BBQ Pulled Chicken is a delicious, easy meal that gives you the taste of summer any time of year. Make this weeknight-friendly meal in the slow-cooker or Instant Pot. It's great for pot-lucks, family dinners, and is freezer-friendly too!
When it comes to entertaining, easy is the name of the game over here. And BBQ Pulled Chicken is the ultimate easy summer meal. Whether you use it in sandwiches, in this bbq chicken salad recipe, or to make bbq chicken pizza.
I was reminded of this meal by a good friend who always has great ideas for batch cooking. She’s a master at making something early in the week that can be turned into two or three other dinners. And thanks to her inspiration, see below for a list of ways you can use leftover BBQ chicken to make dinner all week long!
Bonus: Check out the recipe below for freezer instructions and a label with reheating instructions that can be attached to the top of the dish.
Ingredients
The ingredients list for BBQ Pulled Chicken is super short. You just need:
- Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs - Chicken thighs work best for this recipe. They are tender, easy to shred, and never dry. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts will work fine as a substitute but may have a drier, less tender texture.
- BBQ Sauce - A good BBQ sauce is all you need to flavor the chicken. Use your favorite here, and be sure it offers the flavors you like - sweet, spicy, tangy, etc.
- Hamburger or Brioche buns and coleslaw - If serving these as sandwiches, this is what you’ll need to finish the meal. I have a strong preference for brioche buns (we’ve been loving the Aldi brand!) that have a buttery texture and subtle sweetness. Use your favorite coleslaw to add some fresh tanginess and crunch.
10 Ways to Use Leftover BBQ Chicken
- BBQ Chicken Pizza
- Serve in grain bowls with a fresh fruit salsa
- Filling for Baked Potatoes
- Tacos or Tostadas
- DIY Lettuce Wraps
- BBQ Chicken Salad
- Nachos
- Quesadillas
- BBQ Chicken Pasta
- Filling for Stuffed Peppers
Freeze This Meal
If freezing this meal, shred the chicken and transfer it to a plastic freezer bag or an aluminum pan. (Don't add BBQ sauce before freezing.) Then, for best results, pour the cooking liquid (from the slow cooker or Instant Pot) over top of the chicken before freezing it. Because exposure to air is the enemy of freezer meals, adding the cooking liquid to the chicken will help it to come into as little contact with air as possible.
When you’re ready to serve the chicken, defrost it and drain off the liquid. Then reheat it and toss it with as much BBQ sauce as you’d like! Print the recipe below for a label that includes these instructions.
How to Deliver This Meal To Someone Else
This would be a fun meal to deliver to someone else. Keep the BBQ sauce and chicken separate so that they can add as much or as little as they like. (It's also a good idea to wait to add the sauce until right before serving because the chicken will soak most of it up while it sits in the fridge.)
Deliver pulled chicken with:
- Coleslaw mix
- A jar of BBQ Sauce
- Hamburger or Brioche Buns (highly recommend the Giant Brioche Buns from Aldi)
More Chicken Recipes
- Chicken with Creamy Cilantro Lime Sauce
- Slow Cooker Hawaiian Chicken
- Slow Cooker Chicken Carnitas
- Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls
Favorite Tools
- KitchenAid 6 Quart Slow Cooker - My favorite slow cooker that can easily accommodate the 4 servings below or even a double or triple batch of this chicken.
- 6 Quart Instant Pot Duo - I’m an Instant Pot convert and use it several times a week. This is the model I have.
BBQ Pulled Chicken
Equipment
- Slow-Cooker or Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 2 pounds Boneless and Skinless Chicken Thighs
- ¾ cup Water
- 1 ¼ cup BBQ Sauce, divided (see note)
- Salt and Pepper, to taste
- Hamburger or Brioche Buns, Coleslaw, and Extra BBQ Sauce, for serving
Instructions
Instant Pot:
- Combine water and ¼ cup BBQ sauce in the bowl of an Instant Pot.
- Add chicken thighs on top and season the tops generously with salt and pepper.
- Close and lock the lid.
- Set the pressure cook / manual setting on high for 8 minutes.
- Use quick / manual release to release the pressure.
- Remove chicken from the Instant Pot and drain liquid out of the bowl (if planning to freeze the chicken, save the liquid - see notes below).
- Shred or chop chicken and return it to the bowl of the Instant Pot with the remaining 1 cup BBQ sauce.
- Put the lid on the Instant Pot (just set it on the top to keep the chicken warm; no need to seal it) and leave the chicken, covered, for 5 minutes to soak up the flavor of the sauce.
Slow Cooker:
- Combine water and ¼ cup BBQ sauce in the bowl of a slow-cooker.
- Add chicken thighs on top and season the tops generously with salt and pepper.
- Cook until chicken is cooked through, 2 hours on high / 3 to 4 hours on low.
- Remove chicken from the slow-cooker and drain liquid out of the bowl (if planning to freeze the chicken, save the liquid - see notes below).
- Shred or chop chicken and return it to the bowl of the slow-cooker with the remaining 1 cup BBQ sauce.
- Turn slow-cooker to warm function and cover with the lid.
- Leave chicken for 15 minutes to let the chicken soak up the flavor of the sauce.
- Serve chicken in hamburger or brioche buns with coleslaw.
Notes
Joy
June has gotten so big! What fun park fun. This recipe would be great to serve to a family with a new baby. If I wanted to bring it refrigerated rather than frozen, should I mix in the barbecue sauce myself or wait and have them mix it in before serving?
Jess
Oh such a good question, Joy! I should have made sure to include that, but I've added it to the recipe now. I'd keep the BBQ sauce and chicken separate if delivering it to someone else. That way they can add as much sauce as they'd like. (I also find that the chicken has a tendency to soak up the sauce as it sits, so letting it sit with the sauce for more than 15 minutes sort of changes the texture and consistency of the pulled chicken.)
Neuf
Making this for a neighbor next week! Love the notes on how to deliver easily.
Hi June!
Jess
YAY! It's quite possibly been the most frequent thing we've served to people all summer. Snag those Aldi rolls if you can find them - SO good.
le passage bureau
I love this all kind of food great picture lovely food Really it was an awesome article...very interesting to read.
Frank
Gotta love the instapot! Looks delicious.
Jess
Definitely! Love that thing!
Crawford
If I want to make this the day before a party, should I still keep the sauce separate? Thanks in advance!
Jess
Yes. You could add a small amount of BBQ sauce and it will help to flavor the meat while it’s in the fridge but wait to add most of the sauce until you heat the meat back up and are about to serve it. (That’s the best way to be sure you add just the right amount of sauce.) BTW - if I’m setting this out for a buffet-style meal, I put the meat and sauce back in the slow cooker on warm. That way it’s ready for people to serve themselves whenever they want it!
Alex Smith
Helpful article for every BBQPEOPLES and bbq lover. I have a question? How to make bbq grill with beef. I love also chicken. My first choice beef meat. Thank you for publish learning content.
Abby
This looks so yummy! The weather is finally turning nicer up here in Australia, and I can’t wait to try out your recipe! Now I want to go to the store and buy the ingredients!
Jess
Yes - this is such a good recipe for the summer! Glad you all are getting some sunshine!
abbey
Could you make it with bone & skin chicken?
Jess
Absolutely - this will work great with bone-in chicken and will come out super juicy and tender. I'd recommend pulling the skin off the chicken first though. The texture of the skin isn't great with this method of cooking, so I'd just remove it before cooking.