Slow cooker barbecue chicken reminds me of a lazy Sunday supper on a hot summer day. Chicken pieces are browned and then cooked in the slow cooker. Cover with a thick and rich homemade barbecue sauce to top it all off. The best part is that slow cooker barbecue chicken all cooks in the slow cooker while you enjoy your day.
The Sunday dinner yumminess in this post is sponsored by Foodie.com.
There’s nothing quite like Sunday dinner. When my parents are in town during the winter, we always eat Sunday dinner at their house with my sister. It’s the one time each week we all stop to eat and spend time together. I cherish that time each week I get to spend with my extended family.
When my parents leave for the summer, it’s my turn to plan our Sunday dinner and it’s almost always chicken. There’s just something about Sunday dinner that just needs a delicious chicken meal. I put together a fun collection of easy chicken dinners perfect for Sunday dinner on Foodie.com, which you can check out by clicking the photo above.
While I love Sunday dinner, I don’t like spending all day cooking it, but I still want something delicious as the end result. This barbecue chicken is perfect – it cooks in the slow cooker and the final result is a belly filling meal of delicious barbecue chicken.
I was worried about the barbecue sauce becoming too watered down in the slow cooker. So I cooked the chicken first, drained the crock, and then added the barbecue sauce in just long enough to heat it all up. I left the sauce in for about 45 minutes because we were out running errands, but I think next time I’d go with 30 minutes.
I also doubled the sauce ingredients as given below because I wanted to make sure to have plenty of sauce and there was. I served the chicken with rice so we’d have something to eat with the barbecue sauce.
Slow Cooker Barbecue Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons oil
- 3-4 pounds chicken thighs
- 3 Tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 3/4 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 3 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons prepared mustard
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large skillet. Brown both sides of chicken. Place chicken in the crock of slow cooker big enough to fit all your chicken and be 2/3 full.
- Cook on high in slow cooker for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes on high or until chicken is cooked through. Drain most of the liquid out of the crock of the slow cooker.
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium high heat. Saute onions in butter until softened. Add remaining ingredients and stir to mix. Allow sauce to come to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Pour sauce over the chicken in the slow cooker. Replace cover and cook on high for another 45 minutes.
Adapted from Taste of Home magazine.