Do you have a slow cooker? If you have one, I bet you won’t even need 1 minute to think why it’s an awesome kitchen tool to have. I like to think of it as a silent magic helper. I’ve seen quite a lot of recipes using slow cooker and I’ve always, always, always wonder how amazing it is to own one. Unfortunately, I don’t have a slow cooker at home. I went shopping looking for a small slow cooker and couldn’t find one. I leave alone and cooking huge meal is not really a common situation I’ll find myself in. Sometimes when I am almost on the edge of buying a slow cooker, I always reminded myself it might not be worth it for a single person who cooks for herself only. I find myself smiling when thinking of cooking 1 piece of chicken breast in slow cooker for 6 – 8 hours! It’s a ridiculous sight and very impractical. But if you have a huge family, it might be worth it to have it.

 Don’t sit on the corner sulking because you cannot make a recipe you’ve been drooling over for weeks just because you don’t have a slow cooker, it’s not the end of the world.  Most of the recipes you can cook in slow cooker can be cooked in stove top, like this BBQ Pulled Chicken. I made it on stove top in about 1 1/2 hour, not 6 or 8 hours, how easy is that? This recipe can also be swap for pork, turkey, lamb or beef. The cooking time might be longer depending on the type of meat you decide to use,  but still not 6-8 hours. So you see, it still works even without a slow cooker.

This BBQ Pulled Chicken has a sweet and salty BBQ flavor. The level of sweetness and BBQ flavor depends on the BBQ sauce you use, so find a good quality one. If the sweetness is not enough, just add more sugar as needed. While you’re at it, might as well add a sprinkle of chili peppers although in my case, I always add more than just a sprinkle. I like mine hot and spicy, so the  more the merrier. Feel free to adjust the level of heat according to your preference. Hot or mild, the choice is yours.  Let me show you how I did it. Let’s get started!

Ingredients:

• 1 Large Boneless Chicken Breast (skin removed)
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce (good quality)
• 2 1/2  cups water or chicken broth
• 1 clove garlic – minced
• small onion – chopped
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp Chili peppers – adjust as needed (I like mine spicy)
• 1/4 cayenne pepper – adjust as needed (I like mine spicy)
• 2 tbsp brown sugar – as needed if  you want it to be sweeter

Variations:

Hawaiian Pulled Chicken – Add 1/4 cup canned crushed pineapple. Use the pineapple juice to replace 1 cup of the water in the recipe.

Shortcut Tip:

If you want to make it even easier, you can use roasted chicken breast. Shred it before adding to the pan, then add all ingredients and bring to a boil until sauce is reduce. Decrease the water to 1 cup since the chicken is already cook. This could around 30 – 45 minutes, just keep watch on when the sauce starts to thicken. That’s your cue that its done.

Instructions:

1. Add all ingredients except sugar (hold it for later) in a medium size pot and boil until chicken is fork tender, about 1 1/2 hour.
2. At 1 hour time, take the chicken out from the pan and use a fork to shred it into pieces. Return the shredded chicken to the pan and continue cooking, stirring from time to time to avoid sauce sticking at the bottom of the pan.  It helps if you have non-stick pan to make this pulled chicken.
3. Season to taste. If you want it to be sweeter, add the sugar or you can also remove it if the BBQ sauce is already sweet.  I often add the salt at the end so that I can adjust it depending on the saltiness of the BBQ sauce I use. It’s always better to add less and increase as needed, rather than ending up with a salty pulled chicken.

Serves 2-3

There you go! A simple pulled chicken for your tacos, bun filling, puff pastry toppings and more! If you like this recipe, kindly click on the “Like” button or leave me a comment. I would love to hear from you.

Enjoy! If you make this, share and tag me in Instagram #SweetNSpicyLiving. I would like to see your creations too.

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