Cashew Chicken Stir Fry
- Homemade Chicken Strips
- Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas
- Mexican Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- Ranch Chicken Cheese Dip
- Grilled Spatchcock Chicken
- Grilled Honey Mustard Chicken
This slow cooker BBQ chicken sandwiches recipe is simply the best! Packed with flavor and with hardly any effort, you get more time to chow down on a tasty sandwich, thanks to this slow cooker meal.
Erin @ Simple, Sweet & Savory says
YUM! I don’t know which part I like better. The fact that it’s BBQ chicken or that it’s made in a slow cooker. This looks like the perfect weeknight kid-friendly meal. Pinning!
Christine says
Great recipe! Put it in the slow cooker in the morning and had yummy sandwiches in the evening!
In our favorites section now.
Lisa Ehrman says
This looks wonderful and I love Slow-Cooker meals 🙂
Traci says
I order my chicken from say on as well. I cut my breast in half when freezing, do you use 6 halves or 3 whole breast (6) pieces? I was just wondering. Thanks
Traci says
My chicken from Zaycon.
Jessica says
I used 3 chicken breasts, then I halved them- so there were 6 pieces total. 🙂
Jennifer says
I have a question. I just ordered 40 lbs of zaycon chicken. We usually cook our chicken breasts on the grill, but the Zaycon chicken is cooking so much differently than grocery store chicken. It is turning extremely dry and unedible in my opinion. I’ve been googling like crazy trying to find a logical reason for this. I’m desperate to find a solution since I just bought 40 pounds of this stuff! Have you encountered this before.
Jessica says
That is so odd!! I’ve grilled mine many, many times- haven’t had anything abnormal happen. My only thought is that Zaycon chicken breasts tend to be gigantic. Did you cut them up at all before cooking? Just wondering if maybe the more narrower sides are drying out on the grill before the thick middle section is done? I haven’t notice that it cooks differently in any way- I usually bake a batch, put others in the crockpot, etc. The only thing different is the size, and because they’re so much larger, I usually cut each breast into 3 sections and cook 5 sections at a time per meal. I’m sorry I’m not more help!
Sue Hall says
If you double or triple the recipe, do you do same to seasoning ingredients? I need to cook for 25-30.
Sue
Alison says
Yes double or triple everything!