Shredded meat — beef, pork, or chicken — is one of the most versatile dinner elements you can imagine! Cook up a few pounds of shredded pork and freeze it, then dole it out for weeknight meals. Or make some shredded beef and serve a crowd. Today, let's talk chicken: Simple, inexpensive, and relatively quick, chicken has some advantages over the heavier beef and pork. Here's how to make a batch of tender and delicious pulled chicken in the oven — or your slow cooker!
Pulled chicken is just as easy as its beef and pork counterparts, but it takes less time and is lighter in fat and calories (if you pay attention to that sort of thing!).
I feel, though, that there is one really key element to making good barbecue sauce chicken, whether it's in the oven or the slow cooker: Use dark meat. Chicken breasts don't have enough fat or tenderness to get soft while braising; they just aren't going to fall apart into soft threads the way a slightly fattier meat will. Personally, I like to use mostly boneless skinless chicken thighs, which aren't as dark as legs, but offer a light yet succulent texture. I do mix in a breast or too as well, but I would never use them for more than 25% to 30% of the total meat.
You can also opt to use bone-in chicken, but for me the whole point of this dish is for it to be extremely easy and hands-off, and the extra work of skinning the chicken or working with the bones isn't worth it.
After that, it's all easy! Here's a very basic, simple recipe or set of instructions for making barbecue sauce pulled chicken.

Barbecue Shredded Chicken
8 to 10 servings
3 to 4 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, or a mix of thighs and breasts
Olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 (or more) cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
2 teaspoons salt
Freshly ground black pepper
12 (1 1/2 cups) ounces barbecue sauce, store-bought or homemade, plus more for serving
Heat the oven to 325°F. Remove the chicken from its packaging and pat it dry.
In a Dutch oven or heavy pot (with a lid) heat a drizzle of olive oil over medium heat. Cook the onion and garlic for 5 minutes or until quite soft. Add the smoked paprka and stir. Add the chicken piece by piece, stirring to mix well with the onion. Stir in the salt and a few generous grinds of black pepper. Pour in the barbecue sauce and bring to a simmer. Turn off the heat.
Cover the pot with a heavy lid and put in the oven. Bake, covered, for 90 minutes, or until the chicken is extremely tender. Remove from the oven and use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken to a large bowl. Use two forks to shred the chicken finely.
Meanwhile, while you're shredding the chicken, put the sauce, uncovered, back on the stove over high heat. Bring to a boil and reduce the liquid in the pan to about half of its volume. Pour this thickened sauce over the chicken and stir.
Serve with buns, slaw, avocado, and extra barbecue sauce on the side.
Refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Slow Cooker Instructions:
Follow the recipe as written above, but instead of putting the chicken and sauce in the oven, pour it all into a slow cooker. Cook for 5 to 7 hours on LOW. If desired, you can lift out the chicken and reduce the sauce in a separate pan on the stovetop, but this may not be necessary; it simply depends on your preference.

More Pulled Meats & Barbecue Sauce Recipes:
• Slow-Cooker Carnitas
• Slow Cooker Barbacoa Beef
• Ultimate Cheater Pulled Pork
• Psycho BBQ Sauce Recipe
• Sweet and Tangy Homemade BBQ Sauce
(Images: Faith Durand)
Mick Haigh Bowls fr...

Comments (19)
I beg to differ about using chicken breasts. I used them last week and they fell apart quite nicely.
Here's my recipe: http://www.foodieparent.com/2012/03/crockpot-shredded-barbecue-chicken/
@Theavasmommy good to know! I've just made this with chicken breasts before and it always seems to turn out drier than I would prefer. YMMV!
Do you have a recipe for the slaw that's pictured? Looks great!
Agreed with above poster - what's the slaw recipe?!
Wow, you guys are quick on that - couldn't have a better intro if I tried! :) The slaw recipe will be up at 2pm.
Is there a noticeable difference between chicken cooked in the oven vs in the slow cooker? I have a slow cooker, but given that this recipe starts in the dutch oven, it seems easier to just throw the whole thing in the oven. Unless the slow cooker produces better results, that is.
I made this slow cooker Mexican-style chicken recipe with chicken breasts and it was really good - not dry at all and so tender I struggled to get it out the slow cooker! I can't wait to try this with BBQ!
i tried a recipe (found on How Sweet It Is) where you use chicken breasts (salt and pepper the breasts before putting in the slow cooker). Add a bottle of bbq sauce and a bottle of beer. Comes out awesome! I'm going to try it with thigh meat now. I feel like shredded meat is such an ugly dish to serve, but it tastes so good!
Just did this last week! Got a pack of drumsticks and thighs, threw them in there with bbq sauce (some of my own, some prepared, to get the right total amount) - part way thru, I pulled the skins off - maybe 10 minutes work, then later, the bones. It isn't really that much additional work, just a bit messy. This is so nice to have on hand through the week, good on rice, quinoa, toast, etc. We love this, there are just two of us, and neither is averse to leftovers (otherwise, I'd cook up a big batch, and freeze some). We can sometimes get legs or thighs for $.99/#, so it is really a good buy, even with the discarded bone and skin (and I freeze those to make broth, later). I agee, the slaw looks great.
this is a great idea. i will be trying it.
http://bbqbook.wordpress.com/
"beef and pork countertops".......YUM! Imagining a bacon covered kitchen.....
I love typos but I do love bbq more.I've never made pulled chicken. Thanks for the how-to.
@Crossgirl LOL - I have a kitchen reno on the brain, can you tell? COUNTERPARTS -- fixed!
Instead of buns, I served the chicken over Wasa Crispbread. YUMMMMMM!!!
where's the slaw recipe man?!
I made this chicken last night and it turned out AMAZING! I used 2.5 pounds boneless/skinless chicken things and 2 large chicken breasts. I followed the recipe exactly and it could not have turned out any better. My husband loved it as well! I served it on dollar rolls and topped each dollar roll with a slice of avocado, perfection! We also had a side of green beans with celery salt and then a cold salad of cherry tomatoes/white beans/dill/garlic/EVOO/balsamic, very good. Thank you so much for putting this simple and delicious recipe up, yum!
Just made this. Awesome! I didn't find the need to thicken my bbq sauce after cooking, however, as it seemed to have reduced a bit in the oven already. Will serve this tonight with potato buns, slaw, and avocado. Plotting my leftovers already - bbq chicken salad, bbq chicken nachos, quesadillas... yum. This is the way I like to cook! Cheap, easy, fairly healthy... and tons of uses for the leftovers. Thanks!
Who's making this in her new slow cooker for dinner tomorrow night? This girl! Cannot wait to try it- it looks absolutely delicious!!
Thank you for this recipe. It may be basic, but it is delicious.
I used Sweet Baby Rays Hickory and Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce. Now I am sorry I did as it contains HF corn syrup (boo hiss) but the chicken was so yummy I'm afraid to change anything.
I made this in the slow cooker last night and it was delicious and easy (even with using bone-in thighs). I did find that my BBQ sauce was lacking a little punch once it was done ... thinking maybe moisture from the chicken diluted it? I added a bit of red pepper flakes (I'm Texan and I like my BBQ spicy!) and cooked the mixture down a bit more on high once I stripped all the bones out of the chicken. Turned out fantastic ... froze a bit of it to enjoy sandwiches sometime when I don't feel like cooking.
Thanks for the recipe!