Shredded Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches

This one I think we came up with on our own one night - it has morphed over the years as well to become a very quick, easy, go-to dinner! I used to boil the chicken breasts for about 30 minutes and then hand shred them, once I discovered the crock pot method there was NO looking back! I also discovered, the hard way, the right way to add barbecue sauce to a crock pot meal (as in NOT more than 20-30 minutes before serving or else it will usually taste burnt)!

So here is our version of shredded BBQ chicken sandwiches.

I put about 3 small chicken breast halves (frozen, no need to pre-thaw) in the crock pot with just enough water to cover the bottom and set that on high for a minimum of 2 hours, usually up to 4 hours at the most.

 After about 1 1/2 hours I started breaking the chicken up (this is for the quicker cooking method - if you can just let it cook for 4 hours it will easily fall apart when you're ready to break it up, but if you only have 2 hours like I did last night, it helps cook through faster if you break it up at the 1 1/2 hour mark, though it will still be a little resistant to being shredded).

 After about 2 hours I finished breaking it up into smaller pieces and started getting everything else ready to go for dinner (at this point it is very, very easy to shred with just the spoon).

 About 20 minutes before we were planning to get dinner served I drained off most of the liquid and then added about 1/2 of a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce.

 I mixed the BBQ sauce in completely and broke up any larger pieces of chicken and put the lid back on so it would warm through.

 Once the buns were toasted, I piled on a heaping spoonful of shredded chicken.

 The boy's like theirs with a slice of cheese and a couple pickles!

Quick and simple dinner!

Ingredients

1 lb chicken

1/4 cup water (approximately)

1/2 bottle barbecue sauce

Buns

Sandwich toppings

Directions

1. Place chicken and water (enough to cover bottom of crock pot) in crock pot on high for 2 - 4 hours.
2. Shred chicken with spoon.
3. Drain off most of the excess liquid.
4. Add 1/2 bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce (more if desired).
5. Serve on buns with preferred fixings!

Serves 3-4 (depending on size of buns).