by Holly
BBQ Chicken Sliders are one of the easiest ever Crock Pot recipes!
A simple combo of bacon, chicken and bbq sauce make the most delicious pulled chicken! This recipe is great when you are looking for a change from pulled pork or beef. It’s a meal that everyone will rave about.
Why We Love This Recipe
This easy recipe is totally no-fail! The chicken comes out delicious and flavorful every single time!
We love that this recipe only needs a only handful of ingredients!! Chicken, onions, bbq sauce and bacon!! Couldn’t be easier and oh so yummy.
I love that this can be prepped ahead of time (even the day before) and cooked to feed a family or a hungry crowd on game day.
The chicken mixture can be kept warm in the slow cooker so your guests can serve themselves, party perfect!
Ingredients and Variations
Chicken I use breasts because they’re lean, cook nicely and shred perfectly. You can use thighs in this recipe if it’s what you have on hand. If you use chicken thighs, skim any fat off once they’re cooked before shredding.
BBQ Sauce Anything goes. I use homemade if I have it on hand but if not, store bought is just fine! Use what you love because a lot of the flavor comes from the BBQ sauce (If buying store bought, I like this one).
How To Make BBQ Chicken Sliders
This slow cooker chicken slider recipe is crazy easy. Just like pulled pork, simply add the ingredients and let slow cooker do the work!
- Cook bacon until crispy, then carmelize onions in reserved bacon grease.
- Add all ingredients to the slow cooker.
- Deglaze the pan with water and pour it into the slow cooker, mixing well.
Pre-cooked bacon or bacon bits work in this recipe. If using precooked bacon, fry the onion in a bit of olive oil instead of bacon fat.
The Best Buns For Sliders
Of course Hawaiian rolls are a favorite for sliders but you can use dinner rolls, tray buns too or even homemade biscuits.
In all honesty, this incredible chicken will taste amazing on pretty much anything. So feel free to grab a pack of ready to serve rolls from the store.
Delicious Toppings For Chicken Sliders
There are so many ways to serve these chicken sliders.
- How about having these with some sliced tomatoes or classic coleslaw piled on top? Delicious!
- Or, try them with a spoonful of pineapple salsa, or a pineapple ring on each sandwich! Instant Hawaiian sliders!
- Hot sauce anyone? Or, some nacho cheese and chopped green onions? Yum!
- French-fried onions! Need I say more?
What To Do With Leftovers
Serve over mac and cheese or even over rice.
BBQ chicken freezes beautifully. Put leftovers including all the sauce into an airtight container, leaving about 2 inches for expansion. According to FDA guidelines, cooked poultry dishes will keep in the freezer for 4-6 months, and in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
Easy Slider Recipes
- Ham and Cheese Sliders – ultimate snack food!
- Reuben Sandwich Sliders – ready in under 30 mins
- Game Day Chilli Joes – two classic combined
- Crock Pot Italian Beef Sandwiches – easy to make & serve
- Dr. Pepper Crock Pot Pulled Pork – perfect on sliders!
BBQ Chicken Sliders
Prep Time 15 minutes
Servings 18 sliders
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts boneless and skinless
- 18 ounces barbeque sauce
- 12 strips bacon
- 1 large onion thinly sliced
- ½ cup water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 18 rolls (such as Hawaiian Honey Wheat rolls)
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Instructions
- Cook bacon in a frying pan over medium-high heat until crispy and drain on paper towel.
- Leave 2 tablespoons of bacon grease in the frying pan and add the sliced onions and salt. Cook onions until tender. Add to the bottom of a 6qt slow cooker.
- When the frying pan has cooled a bit, carefully pour the water into the pan and gently scrape up the browned bits of bacon and onion from the bottom. Pour it into the crockpot.
- Add chicken breasts and barbecue sauce. Stir and cook on low for 7-8 hours, or on high for 4-5 hours.
- Shred chicken using 2 forks. Stir in half of the bacon.
- Spoon mixture on slider buns, top with remaining bacon.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.)
Do you put the bacon in the slow cooker at the beginning? Further up it says to put all ingredients in the pot. Later on it says to stir in half after the chicken is shredded. I’m sure it’d work either way.
We cook the bacon until crispy in step one and then set it aside until it is mixed in step 5 and sprinkled on top of each slider in step 6. Hope that helps!
OMG…this recipe is so easy to follow. Very few ingredients. When I finally opened my crock pot I thought oh no I goofed as this looked watery. But what the heck once I started shredding this easy pull apart chicken it looked perfect. Have never been so proud of making such a delicious dish. Instant hit maker for my family. Thanks it was really an instant hit.
I’ll be making this tomorrow and was wondering if I cut the bacon into small pieces or leave the strips whole?
Either will work, I leave them whole and then crumble them for serving just because I find it easier.
Made this for the first time yesterday, and it received rave reviews. The chicken fell apart when it was time to shred. I decided to mix in all the bacon and let it sit in the crock pot another half hour just to make serving easier.
Delicious, Ali! I don’t think you can ever go wrong with more bacon.
Can you give me info if I was making in instant pot? Thanks!
I haven’t tried this particular recipe in the IP so I can’t say for sure.
This recipe is fabulous! Since there are only two of us, I halved it and still have enough for two meals. I cooked it for the same amount of time as the full recipe calls for. Absolutely delish!!
Can you use frozen chicken breasts? Sorry if this is a stupid question lol
I would defrost them in the fridge before adding to the crockpot but let us know how it turns out Jessica!
Thank you
So many recipes, so little time …add to the problem, they all look so good!!! I wish there were more “problems” like this in life.
I can get behind these kinds of problems Ken! Have fun cooking.
Looking forward to using this recipe soon !
Can’t wait for you to try it Randy! They are so delicious :)
I’m eating this for dinner tonight. Saw the recipe firing the middle of my meal. I don’t use bacon and I do user Serrano pepper. I put mine on a garlic bread full size bun.
I made this about a week ago. My family loved it. Even my picky eater. Making it again tonight. Thank you for this recipe.
So glad your family loved it Karen!
Do I put the chicken in with the bbq sauce after all the ingredients or does the chicken an bbq sauce go in first just wondering.
You can add them to the slow cooker in any order.
How many sliders do you get from this recipe? I’d like to make for a social gathering….
This should make about 16 sliders. This may vary based on the side of your rolls.
I hate to even ask, but can this be made minus the bacon? I personally love bacon, but I’m taking this to a potluck where others don’t eat pork. I was thinking of adapting your Dr. pepper pork shoulder recipe for chicken but wasn’t sure how much chicken?
Sure you could leave out the bacon! It does add a little bit of smokiness to the dish so you might like to choose a barbecue sauce that has a little bit of a smoky flavor to substitute. Let me know how it works out for you!
This was REALLY good hubby requested I make it again tomorrow lol
I am just learning to cook so I apologize if this question sounds silly. When do you shred the chicken? After everything is cooked?
Great question! Yes, once everything is cooked you shred it.
I’m making this this week, but I have a question…how big is the bottle of BBQ sauce? I’ve found them rangin from over a litre (4 cups +) to 250 ml. (1 cup), so not sure what size to use.
I used 18oz size.
Made these last night…AH-MAY-ZING!! I ususalaly make pulled pork, but the chicken was so much less greasy, and my family told me they liked the chicken over the pork. Nex time, I might substitute 4 thighs for 2 breasts, just to add a bit more moisture to the chicken…overall, great recipe!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Coming back with an update. We loved it! One of our new favorites. We used Sweet Baby Rays Hickory Brown Sugar BBQ sauce. Mine cooked really fast on high for 2 hours. Not sure if it is my crock pot or because the chicken was thawed out. I just turned it on low and then shredded the chicken and mixed it all together. So good! Thank you!
So glad they were awesome for you! Such a nice easy dish! :)
Making this tonight, can’t wait to try it. :)