Slow Cooker Root Beer Chicken is an easy weeknight meal for the family or party food! Perfect for sandwiches, tacos & more. Try it tonight!
Slow Cooker Recipes are fantastic for when you’d love to have a delicious dinner ready and waiting for you when you get back home from a long day. If you enjoyed my BBQ Pulled Chicken or Shredded BBQ Chicken, you’ll love this Slow Cooker Root Beer Chicken recipe.
Sabrina’s Slow Cooker Root Beer Chicken Recipe
Slow Cooker Root Beer BBQ Chicken is an easy dinner that’s great all year round. Crock pot recipes are perfect for busy days because you can throw your ingredients and set to low in the morning, then go about your day and come home to a completely cooked, delicious entree the whole family will enjoy!
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup root beer
- 1 cup barbecue sauce
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 8 hamburger buns , split in half and warmed
Instructions
- Place chicken in slow cooker.
- Whisk root beer, barbecue sauce, salt and pepper together in a bowl.
- Pour over the chicken.
- Cook, covered, on low heat for 4-5 hours or until chicken is tender.
- Remove chicken; cool slightly.
- Shred chicken with 2 forks and return to slow cooker.
- Serve on buns.
Nutrition
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Chef’s Notes
When it comes to choosing what kind of chicken to use in the recipe I am going against my standard recommendations of “avoid chicken breast” and recommending them for this recipe. Since we’re coating it in a sweet syrupy glaze you can get away with the white meat chicken. If you aren’t worried about the extra calories I even more highly suggest using boneless skinless chicken thighs over boneless skinless chicken breasts.
Table of contents
About this Recipe
Slow Cooker Root Beer Chicken is a fun, crowd pleasing recipe that turns just a few simple ingredients into a sweet, tangy, and incredibly tender dish. Chicken is slow cooked in root beer, which helps tenderize the meat while adding sweetness and depth of flavor. It’s especially popular because it’s almost effortless, just dump, cook, shred, and serve. Making it a go to comfort food recipe for busy days.
How to Store
- Serve: After cooking, you shouldn’t leave chicken out for longer than 2 hours at room temperature.
- Store: Allow your chicken to cool down to room temperature before wrapping with plastic wrap or put in a sealable container. It will stay good in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Freeze: You can freeze cooked chicken for up to 3 months. Keep it completely sealed in something airtight.
Ideas to Serve
- Pizza: Top a pre-made pizza crust with some BBQ sauce, mozzarella cheese, your leftover chicken and some fine sliced red onions for an easy pizza night BBQ Chicken Pizza
- Salad: Toss some lettuce, black beans, corn, and your leftover Root Beer BBQ Chicken with some Homemade Ranch Dressing and top with crunchy tortilla strips for a delicious, healthy salad.
- Pasta: Your leftover chicken will taste great on top of Mac and Cheese or Potato Salad.
- Veggies: You can stuff leftover Slow Cooker Root Beer BBQ Chicken into veggies like bell peppers (a great take on the classic Stuffed Pepper recipe), mushrooms, and zucchini boats and top with cheese for an easy, low-carb dinner.
Frequent Questions
Yes, you can overcook chicken in a slow cooker, especially if you are using chicken breasts in this recipe. If you want the meat to stay tender for longer be sure to use chicken thighs which are a more forgiving cut of meat.
Technically, yes. It isn’t a great idea though, since the chicken may not reach the desired temperature for a long time, which means it will have been sitting out at less than ideal temperatures for hours and can make you sick. Additionally frozen chicken contains significant amounts of water which will throw off the amount of liquid in the sauce causing the flavors to be diluted.
Crock pot chicken is safe to eat when the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. You should always check the temperature of the chicken at the thickest part with a probe thermometer to get an accurate reading.
For this Slow Cooker Root Beer BBQ Chicken recipe, you can choose your favorite BBQ sauce or you can try my Homemade BBQ Sauce to help tenderize the chicken. Since the meat is going to sit in the sauce for around 5 hours in the crockpot, the flavor is going to deeply settle into the meat from the skin to the bone.
Related Recipes
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Photos Used in Previous Posts
Can I use diet root beer instead of regular?
That should work just fine!
Hi! I have made this recipe multiple time, it’s on of my favorites!
Question, I have 1 package of chicken tenderloins, how long would you suggest cooking it in the crockpot for? Thank you!
I haven’t tested it but I would be afraid they would dry out since they’re smaller. If you decide to try, I’d suggest possibly needing to cut the time in half so cooking for 2-3 hours on low. Good luck!
Where is the recipe for rootbeer bbq sauce?
Everything needed to make this is in the recipe card. If you’d like to just make the sauce portion, here’s the link:
https://dinnerthendessert.com/root-beer-bbq-sauce/
could i do this in an instant pot?
Certainly. I haven’t made it yet so I don’t have cook times, but you could use the cook time for a similar Instant Pot chicken recipe.
Sabrina your are a women after this man’s heart, I made this and I want to tell everybody just how easy this is to make and how great it taste. I’m a single man an do all my own cooking and this recipe was AWESOME I love it. Keep up the great work and I will be looking forward to your next post.
I’m so glad you liked it! I agree, it is AWESOME! If you like easy, hearty “man” meals haha, check out my Sloppy Joes. I have over 20 recipes and counting 🙂
Wow, this chicken looks so juicy!! Love adding different sodas in recipes, they add so much flavor!
They really do! They make a huge difference!
Oooooh, this sounds amazing. I’m a sucker for a good BBQ pulled chicken recipe and this one looks mouth watering!
It’s very amazing!
so dang delicious! love it
We do too! So glad you like it!
OMG…..this is crazy easy and totally amazing!
It is sooo easy and delicious!
I loved how flavorful it is!! Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome! So you glad you like it!
Also what size crock pot . I have 4 qt and 8 qt. Please let me knowv I think I will love this recipe .thanks
I use a 6 qt slow cooker, if you halve the recipe I would go with the 4 qt. Hope this helps!
Can you 1/2 this b
Oh my can I half this recipe if so what about time?
You want to cook until the chicken is done, 165 degrees, and tender. Check your chicken after 3 hours and continue cooking/checking until done.
You can click on the servings amount and reduce the slider to half the amount and the ingredients will adjust. This should help you halve the recipe!
This looks wonderful! If I need to halve this recipe, should I halve the time?
No, you might need to cook for less tine but 2 hours on low is not enough time. Check your chicken after 3 hours and cook until it reaches an internal temp of 165 degrees and is tender.