Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Thighs

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Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Thighs. Flavoursome boneless skinless chicken thighs cooked in the slow cooker until you have perfect pulled chicken. Loaded with sweet and sour sauce, this Chinese version of slow cooker pulled chicken is a recipe keeper.

Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Thighs
Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Thighs

Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Thighs

Welcome to my slow cooker pulled chicken thighs recipe. Originally published in 2016 and updated and transformed to the slow cooker.

We all have favourite shops and supermarkets, don’t we? That one place that sells better produce and would have us driving for miles just for that perfect place.

Growing up in a small seaside town with limited supermarkets meant that I would often travel for a good place. Eventually I became a Morrisons junkie.

A British supermarket brand that was known for better products compared to its cheapest rival. It has moved to our local town and I was in love with its choices.

It had a salad bar, but best of all a much better selection of meat and fish.

That is when my love for boneless and skinless chicken thighs started and I have been hooked on them ever since.

I love how flavoursome chicken thighs are compared to chicken breasts and how you can get the most amazing taste when you cook them in the slow cooker.

When we swapped England for Portugal, I had the same problem.

Thankfully, we found an amazing Spanish supermarket across the border in Spain and each time I go I buy more chicken thighs than my trolley can handle.

Then I save my chicken thighs for a special occasion and with the last pack of chicken thighs in the freezer, I decided that the special occasion would be today, and our slow cooker pulled chicken thighs.

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Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Using Chicken Thighs

Making slow cooker pulled chicken using chicken thighs is essential. Think of it like when you make our Asian slow cooker pulled pork.

Just like when you cook pulled pork it is all about a fatty meat being used and how much easier it is for a fatty meat to pull well.

That is why chicken breast never seems to work as well, because chicken breast is way too lean and lacks the same level of flavour.

Plus, with nicely cut chicken thighs from the supermarket, they are already prepped for you and ready for loading into the slow cooker when you are ready.

Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Without BBQ Sauce

I know this probably won’t apply in your household, but here in the Milners hardly any of us likes BBQ sauce.

I like it if it is not too smoky, Jorge thinks it’s the best sauce in the world and everyone else hates it.

Quite often, we will sub barbecue sauce in recipes for another sauce or keep it sauce free. This slow cooker pulled chicken is perfect if you want an option without BBQ sauce.

You can follow our lead and use an Asian sauce instead or go with your own favourite.

How To Cook Pulled Chicken In A Slow Cooker?

slow cooker pulled chicken thighs step by step

Slow cooker pulled chicken thighs is SIMPLE:

  1. Dump everything in the slow cooker.
  2. Cook on high for 4 hours.
  3. Using meat claws pull your chicken thighs until they are perfectly shredded.
  4. Add in sweet and sour sauce.
  5. Serve.
extract for slow cooker ebook

How Long To Slow Cook Pulled Chicken?

I often find that the time to slow cook pulled chicken depends on when you want to serve it.

You might want to cook pulled chicken on low while you are at work all day. Then come home to perfect pulled chicken that you can load into sandwiches.

Or you might have a long day and want to get cooking over and done with so you can enjoy your day.

Or you might work from home like me and like to put pulled chicken on for dinner after washing up from lunch.

  • Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken On High – 4 hours
  • Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken On Low – 7 hours

Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

Beyond making slow cooker pulled chicken thighs I love to serve them in sandwiches. Grab your favourite sandwich rolls and load your pulled chicken into them.

I like to butter my bread first, add in already pulled chicken and then add some of the peppers and pineapple from the slow cooker. Like you can see below:

Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Thighs sandwiches

Or you load up your sandwiches with lots of salad garnish or some coleslaw.

If you do have a thing for slow cooker pulled chicken sandwiches, I recommend having some bread in the freezer that you can quickly defrost whenever you have some chicken thighs in.

Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Thighs
Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Thighs
Print Recipe
5 from 3 votes

Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Thighs

Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Thighs. Flavoursome boneless skinless chicken thighs cooked in the slow cooker until you have perfect pulled chicken. Loaded with sweet and sour sauce, this Chinese version of slow cooker pulled chicken is a recipe keeper.
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time4 hours
Total Time4 hours 5 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Slow Cooker
Servings: 4
Calories: 579kcal

Ingredients

Kitchen Gadgets:

Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Ingredients:

Instructions

  • Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper.
  • Sauté your onion and chicken with a little extra virgin olive oil.
  • Load in everything but the bread buns and sweet and sour sauce.
  • Mix well.
  • Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook for either 4 hours on high or 7 hours on low.
  • Remove everything from the slow cooker apart from the chicken and put to one side.
  • Load in the sweet and sour sauce, plus a little of the juices from the chicken and using meat claws shred the chicken.
  • Load into sandwiches with some pineapple and pepper that you put to one side.
  • Serve.

Notes

It is important that the chicken thighs you cook are totally thawed as it is dangerous to cook frozen chicken thighs in the slow cooker.
I like to reserve the juices from the slow cooker and freeze once cool. It makes the perfect stock for next time you make slow cooker pulled chicken.
I sautéed my onion first with the chicken. I have a Crockpot with a stovetop option. If you don’t, leave out the sauté and instead season the chicken with salt and pepper and load everything else in.

Nutrition

Calories: 579kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 34g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 172mg | Sodium: 437mg | Potassium: 682mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 1093IU | Vitamin C: 48mg | Calcium: 128mg | Iron: 4mg
Nutrition InfoPlease Note: Nutrition values are our best estimate based on the software we use at Recipe This and are meant as a guide. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
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slow cooker pulled chicken thighs recipe

Recipe This

Hi! I am Sam and along with my chef hubby Dom we love sharing with you easy everyday recipes using kitchen gadgets. We are also the authors of The Complete Air Fryer Cookbook, an amazing air fryer cookbook filled with 140+ everyday air fryer recipes. Beyond the air fryer we also love the instant pot, slow cooker, soup maker, ninja foodi, pie marker and several other kitchen gadgets. CLICKING HERE →

3 thoughts on “Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Thighs”

  1. 5 stars
    I love boneless and skinless chicken thighs and can’t wait to try this. Though your chicken thighs look much smaller than mine.

    Reply
  2. 5 stars
    I just wanted to say thanks for all the wonderful recipes you made available for free! I enjoyed looking through all the yummy recipes, etc, and saved quite a few to my phone.

    Reply

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