Crockpot BBQ Pulled Chicken

It felt a little strange to be opening one of these first thing in the morning.

Mostly because if you know me at all then you know I'm really not a beer drinker. But when you're plugging in the ol' crockpot, you need to get started bright and early.

Does anyone else expect to come home to a smoldering pile of ash when you leave your crockpot on and then go to work? I mean, I would never leave my hair straightener on for 8 hours. It just seems irresponsible.

And yet so worth the risk. I could actually smell this cooking before I even turned my key in the lock. I think my dogs probably want to do some serious damage to my shoe collection after leaving them alone all day with a potentially dangerous electric appliance AND such an amazing scent growing steadily stronger throughout the day.

We never ate pork or ham growing up, but I've come to foster a serious love affair with pulled pork barbeque (and bacon, of course). It's rare that I ever order the chicken equivalent because I think it can be a little flavorless, but this is anything but. Dan even proclaimed it the best chicken barbeque he'd ever had. And that means a lot coming from a true New Yorker Southerner.

Crockpot BBQ Pulled Chicken
Yield: Enough meat for 5-6 sandwiches

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 oz beer
18 oz barbeque sauce, divided
3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2.5 lb)
Rolls, coleslaw, and hot sauce for serving

Directions:
1. To the bowl of a crockpot add all the spices and beer. Add the chicken breasts and then 16 ounces of barbeque sauce. Turn the chicken to coat and try to submerge as much of it as possible.
2. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Remove chicken from crockpot to a large bowl and discard cooking liquid.
3. Shred chicken with two forks. Add remaining barbeque sauce and toss to coat. Serve warm, on toasted rolls, with optional coleslaw and hot sauce to garnish.

Recipe Notes

• Feel free to replace the beer with different cooking liquid- chicken stock, water, apple cider, etc.
• If you like less sauce, serve the remaining barbeque sauce on the side instead of tossing it with the shredded chicken.
• I used Stubb's Mild Bar-B-Q Sauce. It's one of my favorite store-bought varieties.