Crock-Pot BBQ Chicken night is a regular occurrence in our household because it is incredibly easy, super delicious, and it can be used for a variety of meals, so leftovers aren't boring. For this post, I will explain my favorite dish to prepare with the slow cooked BBQ chicken: as a loaded sweet potato.
I have to give Andy credit for the chicken because he is the one who always makes it in our sweet wifi controlled slow cooker.
Shopping List:
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 bottle of BBQ sauce
2 sweet potatoes (only need if making my loaded potato combo)
1 avocado (only need if making my loaded potato combo)
1 small jalapeño (only need if making my loaded potato combo)
1 small red onion (only need if making my loaded potato combo)
Prep Time: less than 10 minutes
Cook Time: 3 to 6 hours for the slow cooked chicken and 45 minutes for the potatoes
Instructions:
Making the chicken is very easy, so this is a great dinner for busy days. All we do is put the chicken breasts in the crock-pot and cover with our favorite BBQ sauce. We are currently on a Newman's Own kick because one the sauce is very tasty, and two they donate their profits to several amazing charity organizations including one that places dogs with first responders and another that places dogs with military vets (and we love dogs, obvi). Andy used the Newman's Own Honey BBQ sauce most recently. We have also used Sweet Baby Ray's Original and Sweet Baby Ray's Hickory and Brown Sugar to flavor the chicken. Andy does not measure the sauce; he just uses enough to coat the chicken. Typically about a third of the bottle is needed initially. Cover the crock-pot and cook the chicken on low for at least 6 hours. We almost never cook on high, but the recommended cooking time on high is 3-4 hours for a quicker dinner. After 6 hours, remove the chicken and use two forks to shred the meat. At this point, we dump out the chicken juice left in the crock-pot because I don't like how mushy the chicken gets if it is left inside. Place the shredded chicken back in the crock-pot, add the desired amount of BBQ sauce to the chicken (we typically do about half of what is left in the bottle), and let cook for another 30 minutes.
Loading the BBQ chicken into a sweet potato is literally one of my favorite flavor combinations at the moment. After rinsing and drying, I bake medium sized sweet potatoes for about 45 minutes at 450 degrees.
Once everything is ready, I just stack the chicken and my desired toppings on top of the potato. For this recipe, I used red onion, jalapeño, and avocado as toppings. I sautéd the onions for a few minutes, but you could add red onion to the crock pot in order to take out the extra step and not have to wash a pan!
To keep this meal under 400 calories, I used only half the sweet potato, 93 grams of cooked chicken, 64 grams of fresh avocado, 18 grams of cooked red onion, and 3 slices of fresh jalapeño. I use a food scale to measure out my food (which I recommend if you are trying to avoid overeating), so that explains the random numbers. I paired this loaded potato with green beans to add bulk to my meal without adding a bunch of calories and to incorporate some of my daily greens!
I usually hate leftovers, but as I mentioned before, you can get creative with BBQ chicken leftovers to keep it interesting. We have added it as a pizza topping on our homemade pizza night, put it in BBQ chicken tacos on Taco Tuesday, I've topped salads with it, and it can be used in just a plain ole' BBQ chicken sandwich. The possibilities are endless...well sort of.
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