shredded bbq chicken

Most of us can't afford to have a personal chef on hand to have dinner ready when we get home from work.  Fortunately there is the crock-pot.  The busy person's solution to home cooking.  

One of my readers (and friends) sent me a request this week on the fat girl skinny facebook fan page asking for more crock-pot meals.  Apparently her son was complaining that she was making the same thing over and over again.  Being a busy professional and a great Mom, how could I not oblige the request for a time saving meal?  

So I give you shredded bbq chicken a la crock-pot.  The most time consuming part of this meal is making the sauce, which will take about 15 minutes.  I like to make my own sauce because I can control what goes in it.  But if you're feeling very lazy or rushed for time you can use your favourite bottle of bbq sauce as well.  Just be careful because most of them are full of sugar and preservatives, so try and choose wisely.  

The great thing about cooking chicken this way is that you can serve it a few different ways.  You can have it whole or shredded on top of some couscous with veggies on the side, it's also amazing in wraps or sandwiches. 

Ingredients:

• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup of bbq sauce

(note: this recipe can be easily doubled as the sauce will make 2 cups)

For the sauce ~

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp canola oil
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup tomato sauce (not marinara sauce, but tomato sauce, look for ones with no added sugar in the ingredients label)
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 tbsp cider vinegar
• 3 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 tbsp pineapple juice, no sugar added
• 1 tsp ancho chile powder
• 2 tbsp molasses
• 2 tbsp mustard (I used horseradish Mustard)
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Put a medium sized pot on medium heat, allow it to get slightly warm and add in your canola oil.  Next add in your diced onion and sautée for a minute or two until they start to become slightly clear.  Add in your garlic, and stir for about half a minute.  Then add in all the rest of your ingredients in order.  Stir everything really well to combine and bring it to a boil.

When the sauce begins to boil reduce to low for 15 minutes to allow it to thicken up.  If you'd like to smoothen out the sauce feel free to use an immersion blender to puree it.  I wouldn't recommend pouring it into a regular blender though, as I tried that and it sprayed up all over the place.

Place your chicken breasts in the crock-pot and pour 1 cup of the sauce over top.  Turn to low and cook 8 hours.

Once cooked you can pull out the chicken breasts whole.  Or using tongs remove them to another bowl and shred the meat, add in some more of the bbq sauce and stir to combine.

Have a request?  Check out the discussion board on the fat girl skinny facebook fan page.  Also, you might have noticed a new feature in the sidebar called "ask me anything".  You can type in any question you may have and I'll answer them on my formspring.me account.

Comments

[Angela]

Thanks Kat! We're heading out to buy some chicken now!

[kat]

hope you liked it!
I made another great crock-pot recipe... but then *someone* ate it before I could take a photo. So expect that tomorrow :)