Hawaiian BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwiches {Repost}

So, I used to post once a month on a blog called Today’s Housewife. Last fall, the group decided together to stop posting due the busyness of life and families and such. Though sad, I enjoyed being part of the group. As of early January, the blog was officially taken down. But I don’t want to lose my recipes, so periodically I will be reposting them on here. Enjoy!

from July 14, 2011…but BBQ is good in January too, for a taste of summer, of course 🙂

About a month ago, my parents, sister, sister’s boyfriend, [edited to add…they got married on December 28, 2012… YAY!] and grandfather came for a visit. Yup, that’s right–seven people in a two bedroom, 1000 square foot apartment. Pure craziness, at least in terms of space. As I do with any visitors, I wanted to be sure to prepare a fantastic dinner that everyone would love, but with several caveats: we couldn’t grill out (apparently outdoor grills in “multi-family dwellings” are now illegal in the state of Indiana) and I didn’t want to spend all night in the kitchen.

So what’s a girl to do?

Use the crock pot, of course!

When Ben and I got married two years ago, I was a total crock pot skeptic. I thought crock pots were for lazy cooks and that nothing good ever came out of them. I vowed I would never use the crock pot we received as a wedding gift (in fact, we only registered for it at Ben’s insistence). I totally ate my words on that one! Aside from my KitchenAid mixer (fortunately inherited from my grandmother), my crock pot is probably my most-used kitchen appliance. I love it for making soups, applesauce, and large hunks ‘o meat.

As I was brainstorming what to make, I kept coming back to this recipe I had seen on Tasty Kitchen for Hawaiian BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwiches. The combination of sweet pineapple with vinegary, tomato-y BBQ sauce intrigued me to say the least. So I threw the ingredients together in my crock pot, crossed my fingers, and hoped for the best

And “the best” delivered. Many a sandwich were devoured by all that night, and the sweet yet savory BBQ just couldn’t be beat. This is definitely a recipe to make again and again. It’s so easy, so delicious, so tasty, so why wouldn’t you? Enjoy!

Hawaiian BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwiches [from MyRetroKitchen via Tasty Kitchen]
click to print

Ingredients:

3 pounds boneless chicken, thawed
1 large onion, cut into chunks
1 – 20 ounce can crushed pineapple in juice
1 – 18-20 ounce bottle BBQ sauce [I used KC Masterpiece]
hamburger buns

Directions:

Place chicken in bottom of crock pot. Cover with onions. Drain pineapple, reserving juice (see note) and add over top. Pour in BBQ sauce. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. About an hour or two before it is finished, shred chicken with two forks, stir to incorporate the sauce, and let cook for the rest of the allotted time.

Serve on hamburger buns. If you’re feeling extra ambitious, try these: they are quite easy and really tasty! Enjoy!

Note:

For an extra sweet sauce, the recipe recommends a BBQ sauce like Sweet Baby Ray’s (which is so great) and the addition of up to 1/2 cup of the reserved pineapple juice. I didn’t add any juice to mine and it was plenty sweet for us, but others might feel differently. I just chose to drink the juice! 🙂

Shared with the Made with Love Linky Party and Weekend Potluck.