Monday, July 23, 2012

Crockpot BBQ Root Beer Shredded Chicken Sandwiches

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Today's Secret Recipe Club recipe comes from Lynne's blog, 365 Days of Baking. Lynne was on a quest to bake every day for 365 days, and on March 9th of this year she accomplished her goal. Congratulations!

As you can probably imagine, 365 days (plus) of baking leads to pages of pages of blog posts and amazing recipes. I made it through almost all of them, but instantly settled on this crockpot recipe. After coming back from our two-week honeymoon, it has taken me a while to get back into the swing of things, so an easy crockpot meal was more than up my alley.
Using chicken instead of pork was a delicious substitution and the flavors of the bbq sauce and root beer really took over. I highly recommend topping these with caramelized onions and cheese, as Lynne suggests, because it takes these sandwiches to a whole new level of delicous-ness. Since I usually top my pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw, the carmelized onions were an unexpected but very welcome sweet twist that really complimented the bbq flavor. I definitely think I'll start using them on these types of sandwiches more often. Enjoy!

Printable Recipe

Ingredients
  • 6 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 3 pounds)
  • 1 tbsp. onion powder
  • 2 tsp. paprika
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. pepper
  • 16 oz. Root Beer
  • 32 oz. barbecue sauce
  • 2 cups Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
  • Caramelized onions (recipe below)
  • 2 tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
In a small bowl, combine onion powder, paprika, garlic powder, Old Bay seasoning, salt and pepper. Spread seasoning mix generously on each chicken breast and place in crockpot. Pour in Root Beer. Add barbecue sauce. Cook on low for 8 hours, stirring a few times during the day.

After 8 hours, remove the chicken and shred with two forks. Return chicken to crockpot. Mix it thoroughly with the barbecue sauce, and cook for another
15-30 minutes until sauce is absorbed.

Place chicken on rolls. Top with about 1/4 cup of cheese, caramelized onions and sprinkle with fresh cilantro.

Caramelized Onions:
  • 2 tbsp. butter
  • 2 large onions, sliced and separated into rings
In a medium skillet, melt butter over medium-high. Add onions. Saute until translucent.  Reduce heat to low and cook for up to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Source: 365 Days of Baking

15 comments:

  1. Your pics are gorgeous! My stomach started growling just looking at them. I'm going to have to try them!

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  2. These sandwiches look delicious! I've never topped BBQ with carmelized onions, but it sounds great! Great SRC pick!

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  3. Wow - I never would have thought to put root beer and chicken together. Sounds so interesting!

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  4. Amy,
    GREAT job on the sandwiches!! They look great! I'm so glad you chose this recipe because it has become one of my favorites.
    It's so great to get to know you and now be a follower ~ glad we're in the SRC together!
    Congratulations on your wedding, Amy!! I wish you both many, many years of health, happiness and love!!!

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    1. Thank you so much for the congratulatory message! I'm so happy to have found your blog :)

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  5. We make RootBeer Roast and love it.

    Here is my SRC
    http://momscrazycooking.blogspot.com/2012/07/brownie-trifle-secret-recipe-club.html

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  6. The carmelized onions adds a whole new layer of flavor - great SRC pick!

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  7. This sounds great and the caramelized onions sound awesome on here!

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  8. I've had root beer ribs before, and roast, but not chicken. I'm looking forward to trying this! Great post!

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  9. What an interesting recipe. It looks delicious. Great SRC post.

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  10. Looks like a great way of cooking chicken - always wanted to try cooking in a crockpot :-)

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  11. Yum! This looks delicious! I make crock pot shredded pork BBQ about every couple weeks, but next time I am going to try your recipe with chicken. It sounds delicious and putting the carmelized onions on top is intriguing. I am a cole slaw person also!

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  12. Ohhhh these look and sound amazing! You always pick such delicious things to make - I love your blog. :) Great to be in group C with you.

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  13. Back from a honeymoon, bet you didn't want it to ever end!!! My classmates and I were just having a big discussion on cooking with sodas...I'll have to share this recipe with them.

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