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This is the time of year when I start to avoid turning on the oven at all costs. So what’s for dinner when it’s too hot to cook? Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken! You can have this tasty chicken in the slow cooker doing its own thing while you’re enjoying a lazy summer day. Plus, unlike a hot oven, the slow cooker won’t make your AC work overtime. ;)
“LOVE this recipe! Made it for the first time last week, and making it again a week later. One of my new go-tos for a quick easy meal.”
JT
Easy Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken
This slow cooker BBQ chicken is almost too easy to be true. Just add some seasonings to boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cover them with your favorite BBQ sauce, and press go. A few hours later, the chicken is tender, tangy, so saucy, and delicious!
I like to throw this BBQ chicken on a bun for a quick and easy meal, but there are loads of ways to use it. Once you’ve got a batch of this chicken in your fridge, I guarantee you’ll find endless ways to enjoy it.
Recipe Success Tips
- Slow cooker size. My slow cooker is 5 quarts, and it was only ¼ full, so you could use a smaller cooker if you want, but I wouldn’t go any larger. Some slow cookers need to be filled to a minimum amount to avoid cracking, so make sure to check your owner’s manual first.
- The best BBQ sauce to use. You can use any type of BBQ sauce. I tested the recipe using a very basic and inexpensive sauce just to make sure it was delicious on a budget, but you could ramp it up and use a fancier BBQ Sauce. You can also play around with different flavors of BBQ sauce, like smoky, honey, pineapple, spicy, etc.
- Chicken breasts or thighs. I prefer breasts for this recipe, but you could also use chicken thighs in a pinch.
Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken
Cost $5.79 recipe / $1.44 serving
Ingredients
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1.3 lbs. total, $3.47)
- 2 tsp smoked paprika ($0.20)
- 1 tsp garlic powder ($0.10)
- ½ tsp salt ($0.02)
- ½ tsp black pepper (freshly cracked, $0.03)
- 18 oz. BBQ sauce ($1.97)
Instructions
- Combine the smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.
- Sprinkle the seasoning over both sides of the chicken breasts.
- Place the chicken breasts in the slow cooker, then pour the BBQ sauce over top making sure the chicken is fully covered.
- Place a lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 2.5 hours or low for 4-5 hours.
- After cooking, use two forks to shred the chicken. If the chicken does not easily pull apart with the forks, let it cook a little longer.
- Serve the pulled BBQ chicken on a bun, on nachos, over a baked potato, on pizza, or with your favorite meal.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
- Tongs
- Color Cutting Boards
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Step-by- Step Photos
Season the chicken: Combine 2 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp salt, and ½ tsp pepper in a small bowl. Sprinkle the seasoning mix over both sides of two boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1.3 lbs. total).
Prepare the slow cooker: Place the chicken in the bottom of the slow cooker and pour one 18 oz. bottle of BBQ sauce over the chicken, making sure it’s fully covered.
Cook the chicken: Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 2.5 hours or low for 4-5 hours.
Shred the chicken: Use two forks to shred the chicken. If the chicken doesn’t pull apart easily, let it cook a little longer.
Stir and serve: Give the chicken a good stir to make sure it’s well coated in BBQ sauce, then it’s ready to serve!
serving suggestions
The classic way to serve this chicken is on a bun, like a classic BBQ chicken sandwich. Make sure to add tangy coleslaw and crunchy pickles to make it extra delish! As far as sides go, whenever I make BBQ anything, I always opt for the classic comfort food sides like the quintessential potato salad, a hearty and cheesy mac and cheese, and this delicious three bean salad.
STORAGE AND REHEATING
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Reheat in the microwave until warmed through
I’ve made this twice and it’s so good every time! It’s becoming a staple.
Way too much bbq sauce in the recipe, not sure if it’s a typo or not.
This can be made with 6 oz of BBQ sauce for 1.5 lbs of chicken breasts/thighs.
Glad I read this is like a little sauce but too much
Do you think this would still come out OK using chicken thighs?
This is one recipe where we really do prefer breast, but you could definitely use thighs in a pinch.
This is my go-to website for feeding my family of 5 (including two older teenage boys) without going broke or getting a second job! Everything I have made from Budget Bytes has been a HUGE HIT with the whole family! I tried this recipe tonight and my husband went back for THIRDS!!! He is the chef in the family and even he said he thought my bbq is better than his! This will be in frequent rotation in my house. I doubled the recipe and used Country Bob’s original sauce, although next time, I will use less sauce.
I made this last weekend and doubled everything in an 8qt crockpot, I added a half cup of chicken broth before anything else and used Sweet Baby Ray’s Hickory & Brown Sugar BBQ sauce on slow for 4.5 hours, and it was a hit!
Today I have used 1 cup of chicken broth, 5.5lbs of boneless chicken breast and have it set for 5 hours on slow but will add more time if needed.
We absolutely love it and thank you for the recipe!
Tried this, worked a charm. Ty o7
LOVE this recipe! Made it for the first time last week, and making it again a week later. One of my new go-tos for a quick easy meal.
4 boneless skinless chicken breast, doubled all dry ingredients. Cleaned out my bbq sauces, sonny’s original, stubs spicy, and kc masterpiece. 5 1/2 hours on low. Turned out amazing!!
Made this last night – super quick & easy. Thank you!
I couldn’t find chicken breasts that big and just wanted to use what I had on hand. Which was a bunch of smaller breasts totaling about 2lbs. But I should’ve reduced the cooking time cause they ended up a bit too tough and hard to shred. It was still pretty good but next time I’ll know better. Also I’ll do less bbq sauce cause 18 oz, even for 2 lbs of chicken, was a bit much. Served on brioche buns with the creamy coleslaw which was great. Super easy recipe.
Mine just turned into thin watery liquid. So when I took out the chicken breasts it was not coated in the bbq sauce. D just all watered down bbq sauce 🤷🏻♀️
I’ve had this happen on a different recipe 😅
I just add a cornstarch slurry to thicken things up :)
Great! Perfect ratios made for delicious pulled chicken sandwiches. Love the coleslaw dressing too! Next time I’m trying pickles in addition. I used Stubbs spicy bbq sauce- delicious, in my opinion. I used brioche hamburger buns too.
This sounds very good nd easy to make for dinner tonite.
I will be making this delicious :)
What a genius recipe! Thank you for sharing.
So delicious and easy! Perfect for a weeknight dinner. I used Rufus Teague Touch O’Heat BBQ sauce and paired it with coleslaw for an amazing dinner – husband loved it! Thank you.