It feels weird posting on a Saturday, but gotta do it for the ReDux! I am actually super excited to finally share this AWESOME recipe with you (if you can even call it that). When I saw this months theme, I knew this would be the perfect recipe to share. I am craving this recipe as we speak, but of course...I am living in a dorm and I can't exactly whip out the slow cooker.
Novemberβs Theme: A Food Memory For Which You Are Thankful βΒ In the US, November marks the Thanksgiving holiday. But many of us are especially thankful for food memories we have shared with friends or relatives throughout our lives. Was it a special meal you ate as a child? Or, maybe it was a food you grew and harvested with your own children. Please share one of your favorite food memories and the healthier βredoβ of the recipe.
Feast you eyes on this one kids! A recent food memory to be thankful for. This glorious chicken was the star of the show for the last dinner I made for my family before I left home. They loved it so much, I had to make it again that same week. I am always so happy when they love a recipe I make as much as I love it myself. (That lets me know I'm not just being biased toward my own food!)
They always tend to love the simple (very simple) recipes the most, and I'm okay with that! As long as I can get them to eat healthy and enjoy, I'll be happy. I know my mom loved this a lot, and it is so simple, but I can tell you she hasn't made it herself π My family is a family of major non-cooks, which really breaks my heart. That leaves me to be the one to create the food memories!
I know one of my life goals/dreams has always been to host a huge Thanksgiving dinner (or Christmas dinner) at my house and cook amazing food for my whole family. One day I can assure you that will happen...once I get a house with a huge kitchen and dining room π That will be the ultimate food/family memory, but until then, these little memories will do just fine!
Let's talk about this super simple and easy chicken now. I remember I had been craving BBQ sauce, but didn't feel like making homemade, and all the store brands are loaded with sugar and soy and scary things, haha! But then, suddenly, alone on the gluten-free/organic aisle of my home grocery store, I find a lovely jar of Β hickory smoked BBQ sauce. It was all alone, which I thought was weird and I had never seen it in the store before. Right there on the front of the bottle was Sugar-Free as well as Gluten-Free, but I had low expectations upon further inspection.
It would probably be filled with fake chemical sweeteners and a bunch of garbage ingredients, but I was wrong! It was perfect and something I would love to try. So I bought it, knowing I would have to make some chicken dish with it. And that I did. The most perfect and easy slow cooker bbq chicken, that was tender, fall-apart, sweet, smokey, gluten-free, sugar-free, and paleo. The ultimate creation π
I've always had major success with easy slow cooker chicken recipes. Anyone can make it no matter how busy and unskilled they are. All you do is throw in the ingredients and cook on low for about 7 hours. Meanwhile you house will smell SO good and you can fool people into thinking you are preparing the most complicated amazing dinner. Now, it will be amazing, but complicated? No way! Easy!
Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken
Ingredients: (serves: 5-6)Β
+ 2lbs of Chicken Breasts (trimmed and cleaned)
+ 1 18oz Jar of Hickory Smoked BBQ Sauce
+ 1 10oz Bag of Frozen Chopped Bell Peppers
+ 1 Β½ Tsp Onion Powder
+ 1 Β½ Tsp Garlic Powder
+ 1 Tsp Black Pepper
+ Β½ TB Dried Parsley
Directions:Β
+ Place the chicken breasts in the slow cooker first, then the BBQ sauce, and finally the spices. Give everything a quick stir and then cook on low for 7 hours.
+ When the chicken is done, it should fall apart and be simple amazing π
Is it just my slow cooker or does the whole "I put a gallon of chicken in this thing, where did it all go?" thing happen to you too? Obviously the chicken "shrinks" when cooked, but damn, you've gotta make mass quantities of this stuff! At least it's really easy to make again and again!
So that BBQ sauce is kind of hard to find. It is actually a new line of sauces created by Guy's Award Winning BBQ Sauce, but the G. Hughs label is new and still not even available on their site. However, by the most weird random chances of fate, this sauce is actually at the shack-of-a-grocery-store that is my DC Safeway! Crazy! They can't carry milk, but they can carry random BBQ sauce! There is also a Maple Brown Sugar flavor and a Honey flavor which are both gluten-free and sugar-free. I've only ever tried the hickory, but I'm sure I'd love the other ones too!
Now that I've bombarded you with a gallon of photos of this succulent chicken, I hope you go make some! I know I will be making this during winter break when I can get my hands on my slow cooker! I'll need to make gallons of it again so my family can share in the deliciousness and we can have a sit-down dinner again! Until then, I'll savor the memories and love that only food can bring to the table. XOXO
So tell me:
+ What is one of your most cherished food memories?
+ What is you favorite brand of BBQ sauce?
*Recipe linking up for the week! WIAW,Β Allergy Free Wednesdays,Β #RecipeFridays,Β #RecipeOfTheWeek, #StrangeButGood, Gluten-Free Wednesdays, Real Food Friday,Β Gluten-Free Fridays, Tasty Tuesdays, Savoring Saturdays,Β #WeekendBites, Real Food Recipe Roundup,Β Tasty Tuesdays,Β Lenaβs Tasty Tuesdays!*
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Erica
This sounds delicious! Adding this to a list of foods to try this winter!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Thanks!
chellie
I love easy and healthy recipes like this! What a find, that bbq sauce! My mom cooked, but the rest of my family really doesn't. They definitely don't have the passion for it like me. My mom's been gone for almost 14 years now, and I finally last year got to host Thanksgiving at my house. And it was lovely. I'm so excited for you to be able to do that someday. I love your passion for food and taking care of your loved ones.
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Thank you, that's very sweet! I love being able to share my cooking and passion with others and dream of the day when I can be the host! Haha!
theresa Gates
This looks amazingly tasty and so simple. (my mouth was watering at the pictures) Definitely adding this to my list of must try dishes. Thank you.
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Haha, just as you commented, I was looking at this recipe! (So weird!) It's a great one though!
Mary@Back to the Basics!
My husband is the meat eater in the house and he'll love this. Thanks for sharing at Real Food Friday!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
I bet he will! Thank you!
Jennifer @ The Jenny Evolution
I recently started sharing recipes on The Jenny Evolutionο»Ώ and thought it would be terrific to have a group on FB where we can share our recipes not just with other bloggers but with people who are searching out recipes. That said, I'm launching a Food Blogger group! If we work together we can make this a great outlet for all of us. If you'd like to join, visit me here https://www.facebook.com/groups/341455112700743/
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Sure friend! I love linking up every Friday with you're blog by the way!
Marla
Certainly looks yummy and I love chicken. Thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays. Pinned & twitted.
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Thank you Marla!
Raia
Another delicious recipe, Rebecca! Thanks for sharing it at Savoring Saturdays!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Thank you!
vegetarianmamma (Cindy)
Thanks for linking up at our Gluten Free Fridays Party! I have tweeted and pinned your entry to our Gluten Free Fridays board on Pinterest! π I can't wait to see what you share next time!
-Cindy
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Thanks!
Stephanie
I love easy slow cooker recipes like this! Thank you so much for linking up at Tasty Tuesday! Your recipe has been pinned to the Tasty Tuesday Pinterest board! Please join us again this week!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Me too, haha! XOXO
Laura @ Sprint 2 the Table
OMG I need a slow cooker!!!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Girl! How can you not have one!? I'm shocked!
Tania Vaughan (@TaniaJVaughan)
I need to try this - looks yummy - adding you to my Pinterest π
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Aw, thanks so much Tania! XOXO
Sarah Grace
I love making homemade BBQ sauce that is lower is sugar! This looks delicious!
xoxo Sarah Grace, Fresh Fit N Healthy.
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
I'm so glad I found this one!
Annmarie
I love BBQ chicken in the crockpot! Usually I use Dino BBQ sauce...it is native to where I live and always a huge hit!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
I've seen that brand before! Maybe I'll have to check it out then π
Honest mum
I didn't know you ate meat, this looks delicious! Thanks so much for linking up to #tastytuesdays x
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
I only eat chicken and fish! Haha π
Thanks!
Honest mum
Oh cool, just quit chicken recently so only fish here now x
GiselleR @ Diary of an ExSloth
This looks so good! I have so many awesome food memories and I actually remade one of them today. I used to LIVE for my mother's breakfast biscuits π
Happy Thanksgiving π
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Girl, those biscuits look so good! Haha π
Happy T-Day to you too! XOXO
Chickgettinfit
This looks really good! I may have to try this sometime soon!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
You should! It is so super easy and delicious!
Sonali- The Foodie Physician
With the hours I work, having some great go-to slow cooker recipes is key. This one is definitely going on the list- it looks so flavorful and delicious!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Fancy involved cooking is fun, but we do all need those EASY non-recipe "recipes" sometimes!
Alison
This looks gorgeous. I love using my slow cooker, will have to try this
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Thanks Alison!
Michael
What I like the most about this is that it looks easy and really tasty. The pictures are fantastic though. I have to admit that sometimes I visit sites like this just to enjoy the pictures. Photography is an art and this is proof of it. It's the only art that also makes my stomach growl haha.
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Hahaha thank you! I always love reading your comments π
I spend hours on Foodgawker! That site.....is the best π
Michael
Thanks for telling me about that site. I've never heard of it before. You do take good pictures. It really is a talent. Do you have other sites that show off your photography skills?
Kristen
OMG this sounds amazing! I just rediscovered my love for my slow cooker and have been looking for new recipes. Sold!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Perfect! I always forget about my love for the slow cooker too!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Perfect! I always forget my love for the slow cooker too!
Katie @ Mom's Kitchen Handbook
This recipe looks like it couldn't be any easier. It also looks like a good one to translate to a bun for a BBQ sandwich. This is going on my dinner menu this week so I can focus my cooking efforts on getting prepped for Thanksgiving dinner. Perfect timing, Rebecca. Thanks.
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Woohoo! And totally perfect for a sandwich, yum!
Thanks Katie, I hope you do try it!
Jeanette | Jeanette's Healthy Living
I love how easy this recipe is and that you're creating your own food memories. I grew up in a family where both of my parents cook, but the way I cook is very different so my boys are growing up with new food memories π
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Ah, yes, the food memories I'm creating are one in s million π
I'm sure your boys have so many to cherish!
Amber
Here is the secret to the shrinking chicken, SHRED IT, and it multiples by 1,000. Not really but you get a lot more.
Favorite food memory, hm. I don't know I have a small family, (there's three of us) and I used to be a really picky eater so my mom would often make me separate food. I loved this summer going to a 100% gf df place that I could SHARE food with my parents, it felt so cool to try a bite of their sandwich again!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
It still wouldn't be enough to fill up the craving π
Haha! As kids, my brother and I would eat anything and everything! Now the tables have turned though π
Melanie @ Nutritious Eats
Stubbs is my fav sauce! I love that this is such an easy recipe but it looks fancy π
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Aot of people like Stubbs!
Haha, all my fake-out gourmet tips π
Mattie @ Comfy & Confident
What an awesome and super simple recipe. I love anything you can do in the slow cooker.
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Me too! Sometimes we just need all the easyness (but still delicious) recipes we can get!
Rebecca @ MyEagerFeet
I've started making buffalo chicken in my crockpot to take for lunches during the work, and it's delicious! (And, like you said, so super simple.) One of my favorite food memories is eating my yellow beans every day when I was little. Totally random, but I always had them with dinner and liked to eat them a certain way!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Slow cooker chicken has just so many uses! π
I have so many weird random food memories from when I was a kid too! Too many little ones to count!
EA-The Spicy RD
Love this EASY recipe Rebecca, and I have a feeling my whole family would love it too (minus the bell peppers, which just means more for me)! I'm sure you will get your opportunity to cook a big Thanksgiving meal for your family one day, but I have to say the only time I have cooked Thanksgiving dinner for my family (I usually do a big Christmas dinner) was when I was living in a SMALL one bedroom apartment, when I was living in Chicago doing my dietetic internship. My cousin and her husband happened to live nearby, so all our family (parents, aunts/uncles, Grandma, her brother) came to visit that year, and I roasted a big old turkey in my tiny oven. We were all squeezed in very tight, but I remember it as being one of my favorite Thanksgivings ever π
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
That is awesome! Nice and cozy and full of love I'm sure! I want to be the "cook" of the family for every holiday! I want them to all just assume my house is where the gatherings will be held every year!
Arman @ thebigmansworld
I think you should whip out your slow cooker in the dorms...do it! π
I actually want to eat my screen- I've never seen such puuuurty chicken.
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Haha, the health and safety guys just did their inspections.....so maybe now is q good time π
Chicken is so hard to photograph! Thank you π
Katy
Looks good! I like to shred up my slow cooker chicken and add it to salads too!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Yes! This one literally falls apart on it's own when you take it out!
J'Anette
I should think slow cooker-ing would be ideal in a dorm. I just went back to school, lived in a dorm for only two weeks, but during that time I used my little 1-quart slow cooker to make soups for me and my roommates. Turned out great.
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Haha, it's against code to have a slow cooker in a dorm....unless you're sitting next to it the whole time it's on.....which defeats the purpose!
caralyn @ glutenfreehappytummy
this looks lovely! great recipe!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Thanks Caralyn!
gretchen | kumquat
in the middle of a monstrous cooking week, i can think of nothing smarter than an easy slow cooker dinner. we do have to eat all of the other days other than thursday, too!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Haha, you're right! And you won't have leftovers until Friday so....Monday night slow cooking it is!
Elizabeth @ Enjoy Every Bite
This looks delicious! Simple, crock pot meals are always the best! Good for you for creating family food memories (that are healthy)! Your family is lucky to have you around to cook delicious food!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Haha, I know they are π They's be lost without me!
genevieve @ gratitude & greens
Ooooo I want a slow cooker so bad! I'm veggie and don't eat meat, but your chicken looks perfectly tender and sounds delish! I have way too many cherished food memories, but most of them are of meals I've spent with loved ones.
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
You can do anything with a slow cooker! I can't believe you don't have one!!! (I know I don't use mine enough!)
Cindys Recipes and Writings
I'll bet your family really appreciated this slow-cooked chicken!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
They loved it!
Tiffany @ The Chi-Athlete
Well holy moly, I actually have everything I need to make this. Perfect for a cold Sunday!
Favorite BBQ sauce = Rudy's BBQ sauce (Tejas only).
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
So perfect for a cold...any day! Haha π I know I wish I had my slow cooker right now!
I'll have to check that one out!
AmyC
BBQ chicken in the crockpot is one of my favorites. I usually keep it simple, but I'll be adding the peppers the next time I make some π
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
The peppers just make it a little more "homemade" haha! I really love the added depth they gave to the flavor though!
Marie
Oh my goddess... this dish looks so freaking delicious - It's like my lunch just got totally jealous π Haha.
BBQ sauces... hmm, unfortunately we don't have "Marie-Approved" BBG sauces available in Denmark. I've looked all over the freaking country! They all got some sort of fillers or ingredients I can't tolerate. Buhhuuh... Maybe I should dig a bit deeper into Iherb and other world-wide shipping online shops. I MIIIIISS the flavor π Let the search begin!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
This one is on Amazon! Really I am so picky about pre-made sauces too, so this stuff was a godsend! I missed the flavor for so long as well! It's just too damn delicious to live a life without it though!
Farrah
I heart you and slow cooker (I just typed "slocker." :[ A clear indication that I am still not yet fully awake.) recipes! I have BBQ sauce, chicken, and my slow cooker currently is not at work, so you know what that means! :]!
Marie
Slocker... haha π Great shortname for slow cooker! I'm defiantely gonna use that π
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
My next slow cooker recipe...I'll use the word slocker π
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Hahaha π That's why we need recipes like this so we don't have to be awake to make them, their so easy π
jess meddows
I keep saying I need to get a slow cooker. Recipes like these are so classic and simple, yet so good for you and filling!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Everyone needs a slow cooker! (At least Christmas is coming, haha! Time to tell Santa!)
Brie @ Lean, Clean, & Brie
I am IN LOVE with this recipe!! You have no idea how many times I have searched for a slow cooker BBQ chicken recipe and not found a recipe that I would enjoy. I cannot wait to pull out my slow cooker and cook this soon!!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Yay! I hope you do make it (with this specific sauce too!) It is soooo good, haha! I feel silly even posting the "recipe", but it was just too good not to talk about!
Michele @ paleorunningmomma
LOVE slow cooker recipes because I lack creativity, so I appreciate this! Really excited about this bbq sauce, since I had also kind of written it off as filled with additives and lazy to make my own. I'm planning to make this next week to save some time for the t-day cooking.
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Any type of chicken dish in the slow cooker is going to be a favorite of mine! It always just comes out so good! Just dump in some sauce or flavor and your good to go and forget about it!
Lauren @ The Bikini Experiment
Ooh I do like BBQ sauce! I do not have a favorite because I pretty much will pick whatever has the best ingredient list whereever I am doing my food shopping.
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
I always forget how much I love it! But I am so glad I found this one!