Slow Cooker Root Beer Chicken
65 Comments Jun 27, 2024
Updated Jun 27, 2025
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Coming up with an easy dinner for busy nights is easier than ever with this Slow Cooker Root Beer Chicken recipe. It’s a main course dish that adds a fun twist to traditional chicken the whole family is sure to enjoy.
Recipe Highlights
- My Root beer chicken recipe is the perfect mix of sweet, tangy, and savory!
- Only three ingredients and spices!
- The soda tenderizes the chicken while adding a unique flavor.
- It’s easy to toss in the slow cooker, great for sandwiches and more!
Key Ingredients
Chicken: I prefer to use boneless skinless chicken thighs because they are more flavorful and shred just as easily as other chicken cuts.
Barbecue Sauce: Sweet Baby Rays is one of the most popular barbecue sauces used for slow cooking. You can use your favorite barbecue sauce though!
Root Beer: The star of the dish, it goes perfect with bbq sauce!
Seasonings: A combination of onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and dried oregano is used to season the chicken prior to cooking.
How to make Root Beer Chicken
- Add chicken, root beer, and barbecue sauce to your slow cooker.
- Let it slow cook until the chicken is fall-apart tender.
- Shred, stir, and serve however you like—on buns, over rice, or straight from the pot!
How to serve
- Use this delicious root beer bbq chicken for sandwiches. You can use hamburger buns, hoagie buns, or even sub bread.
- You can also serve a helping of the root beer chicken over white rice, a bed of mashed potatoes, or on tortilla chips.
- Give your salad a twist by adding some of this chicken on top as well.
- Place any leftover chicken in an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Sarah’s Tips & Variations
What cuts you can use: You can use almost any cut of chicken for this recipe—drumsticks, boneless or bone-in thighs or breasts, tenderloins, or even wings. If using a whole chicken, make sure it’s fully thawed and cook on low for 8 hours or cooked through.
Frozen chicken? Be sure to thaw your chicken first—frozen chicken is not recommended.
Choosing a root beer: Use any root beer you like! You can use diet root beer if you’re accustomed to the aftertaste.
Added Vegetables: You can add bell peppers and onions for added flavor and texture.
Featured Comment
Love this! I have made this twice and it turns out great
– JV
Slow Cooker Root Beer Chicken
How to Video
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken thighs, well trimmed of fat
- ¼ tsp. dried oregano
- ¼ tsp. garlic powder
- ¼ tsp. onion powder
- 1 ½ cups barbecue sauce, I use Sweet Baby Rays Original
- 12 oz. can Root Beer, I use A & W
- ⅛ 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.
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
More Soda and Beer slow cooker recipes:
Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork, Coca Cola Pot Roast, and Root Beer Pulled Pork bring soda-inspired flavor to the slow cooker.
Beer and Garlic Brats, Whole Beer Chicken, and Beer Roast are bold, savory choices for a hearty meal.
Try Dr. Pepper Ribs for a sticky-sweet twist on classic slow cooked ribs.
this looks delicious and I definately am going to try this.
THANK YOU! I am making this week…I need the Ray’s bbq sauce. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE SAUCE! I already RATED 5 because it looked so so good! ALL the ingedients are easy and tasty! I can’t wait til my son tries it!
This is a great recipe and about as easy as it gets. Thanks Sarah.
can you use ginger ale
Yes! Will work great.
How long would you recommend to cook it on the high setting?
3.5 – 4 hours.
Is it suitable for toddler’s dinner as well? Without chayenne for sure. But soubting about the root beer. Has anyone experienced?
My family absolutely loves this, I have made it 3 times now and it has turned out great each time.thanks so much for so a simple yet very tasty recipe.
Can coke be used instead.
Yes! would work great.
Good. I wondered what root beer was. Don’t think we get that in Scotland?
Ha, so cute! Root beer is a super sweet cola – root beer floats with vanilla ice cream used to be a popular dessert 🙂
Lived on root beer floats when had stage 4 ovarian cancer, still love it.
Google says similar to Dandelion & Burdock , but root beer is available – just rare.
You could try Irn Bru. It’s not the same but definitely has a personality (from US but visited Scotland and tried it).
Tricia, the closest soda to root beer would be Sarsaparilla. If you inquire at your market stores, they might have it under that name. Another soda similar to Root Beer would be one called Birch Beer.
For a low sugar diet, is it possible to use a stevia based root beer, like zevia or would it greatly change the taste? Thanks! Looks yummy!
I have not tried, if you do try let me know.
Question: Is Diet Root Beer OK to use in this?
I am unsure Tim. It would be hard to say without trying it. Sorry!
I may try this using Virgil’s Zero Sugar Root Beer. Looks amazing
Dear Sarah,
Hello,it is Mary i was the person who had requested the Barbeque Chicken Sliders Recipoe. It looks great. My husband is a Diabetic do I have to use the Root beer? How do you think it will taste without the rootbeer? Thank you,Mary
Hi Mary! You do not have to use it, it will be great without!