Slow Cooker Root Beer Chicken
68 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.
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!
If I double the chicken, should all of the other ingredients be doubled, too?
I personally would. 🙂
Belch — Good EATS Maynard
Dear Sarah,
Only have bone in skin on thighs, can remove skin, but leaving
bone in, do you think will be ok. too lazy to debone.
thanks
Yes, bone in will work great in this recipe.
What happens is u accidentally add to much root beer?
It will just be extra saucy, it will be fine.
I just made this and it was so amazing! I did it on high for 4 hours instead of 7 due to time crunch, but on a bun with cheese and pickles it was an instant hit for my mini sliders!!!♡♡♡