Hey there!  Remember me???  I haven’t blogged all week and I have no good excuse for it…so let’s just move on shall we?  

Oh wait, I do have an excuse…my kids were home from school for 3 out of 5 days this week because of snow and sub zero temps so I was busy preventing them from killing each other pretty much the whole time.  I told my husband that it seemed they were actually starting to devolve into neanderthals or something.  There was grunting, hitting, biting…personal hygiene went out the window.  We’re under a winter storm warning right now but it’s 30° out so they were able to go outside and fall down in the 6 feet of snow we have.  This is Winter Storm Maximus…if The Weather Channel was smart they would start naming these storms something like “Melvin” or “Stuart” and then maybe they wouldn’t end up being so huge and crazy. They’ve already named the next one “Nika” which is supposed to hit on Tuesday.  Nika sounds like she’s a badass chick who knows how to do Kung Fu and will kick you in the face if you look at her wrong…good job weather channel.  

These BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches I’m making today are also totally badass, Nika would eat like 7 of them.

You will need your crockpot for these so go get it out.  

Let’s talk ingredients…

For the Pulled Chicken…

3 lbs – boneless skinless chicken breasts and/or thighs
1 – onion
2 – tsp. liquid smoke 
salt and pepper

For the BBQ sauce…

2 cups – ketchup
1 cup- water
1/2 cup – GOOD apple cider vinegar (like Bragg’s)
6 tbsp – brown sugar
1/2 tsp – black pepper
2 tsp – onion powder
2 tsp – ground mustard
Juice of one lemon
2 tbsp – worcestershire

For the slaw…

half head of cabbage (red or green) sliced thin
3 shredded carrots
2 chopped green onions
1/2 cup – GOOD apple cider vinegar (like Bragg’s again)
3/4 cup – light mayo
1 tbsp – sugar
1/2 tsp – salt
1/4 tsp – black pepper

Ok, we are ready to roll.  Chop the onion and put it in the crockpot…

Now put the chicken in…I use about 1.5 lb of boneless skinless breasts and 1.5 lb of boneless skinless thighs but you can do any combination.  You can also do bone-in which will save you some money, I did the boneless skinless because of that Cancun thing coming up.  

Add about 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper and then add two tsp of liquid smoke.

Liquid smoke is AWESOME.  It sounds like it might be some gross artificial flavoring but it’s not, there are only two ingredients…water and natural hickory smoke concentrate.

This stuff makes everything taste like you’ve been smoking it for days…it’s outta this world I swear.

Now turn on your crockpot…you can cook this on high for 4 hours or low for about 6-7.

Time to make the slaw…here’s the veggies you will need…so pretty!

I used purple cabbage today but you can use whatever you want.  Cut the cabbage in half…

Remove the white stalk part and then slice it very thin…you only need half of the head so save the rest for another time, sauteed cabbage is amazing FYI…

Put the shredded cabbage in a large bowl and then add 3 shredded carrots and two chopped green onions…

Now add the apple cider vinegar, light mayo, sugar, salt & pepper, and stir everything up…

Put a lid on it and get it in the fridge…it needs to chill for a while.

About an hour before the chicken is done, put all the ingredients for the BBQ in a saucepan, bring it to a boil and then lower it to a simmer.  Whisk it often over low heat for an hour.

When the chicken is done, you need to shred it.  You also need to get most of the liquid out of the crockpot.  Chicken releases a lot of water when you slow cook it and you really don’t want to water down that amazing BBQ sauce when you add it in.  You can remove all the pieces and then drain most of the water (try to keep most of your onions).  Or you can use a ladle or turkey baster to remove most of the liquid before you begin shredding.

I couldn’t find my baster so I used a ladle...

And then I found my baster so I started using that…

Go ahead and shred your chicken…

And then get it all back in the crockpot, pour the sauce over the chicken and mix it all up.

Time to eat!  My boys don’t love cole slaw (I know, shocker!) so I always get out some provolone so they can melt that on top of their sandwiches.

That amazing coleslaw has been marinating in the fridge for hours and it’s ready to meet the meat, you just need to get your rolls out now…

A crusty roll, a good helping of BBQ chicken, and a topping of cole slaw…perfection.

My husband LOVES this sandwich, he bathed all the kids and got them ready for bed after eating one of these…my evil plan has worked.

Make these sandwiches for someone the next time you need them to do you a favor…ask for the favor right after they take the last bite, it works.

Cheers!

The Good Cooker