BBQ Chicken Sandwich – an easy, delicious recipe for bbq chicken sandwiches that works on the stove-top, Instant Pot or Slow Cooker!
Why You Will Love This BBQ Chicken Sandwich Recipe
- Easy weeknight meal – a perfect option for any weeknight or easy meal prep at the beginning of the week for dinner or lunches.
- Versatile – you can enjoy this on a bun or wrapped in lettuce with a variety of different toppings but homemade coleslaw is our favorite!
- Cook it any way you want – this can easily be cooked on the stove top, in the slow cooker, or in an Instant Pot – use the cooking method that works best for you!
What You Will Need
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts – these are the major player here and are easily shredded after being cooked.
- BBQ sauce – feel free to grab your favorite! Any BBQ sauce will work! Checkout this great list of the best bbq sauces – so many great options!
- Hamburger buns – any ones you want – regular, paleo, grain-free, etc.
- Ranch dressing – we love this homemade dressing but feel free to use a store-bought one to make it even easier!
- Toppings – lettuce, coleslaw, fresh cilantro… anything that sounds good to you!
What Should I Serve With A BBQ Chicken Sandwich?
You can really serve just about anything with this delicious BBQ chicken, but some of our favorites are:
Tips for Utilizing Your Freezer
- Can I put frozen chicken in the crockpot? You can! The end result might be a bit more watery and you will have to adjust your cook time to make sure that your chicken reaches an internal temp of 165 degrees, but you can definitely do it.
- Am I able to freeze BBQ sauce and chicken together before cooking? Yes! You can put your chicken and bbq sauce in a large ziplock bag and place in a freezer for up to 3 months.
- Can I freeze BBQ chicken after cooking? Yes! Once the cooked bbq chicken has cooled you can put it in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
How to Make a BBQ Chicken Sandwich
Cook your chicken breasts using your preferred cooking method (stove top, slow cooker, or Instant Pot).
Shred the cooked chicken and add the rest of your BBQ sauce.
Place pulled bbq chicken and your desired toppings on a bun.
Enjoy!
Recipe FAQs and Tips
- BBQ Sauce: you can use any of your favorite BBQ sauces – we love this one or this one!
- Hamburger buns: use whatever hamburger buns you prefer: gluten-free, paleo, whole wheat, etc.
- Ranch dressing: we love our homemade ranch, but use whatever works best for you.
- Whole30/Paleo: if you want to keep this recipe paleo/Whole30 we highly recommend this BBQ sauce! And these paleo hamburger buns! Of course, you would just omit the buns for Whole30.
- Chicken breasts vs. thighs: you can use either one! We used chicken breasts for this recipe but either would work.
- Slow cooker on high vs. low: we recommend cooking the chicken on low if you have time, it stays more moist that way, but if you don’t have time the high setting works too.
- Leftovers: once your bbq chicken has been cooked you can keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
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Other Recipes You Might Like
Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken
Salsa Verde Chicken
Easy BBQ Meatballs
Honey BBQ Wings
Print
BBQ Chicken Sandwich
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner/Entree
- Method: Stove Top + Instant Pot + Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Description
BBQ Chicken Sandwich – an easy, delicious recipe for bbq chicken sandwiches that works on the stove-top, Instant Pot or Slow Cooker!
Ingredients
Scale
Stove Top:
- 4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- water for saucepan
- 1 cup BBQ Sauce
Slow Cooker:
- 1 1/2 cup BBQ Sauce
- 4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Instant Pot:
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup BBQ Sauce
Sandwiches:
- hamburger buns (use whatever kind of you prefer: regular, paleo, grain-free)
- romaine or butter lettuce
- fresh cilantro
- paleo ranch dressing
- (optional) 1 batch Creamy Coleslaw
Instructions
Stove Top:
- Take medium/large saucepan and fill 3/4 of the way with water.
- Bring to a boil.
- Add chicken to boiling water and reduce temp to bring water to a simmer.
- Let simmer 15-20 minutes.
- Carefully remove chicken and ensure center of thickest part of chicken has reached 165 degrees.
- Place chicken on a plate and shred with two forks. Place in a bowl with BBQ Sauce; stir to combine.
Slow Cooker:
- Place chicken breasts in crock pot.
- Pour 1 cup bbq sauce over top.
- Cover and cook on HIGH 3-4 hours or LOW 6-8 hours.
- Once chicken is done cooking, shred with two forks. The sauce will be thinned out due to the heat, but as it cools and you mix the shredded chicken around it will thicken back up.
- Add the additional 1/2 cup bbq sauce (or more if you want); stir to combine.
Instant Pot:
- Add 1 cup of chicken broth (or water) to Instant Pot.
- Place chicken inside (no need for trivet).
- Set Instant Pot to “Seal” and cook on High Pressure for 8-10 minutes.
- Allow Instant Pot to naturally release.
- Remove chicken and place on a plated; pour out any remaining liquid in the Instant Pot. Shred the chicken with two forks and place back into the Instant Pot.
- Add BBQ Sauce and stir to combine.
Sandwich :
- Open your bun, lay down some lettuce and some coleslaw, add your bbq chicken on top, drizzle on some ranch and put the other half of your bun on top! Super easy and so good!
Notes
- BBQ Sauce: feel free to use whatever bbq sauce you prefer.
- Buns: use whatever hamburger buns you prefer: gluten-free, paleo, whole wheat, etc.
- Ranch: we love our homemade ranch, but use whatever works best for you.
- Paleo: To make these paleo simply use a paleo bbq sauce and paleo hamburger buns!
- Cook Time Listed: I used the stove-top method for the listed cook time – of course if you opt for the slow cooker or instant pot it will take longer than that.
Josie Poolook says
These were quite delicious! I will make these again.
Erin says
So glad you enjoyed them, Josie! And thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review + feedback – I appreciate it!