This Slow Cooker Honey Chipotle BBQ Chicken Sandwiches recipe is a sweet & spicy twist on traditional barbecue chicken sandwiches, all cooked up to perfection in your Crock-Pot!
The other day I was looking at a a couple of small packs of boneless skinless chicken thighs and thinking that we hadn’t had barbecue chicken sandwiches in a while. But, since I was also in the mood for a sweet & spicy combo, I decided to take the best of both worlds approach in these Slow Cooker Honey Chipotle BBQ Chicken Sandwiches.
Adding both a touch of honey and a touch of chipotle flavor to the BBQ sauce before pouring it onto the chicken gives it a sweet and spicy zip. And, and letting it simmer away with the chicken, garlic, and a couple of easy seasonings in your slow cooker makes for some pretty simple — yet pretty irresistible — pulled chicken sandwiches! You don’t need a lot of ingredients to get a lot of flavor here.
Slow Cooker Honey Chipotle BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
Ingredients
3 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
3/4 cup BBQ sauce
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp sauce from a can of chipotles in adobo
2 tsp minced garlic (about 4 cloves)
1 chipotle in adobo, chopped
Buns or rolls, for serving
Sliced cheese of choice to top, optional
Directions
Trim chicken and place it in the bottom of your slow cooker, then season with cumin and smoked paprika.
Stir together the BBQ sauce, honey, olive oil, adobo sauce, minced garlic, and chopped adobo in a small bowl, then pour it evenly over the chicken.
Cook on low for 5 hours. Remove the chicken from the Crock-Pot (discarding liquid), then shred.
Serve your honey chipotle barbecue chicken sandwiches on buns or rolls. (I topped mine with sliced mozzarella and served with pickles, for a little contrasting sour crunch.)
A little bit sweet, a little bit spicy: These Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches have it all
Yum. Serve your slow cooker honey chipotle BBQ chicken sandwiches on your favorite buns or rolls, and I also recommend topping these with cheese and serving them with something sour & crunchy (such as pickles or coleslaw) to provide a cool contrast to the sweet & spicy chicken.
The honey balances out the chipotle in this recipe so that these sandwiches have just a bit of a kick, making it a kid-friendly dinner option. (Middle School Guy will testify to this, since he put quite a bit of chicken away the other night!) Give them a try the next time you’re looking for a slightly different twist on the typical BBQ pulled chicken sandwich.
Slow Cooker Honey Chipotle BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, printable recipe
Slow Cooker Honey Chipotle BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
Ingredients
- 3 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 3/4 cup BBQ sauce
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp sauce from a can of chipotles in adobo
- 2 tsp minced garlic about 4 cloves
- 1 chipotle in adobo chopped
- Buns or rolls for serving
- Sliced cheese of choice to top optional
Instructions
- Trim chicken and place it in the bottom of your slow cooker, then season with cumin and smoked paprika.
- Stir together the BBQ sauce, honey, olive oil, adobo sauce, minced garlic, and chopped adobo in a small bowl, then pour it evenly over the chicken.
- Cook on low for 5 hours. Remove the chicken from the Crock-Pot (discarding liquid), then shred.
- Serve your honey chipotle barbecue chicken sandwiches on buns or rolls. (I topped mine with sliced mozzarella and served with pickles, for a little contrasting sour crunch.)
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Catherine Lott
Tuesday 21st of September 2021
The whole family loved it. Modification - Don’t drain the liquid. Scoop out a half cup of the liquid into a small bowl and add 2Tbs corn starch. Mix that up then add it back to the crockpot with the shredded chicken and let sit for another 30-60 minutes. Keeps all that delicious flavor in the pot and you can serve up the sauce with it.
rachel
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
Yum, that's a great idea! :)
Karen Hanson
Sunday 15th of December 2019
Brand new to your meal plans and this was the first recipe we've tried of yours. We used our Instant Pot to make it instead of a slow cooker (because I only got home from Aldi at about 3pm). This is SO GOOD! I had seconds. YUM!
Lauren
Monday 12th of August 2019
My husband loved this so much that he texted me at work to let me know that it was FANTASTIC. My can be picky 4-year-old liked it, too.
Mags
Monday 12th of August 2019
I trailed this and took it to church potluck...Licked clean!!! So easy to throw on the night before a busy Sunday morning and then just shred and take. My sister has been using your meal plans for about a month now and raves about them. I use a couple of other different meal planners, but wanted to give yours a try. This is my first week with you and so far I’m impressed! Thank you!!
Fawn
Sunday 11th of August 2019
This was SO GOOD! Whenever I tell my kids "we're going back on the food budget" (meaning I follow your plans) they get so happy because they LOVE your recipes. Thank you so much for sharing.