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Zesty Pulled Chicken

This Zesty Pulled Chicken is a great twist on basic barbecue chicken. It’s as easy as adding frozen boneless chicken to your crock pot, topping it with the sauce ingredients, and then letting it slow cook.

We served it on sandwich buns with a side of dill pickle spears, some tortilla chips, and this homemade Tomato Peach Salsa or try it with this BLT Macaroni Salad.

Why I love this recipe

This shredded chicken is incredibly easy and delicious!

two Zesty Crockpot Shredded BBQ Chicken Sandwiches on a platter.
Zesty Crockpot Shredded BBQ Chicken Sandwiches Recipe for Two

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Ingredients

(amounts are listed in the recipe card at the bottom of the post)

boneless chicken breasts

barbecue sauce

Zesty Italian salad dressing (from a bottle)

light brown sugar

Worcestershire sauce

Equipment used in this recipe

How to make Zesty Pulled Chicken

Step 1 – Place the frozen boneless chicken in a 4 quart slow cooker Crockpot. Click for a 4 quart crockpot.

Step 2 – In a small bowl, whisk the barbecue sauce, Zesty Italian salad dressing, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce.

zesty bbq sauce whisked in a bowl

Step 3 – Pour the sauce ingredients over the chicken.

boneless chicken breast covered in zesty bbq sauce in a crock pot slow cooker

Step 4 – Cover and cook 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high.

Step 5 – Use a fork to shred the chicken in the pot then stir to coat completely.

Step 6 – Serve the zesty shredded chicken on the sandwich rolls.

two sandwiches with zesty bbq shredded chicken on them
Crock Pot Shredded BBQ Chicken

Recipe FAQs

Is it safe to use frozen chicken in a slow cooker?

There is a lot of debate about if it is safe or not to use frozen chicken in a slow cooker so if your worried about it, you can use thawed chicken. Quin Patton, a food scientist formerly with PepsiCo said, u0022It is safe to cook a frozen chicken in a slow cooker, you just need to make sure the internal temperature gets up to 165 degrees at some point during the cooking process.” I have personally never had any problems using frozen in any slow cooker recipe, but I can’t guarantee if you will or not so please make your own decision.

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two sandwiches with zesty bbq shredded chicken on them

Zesty Pulled Chicken

This Zesty Pulled Chicken is a great twist on basic barbecue chicken. It's as easy as adding frozen boneless chicken to your crock pot, topping it with the sauce ingredients, then let it slow cook. We served it on a deli Ciabatta roll and with a dill pickle spear, tortilla chips and homemade Tomato Peach Salsa.
4.23 from 22 votes
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 5 minutes
Course Chicken-Poultry
Cuisine American
Servings 2
Calories 312 kcal

Ingredients

  • 8 oz frozen boneless chicken breasts
  • ½ cup barbecue sauce
  • 2 Tablespoons Zesty Italian salad dressing (from a bottle)
  • 2 Tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Instructions
 

  • Place frozen boneless chicken in a 4 quart slow cooker Crockpot. Click here for a 4 quart crockpot.
  • In a small bowl, whisk barbecue sauce, Zesty Italian salad dressing, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce.
  • Pour sauce ingredients over chicken.
  • Cover and cook 8 hours on low or 4 hours on High.
  • Use a fork to shred the chicken in the pot then stir to coat completely.
  • Serve zesty shredded chicken on sandwich rolls.

Notes

See recipe post for process photos.

Nutrition

Serving: 1Calories: 312kcalCarbohydrates: 44gProtein: 25gFat: 3gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.01gCholesterol: 73mgSodium: 1368mgPotassium: 649mgFiber: 1gSugar: 36gVitamin A: 199IUVitamin C: 3mgCalcium: 46mgIron: 1mg
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Hi and welcome. I’m Zona and I have a passion for recipes. I share recipes, tips, tricks, and resources to help you cook for two. Eat, drink, and enjoy!

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This recipe is also on my other site Zona’s Lazy Recipes and serves 4.

4.23 from 22 votes (22 ratings without comment)
Recipe Rating




Katherine Dietz

Wednesday 16th of November 2022

Do you use light or dark brown sugar? Is the Italian dressing the dry packet mix or ready made in a bottle? Also, when you print your recipes why no recipe heading or photo? Thanks Katherine

Katherine Dietz

Friday 18th of November 2022

@Zona, it is printing fine now also thanks so much for updating the instructions Thanks Katherine

Zona

Wednesday 16th of November 2022

Hi Katherine, I use light brown sugar. The dressing is ready made in a bottle.

As for the printing, you should be seeing both of those things. They show up for me so I'm uncertain why you aren't seeing them. I'm wondering if it may be something in your printer settings. Does it happen on every recipe of mine or just this one?

Wendy W

Wednesday 29th of January 2020

Hello, This recipe looks interesting, but it sounds like the directions say to put frozen chicken breasts in the slow cooker. I thought one was never supposed to put frozen meat into the cooker - that only completely defrosted ingredients should be used. Do you really mean to put the meat in frozen? Thanks

Zona

Thursday 30th of January 2020

Hi Wendy, there is much debate about if it is safe or not to use frozen in a slow cooker so if your worried about it, you can use thawed chicken. Quin Patton, a food scientist formerly with PepsiCo said,“It is safe to cook a frozen chicken in a slow cooker, you just need to make sure the internal temperature gets up to 165 degrees at some point during the cooking process.”

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