Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Barbecue

Today we’re going to make slow cooker pulled chicken barbecue. It is an easy homemade barbecue sauce that has been cooked with the chicken so that it keeps it moist and tender and then it pulls apart beautifully and effortlessly with forks.

It makes a delicious sandwich or you can use it as a pulled chicken barbecue plate with all the fixings like coleslaw and mac and cheese and just anything your heart desires. Let’s get into it.

Why You’ll Love This

It is an easy homemade barbecue sauce that has been cooked with the chicken so that it keeps it moist and tender and then it pulls apart beautifully and effortlessly with forks.

It makes a delicious sandwich or you can use it as a pulled chicken barbecue plate with all the fixings like coleslaw and mac and cheese and just anything your heart desires.

I actually really like this one. It’s from a vintage cookbook and it’s a little bit looser than one that you might find in the store.

It’s just a different take on barbecue sauce.

Normally I don’t put butter in my barbecue sauces, but for this chicken, it’s excellent.

I actually really like the onion slices in with the pulled chicken. It like makes a whole melange that’s just, honestly, it’s delightful.

You can smell the lemon in there. It’s not like lemony, but you can just kind of, you get like hints of it in the scent, which is just a beautiful addition.

I think it’s going to be kind of a condensed flavor.

It’s beautiful. It’s going to be lunch.

It is better when it is cooked on low. It is more tender. It’s more moist, um, as one would expect, but it’s, there’s no love lost because the sauce is great and the chicken is wonderful.

It looks great. Just like a rich, deep barbecue sauce.

It’s perfectly cooked when it’s just coming apart. Just so beautifully like that.

It tastes great. I’m stoked.

It’s also nice and tangy and it goes really beautifully with the, the barbecue sauce.

I just love the crunch of coleslaw with, uh, pulled chicken or pork.

You’ve got that soft, tender chicken that cooked in the, in the slow cooker, which was like totally hands off and really easy.

We got a little bit of heat from the barbecue sauce from the cayenne, a little bit of kick, and then you get a little bit of creamy, crunchy, beautifulness from the, the creamy coleslaw, which also has a tiny bit of sweetness.

Ingredients

• water
• apple cider vinegar
• black pepper
• cayenne pepper
• kosher salt
• butter
• onion
• One lemon slice
• ketchup
• prepared mustard (American mustard)
• Worcestershire sauce
• chicken breasts

Instructions

1. So the first step obviously here is to make our sauce.
2. We are going to combine our first ingredients in our pot.
3. So that is water, apple cider vinegar, and this is black pepper, cayenne pepper, a little bit of heat, kosher salt, butter.
4. I’m going to add a little bit of butter and then I’m going to add a little bit of onion.
5. So we’re going to give that a quick little stir.
6. And then we’re going to pop this on our stove over here, kind of on medium heat for about 20 minutes.
7. It’s going to, obviously the butter is going to melt.
8. The, you know, it’s going to come to a boil.
9. The onions are going to get soft and translucent.
10. And then we’ll add the rest of our ingredients.
11. I forgot an ingredient.
12. Yes, I did. One lemon slice.
13. All right. It’s been boiling about 20 minutes and you can see that it is thickened.
14. We’re just going to fish out the lemon.
15. So without further ado, we are ready to add the rest of our ingredients.
16. So we’ve got ketchup here.
17. We’ve got prepared mustard. This is American mustard.
18. And then Worcestershire sauce.
19. And then we’re going to add Worcestershire sauce or however you pronounce it, probably the proper way.
20. And then you’re going to pour it in.
21. Anyways, I’m just going to go ahead and give this a nice little stir.
22. I’m going to go ahead and just bring this back up to a boil.
23. And then we are going to get our chicken and our slow cooker.
24. I have chicken breasts here.
25. I’m going to place these in the bottom of my slow cooker.
26. And then we’re just going to take the sauce and we’re going to pour it on top.
27. Okay. Go ahead and get that in there.
28. I just like to give my chickens a little, a little bath in there.
29. I like to go ahead and give them a nice little coverage, make sure that there’s no dry bits.
30. And then I’m going to go ahead and pop the lid on.
31. And then you can cook this on low for six hours or on high for three hours, which is what we’re going to do because like, let’s be honest, lunch is in.
32. So our chicken is done.
33. It’s cooked about, it cooked three hours on high.
34. I’m going to go ahead and just pull out the chicken and put that on my cutting board here.
35. So we’re just going to go ahead and shred this.
36. All that means is that we’re going to take it and we’re going to pull it apart with two forks.
37. Okay. Now we have shredded all of our chicken and she’s gorgeous.
38. And we’re just going to go ahead and kind of mix her into the sauce that was already on my cutting board just so that we don’t waste it.
39. And I’m just giving a nice coating, right?
40. And then we’re going to go ahead and plop her in this bowl here.
41. And by plop, I mean delicate. Please.

Cooking Tips

If you are buying one from the store, you probably want to add a little bit of water just to like, you know, loosen it up a little bit to give it time to slow cook and not get too thick and burn.

Now barbecue sauce that you’re going to use on something else, I would actually puree this after it cooks and that way it’s, you know, just kind of smooth and silky. But I actually really like the onion slices in with the pulled chicken.

You could squeeze lemon juice in there if you’d like.

I’m not going to add any more salt. We added salt at the beginning. There’s also salt in your ketchup and your prepared mustard and also in your Worcestershire sauce.

I would double your sauce if you’re going to do four chicken breasts.

I just, I like to have a lot of sauce. I like my pulled chicken to be like saucy and, you know, like me. So double the sauce if you’re going to double the chicken. That’s my personal rec.

I did not salt my chicken. Again, we, appropriately salted the sauce and that is going to season our chicken. And so I am just not going to stress about that.

It is better when it is cooked on low. It is more tender. It’s more moist, um, as one would expect.

If it’s giving you any resistance at all, then it is not cooked and you should definitely cook it a little bit more before you, you know, proceed.

Now you can, of course, uh, take this extra sauce that is in here, um, and pour it over the top.

I find it to be, you know, you kind of want to let people add the barbecue sauce that they want on their chicken sandwich.

Serving Suggestions

It makes a delicious sandwich or you can use it as a pulled chicken barbecue plate with all the fixings like coleslaw and mac and cheese and just anything your heart desires.

Obviously you could eat this in any way you choose.

You can make a pork platter.

I’m gonna make a little sandwich here.

I’m gonna put a bit of my, um, this is my healthy, creamy slaw. And this slaw uses Greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise to, to make it lighter. It’s also nice and tangy and it goes really beautifully with the, the barbecue sauce.

I just love the crunch of coleslaw with, uh, pulled chicken or pork. Like it’s just like, that’s how I like to eat my barbecue no matter where in the country.

It’s a two hand endeavor, my friends. Two hands.

You’ve got that soft, tender chicken that cooked in the, in the slow cooker, which was like totally hands off and really easy. We got a little bit of heat from the barbecue sauce from the cayenne, a little bit of kick, and then you get a little bit of creamy, crunchy, beautifulness from the, the creamy coleslaw, which also has a tiny bit of sweetness. Not that we added any, it’s just inherent in, in the dish itself. And it’s just a beautiful pairing and oh, I’m so excited.