Make this sweet Root Beer Chicken in your slow cooker with tender chicken thighs and only a few other ingredients.
I had to give this Root Beer Chicken a try in my slow cooker after how good my Root Beer Baked Beans turned out last year. Some may scoff at adding soda to a savory dish but it is no different than adding brown sugar to a barbecue recipe!
In the summer I look forward to grilling but there are so many days of the week that I have to prepare dinner and grilling isn’t what I have time to do. I love making simple slow cooker recipes that are barbecue flavored and cook up corn on the cob with it! We still eat outside but I am having to do much less work.
How to make Root Beer Chicken:
You will need these ingredients:
- Chicken thighs – well trimmed of fat
- Barbecue sauce- I like Sweet Baby Rays
- Root Beer
- Oregano
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Cayenne Powder
Add the chicken to the slow cooker along with the remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours without opening the lid during the cooking time.
Shred the meat with 2 forks and serve on buns or even on rice. What a fun meal for the summer. If you are a root beer super fan you’ve got to make these Root Beer cupcakes from Cincy Shopper to go along with these. The kids will go crazy.
What other cuts of chicken can be used in this recipe?
- Chicken drumsticks
- Boneless skinless chicken breast
- Bone-in thighs or breasts
- Chicken tenderloins
- Whole chicken (more time)
- Chicken wings (less time)
Pretty much any cut of chicken you have on hand will work fine in this recipe.
If you use a whole chicken make sure it is thawed completely and cook until no pink is left, I suggest 8 hours on low for a whole chicken.
If you want to use chicken wings in this recipe you won’t need to cook more than 5-6 hours on low. Beware that chicken wings in the slow cooker fall apart very easily, very tasty but very messy.
More Soda and Beer slow cooker recipes on the blog:
- Slow Cooker Root Beer Baked Beans
- Slow Cooker Beer and Garlic Brats
- Slow Cooker Dr. Pepper Ribs
- Slow Cooker Beer, Onion and Ketchup Pot Roast
- Slow Cooker Root Beer Pulled Pork
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Slow Cooker Root Beer Chicken
Equipment Needed:
- Slow Cooker Size: 3-quart or larger
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken thighs well trimmed of fat
- 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp. onion powder
- 1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce I use Sweet Baby Rays Original
- 12 oz. can Root Beer I use A & W
- 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
Instructions:
- Add the chicken to the slow cooker.
- Sprinkle over the oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne over the chicken
- Pour over the barbecue sauce,
- Pour over the root beer.
- Cover and cook on low for 7 hours.
- Shred chicken with 2 forks and serve over buns or rice.
How to Video:
Recipe Notes:
- Chicken drumsticks
- Boneless skinless chicken breast
- Bone-in thighs or breasts
- Chicken tenderloins
- Whole chicken (more time)
- Chicken wings (less time)
7 hours was to long for me! Chicken was over cooked unfortunately
What I did was boil the root beer down to syrup before adding it to the bbq sauce. Just a low bubbling so it doesn’t burn. It was a nice change to bbq chicken and a great way to use up flat root beer.
Tossed it.
After looking at comments, I cut back on both BBQ sauce and root beer, using 8 oz of both root beer instead of the 12 oz listed. I also had 3 large chicken breasts weighing almost 3 pounds and figured that would help with the soupiness since there would be almost a third more meat. But it was still verrry runny. I left the lid off for awhile and that helped cook off some of the liquid. The flavor itself was pretty good and I might try it one more time with more meat and at least half the root beer and BBQ sauce. Will update rating/comments if that improves the outcome.
It was ok, but I won’t make it again. Root beer and BBQ sauce kept the chicken moist, but if I made it again I would cut the root beer in 1/2. Was just soupy and tasted too much like root beer. Fairly bland.
This is a fantastic (and easy) recipe! I used Sweet Baby Ray’s Honey BBQ sauce because that was the only SBR at the store. I served it on homemade burger buns (from Mommy Oven, on YouTube) with my husband’s recipe for coleslaw. He couldn’t stop raving about how much he loved it and I absolutely agree.
Hi .. can you use frozen chicken breast ?
I used frozen thighs for mine and it turned out great. To be on the safe side, I added an hour to the cook time and stirred a few times during that hour to even out the temperature (I used my instant read thermometer to check).
Hi I made this last night, I’m not sure if I did it right. Between the BBQ sauce and the rootbeer it came out very soupy. I strained off the excess fluid and added a little more bbq sauce to it. Still had great flavor. Next time I’ll either double the amount of chicken or use half as much bbq sauce and rootbeer!
Hi, I love your recipes. Can you use diet root beer in this recipe?
I have heard of people doing it successfully! If you are used to the taste of diet, it will be fine! I actually LOVE diet root beer to drink, tastes great.
I did for mine because that was what I had. It turned out great!
How long should I cook this if I use chicken wings instead of thighs?
I would do the same amount of time.
Thank you for this recipe! So easy and huge hit in my house! My husband and stepsons couldn’t stop raving about it! Will make again and again. Used chicken breasts instead of thighs but didn’t change anything else. It was perfect!