When I moved to Orange County after college, my aunt lived around the corner from me. I wasn’t married yet and I was working full time, so she was sweet enough to have me over for dinner every Thursday. It was the first time I had ever lived away from home so it was really comforting to have her there and to have dinner with her and her family every week. After some time I realized that she made everything from stew to pasta in the crockpot! I had never used a crockpot and other than keeping things heated for parties, my mom never used hers either so I was amazed.
She taught me a few tricks of the trade like how the liquid doesn’t evaporate like it would on the stove and things like that. When I got married my crockpot was a must on the wedding registry! It is the best thing ever! Back then I would let stuff cook all night or get it ready in the morning before I left for work. Now, I can prep dinner in the morning and come home to a cooked meal after an evening of running the kids to soccer, or gymnastics, or whatever it is we’re doing. Last night we had shredded bbg chicken sandwiches. Well, most of us did. I had my chicken on a bed of smashed cauliflower with a coleslaw style lettuce salad on top. Yummy! I have been meaning to get this recipe on the site because it is just too awesome not to! It is one of the simplest recipes plus your crockpot does the cooking while you’re out and about taking care of business.
I started making this after eating something similar at my friend’s place. She had chicken simmering in the crockpot for hours while we had coffee and the kids played. She served it with tasty sides like bread rolls, baked beans, and coleslaw. Most of the kids and the adults made sandwiches and customized it to their own taste. I had mine like a salad and everyone was happy. When I make it at home I usually put it on top of some coleslaw in a very light mayonnaise and vinegar dressing. BBQ chicken is really good with coleslaw for some reason! They taste great together.
I never actually asked her for the recipe, but I make my crockpot chicken tacos all the time so I figured these would need around the same cooking time and amount of liquid. I have used paleo bbq sauce and the all natural bbq sauce from Trader Joe’s. The flavor was great with either one, so use whatever makes you happy. Every family has their own taste, so what works for one may not suit the other’s preferences. We don’t really eat baked beans and the hubs and I try not to eat bread at dinner time so I make sandwiches for the kids with the shredded bbq chicken, coleslaw, and some cheese. That way us adults get a filling paleo style meal that we totally enjoy! It’s a win/win and everyone is happy.
*Makes 4 servings
Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
2 cloves garlic
1 onion, sliced
1/2 cup BBQ Sauce
1/2 cup water
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
Method
Plug in your crockpot and set it to a low setting. My crockpot isn’t fancy so there is a High setting and a Low setting. I set it to low for this recipe. Mix the BBQ sauce, water, salt and pepper in a bowl. Put the rest of the ingredients in the crockpot, then pour the BBQ Sauce mixture on top. Place the lid on your crockpot and allow everything to cook for at least 5 hours.
You can leave it on longer if you need to or if you want to cook it in less time just turn the dial on the crockpot to high and cook for 3 hours. That will work too! When the time comes, take a wooden spoon or a cooking utensil that won’t scratch up your crockpot and shred up the ingredients in the pot. This shouldn’t take long since everything will be falling apart by this point. Make shredded BBQ chicken sandwiches or serve it with sides, whatever works at your house!
