A whole chicken with smoke flavor. The chickens shreds up nice and great on buns.
Below is the chicken after it was done cooking. See all those beautiful juices? That is what is kept the chicken extra moist. I purposely didn’t prop the chicken up on foil balls, and I also cooked the chicken longer than my other roast chicken recipes, because I wanted a moist shredded chicken, not a chicken that I would slice up and serve.
I used liquid smoke to flavor the chicken. Don’t be tempted to add more liquid smoke than the recipe calls for, adding too much can ruin a meal in a hurry, and there will be no fixing it. Liquid smoke is delish, but I wanted to remind you that is a concentrated flavor.
I took the chicken out of the slow cooker and put it on a large platter. I left 1 cup of the juices in the slow cooker. I shredded the chicken with 2 forks, discarded all the fat and bones, and put that beautiful chicken back into the slow cooker with the reserved juices.
I hope you try this easy dinner idea soon. Such an easy meal, but a satisfying homemade meal. Have a great week!
More sandwiches to make in the slow cooker:
- Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
- Slow Cooker Cheesy Cajun Pork Sandwiches
- Slow Cooker Roasted Garlic Beef Sandwiches
- Slow Cooker Barbecue Beef Sandwiches
- Slow Cooker Chicken Philly Cheesesteaks
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Slow Cooker “Smoked” Chicken Sandwiches
Equipment Needed:
- Slow Cooker- 6 quart or larger
Ingredients:
- 5 lb. whole chicken
- 2 Tbsp. butter melted
- 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp. liquid hickory smoke
For Serving
- buns
- barbecue sauce
Instructions:
- Place the chicken into a 6-quart or larger slow cooker. Using a pastry brush, spread the melted butter over the chicken. Sprinkle over the cayenne pepper, salt, pepper evenly over the chicken. Drizzle over the liquid hickory smoke next.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 7 hours without opening the lid.
- Remove the chicken onto a platter (or a very large plate). Shred all the usable chicken meat, discard bones and fat. I discard all but 1 cup of the juices in the slow cooker, then add the shredded chicken into that cup of juices that is left in the slow cooker.
- Toast the buns if desired. Pile up the shredded chicken onto each bun and add barbecue sauce.
I have never tried cooking a whole bird in a slow cooker – to be honest, I’m afraid to! But your photo of that gorgeous bird makes me want to try. This corn sounds tasty too – will have to find that for an easy weeknight side.
Sometimes Grumpy will make a meal out of a whole bag of veggies like that! Your recipe sounds delicious.
Oooooo… I just love your little shortcut to get that smoked flavor in the chicken! And that corn as a side sounds perfect! I will have to look for that one the next time I am at the store. 🙂
That chickens sound yummy! I love stocking up on whole chickens when they are on sale — you get so much more for the money!
I think l would use chicken breasts and use my mixer to shred it.
This sounds SO good. I love cooking a whole chicken in my slow cooker but I have never added liquid smoke. We have a smoker but sometimes you just don’t want to babysit it all day!!
Also, do I spy a new Le Creuset bowl? SO PRETTY!
Hi Mary! Yes I made it up to the outlet! Score! 🙂