Sometimes you need to pull out the crockpot and cook some food slowly without using any of your dwindling mental capacity. As I type this, I’m in the process of getting things together at work and here for an overseas vacation so a sandwich that comes together quickly (minus the crockpot time) works great for me.
This recipe requires a few ingredients you might have to pick up at the store, but you can put them together in advance which means this can all turn into an easy weeknight meal.
What is this sandwich?
This is a semi-Asian-ingredient-focused, sriracha bourbon BBQ chicken sandwich, cooked in a crockpot, that you can easily temper the heat level to be super spicy or non-existent with the adjustment of just one ingredient. The slow-cooked, pulled BBQ chicken is accompanied by a soy sauce-focused marinated slaw that brings a big crunch and texture to the final sandwich. Some of the sriracha bourbon sauce used for the crockpot chicken is also reserved and cooked down slightly to provide more BBQ sauce for the final sandwich. All of these flavorful components are packed inside of one of my homemade potato scallion sandwich buns.
Potato scallion sandwich buns
This is a new sandwich bun recipe that I made for this sandwich. The recipe is an altered version of my tried and true potato sandwich bun that I have written about often with the addition of a bunch of sliced scallions.
The flavor of scallion is fairly subtle in the final roll, but my wife and I both appreciated it in the final sandwich. The onion flavors do become a bit more noticeable when you eat the bun on its own with just a little butter or olive oil.
Adding 3 or 4 thinly sliced scallions (both the green and white parts) brings flavor and a tiny bit of color to these buns. I measured the amount of scallions I used in my batches, but you really don’t have to. Just slice up 3 or 4 lengths of scallions and you should be all good.
My recipe calls for painting the tops of the unbaked dough with an egg wash made from one whole egg whisked with a tablespoon of water. You paint the egg wash on each shaped dough ball and then you have the option of sesame seeds or plain. The egg wash helps the sesame seeds stick to the buns but they also make the buns shiny and help them to brown a bit better.
I like the look of white and black sesame seeds so I have some of both in my pantry. But they’re just for looks only. The black ones do not taste any different from the white ones that I can tell. Only buy the black sesame seeds if you’re trying to impress all of your neighbors, family, and friends.
Here’s my new potato scallion bun recipe that works great in this sandwich and would also be great, fresh baked for your next burger night.
Potato scallion sandwich buns
A soft and squishy sandwich bun that has a pop of scallion-y flavor. This recipe uses potato flour and dry milk to achieve the softest bun possible with the side benefit of a longer shelf life.
Get RecipeSriracha bourbon BBQ sauce
I have made this recipe two or three times before this week but never shared it. I had the idea to make a pulled crockpot chicken recipe and decided to use this recipe for the base of the BBQ chicken.
This ingredient is a little bit out of order in the flow of this blog post because the base of this BBQ sauce is actually the liquid that you make to put in the crockpot with the chicken pieces. So, you make the base for the crockpot and remove 1 cup from that mixture to use to boil down for extra sauce to pour on top when building the sandwich.
Or if you just want to make this BBQ sauce or you need extra and you’re not making the full crockpot recipe you can bookmark the recipe below.
Regulate the spiciness?
Even though this says “sriracha” in the name of the sauce, it’s not super spicy. The sauce has honey and brown sugar in it which balances out the heat nicely. BUT if you are 100% averse to spice of any kind, just leave out the sriracha or use half. Removing it entirely will still make a nice barbecue sauce.
Sriracha bourbon BBQ sauce
A slightly spicy and sweet BBQ sauce that works great on chicken, pork, or even shrimp.
Get RecipeCrockpot BBQ chicken breasts
I tested this recipe with chicken breasts, but since it’s a basic crockpot recipe you can use chicken thighs or any other type of uncooked boneless chicken you can find. Or you could go wild and use a combination of breasts and thighs to make things a little more interesting.
The recipe process requires you to whip up the base for a sriracha bourbon, and slightly sweet BBQ sauce and add that to the chicken to be cooked in a crockpot. After 3 to 4 hours on high heat, the meat should be fully cooked and seasoned well with spicy and sweet flavors. Remove the chicken to a cutting board, pull it into smaller pieces, and then add back to the liquid that is still in the crockpot.
This is a super easy and flavorful slightly spicy, and sweet crockpot chicken recipe that you can use in this sandwich or you could just make the chicken and sauce to be spooned over mashed potatoes or rice for a comforting meal.
Asian-focused marinated slaw
This is not a mayonnaise-based slaw, it’s heavy on soy sauce giving it a lot of savory flavor that works well with the flavors of sesame oil, honey, and brown sugar. So the marinade/dressing is a touch sweet with a salty backbone that works great with crunchy lettuce and scallion.
For convenience, I use a 14-ounce bag of cole slaw mix (a 16 oz/1 pound mix will work too) to make things even easier. I find a lot of times when I work on a slaw recipe I will be stuck with an extra carrot that I don’t need or I will end up throwing out a portion of the cabbage. Basing the recipe on a commonly sized, somewhat available ingredient should make things easier with less food waste. Or at least that’s the case for me.
This slaw will start to look a little bit brown because of the marinade but it will be packed full of flavor and texture which leads to a fantastic sandwich component.
Optional chili crisp/crunch
I added some chili crisp/crunch to two of these sriracha bourbon BBQ sandwiches and I think it turned out ok. It sort of overwhelmed some of the other flavors and pushed the sandwich over the top in a savory way, but I still can imagine that some people would enjoy it.
I have written a whole sandwich blog post about my friend Phil’s chili crisp company called Passenger Foods. If you’ve never had chili crisp, it often goes by many different names like chili crunch or crunchy garlic in oil, and they are all very similar if not the same thing. At their most simple, they are a crunchy, oily hot sauce with an origin in Chinese cooking. They are very savory and you can often find them sold like salsa in mild, medium, and hot designations of spiciness.
Sandwich build process
This is an easy sandwich to put together once you have the sriracha bourbon BBQ-pulled chicken and the marinated slaw prepared.
If you are not eating this sandwich fresh out of the crockpot, you will have cold BBQ chicken that has been in the fridge. You can eat up the chicken in any number of ways. The easiest of those is in a bowl in the microwave. But you can also place several scoops of meat in a small pot and heat the meat up with a few squirts of extra BBQ sauce.
My easy BBQ chicken sandwich recipe
Sriracha bourbon BBQ pulled chicken sandwich
This is a sriracha bourbon BBQ sandwich with a soy sauce-focused slaw that you can cook in a crockpot while you catch up on several episodes of Who's the Boss. Spoiler: it's not Tony.
Ingredients:
Sriracha bourbon BBQ crockpot chicken- 2⁄3 cup ketchup
- 1⁄4 cup bourbon
- 1⁄3 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1⁄2 cup honey
- 1⁄4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons Sriracha hot sauce
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1⁄2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1⁄4 teaspoon MSG (optional)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 pounds chicken breasts or thighs or a combination of both
- 14 to 16 ounces cole slaw mix
- 4 to 6 scallions, sliced thin
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons sesame seeds
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 6 sandwich buns
- sriracha bourbon BBQ chicken (from above)
- sriracha bourbon BBQ sauce (from above)
- marinated slaw (from above)
Directions:
Sriracha bourbon BBQ crockpot chicken: combine the ketchup, bourbon, apple cider vinegar, honey, brown sugar, sriracha, smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, MSG (if using), salt, and pepper in a medium-sized bowl. This is going to be the liquid in the crockpot.
Remove 2/3rds of a cup of the liquid to be turned into extra BBQ sauce. Place this 2/3rds cup aside to work with after you have the crockpot cooking.
Add 2 pounds of chicken to a crockpot and then pour in the BBQ sauce base and toss the chicken in the sauce to coat everything. Turn the crockpot on high and cook for 3 to 4 hours.
Sriracha bourbon BBQ sauce: add the 2/3rd cup reserved sauce to a small pot over medium heat and bring to a simmer.
Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. At this point, the sauce should be thickened and sticky.
Remove the pan from the heat and store the barbecue sauce in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
After 3 or 4 hours remove each piece of chicken to a cutting board. Using two forks, pull the chicken into smaller pieces put it back in the crockpot, and mix with whatever sauce is remaining.
Store any leftover pulled BBQ chicken in the fridge for up to 5 or 6 days
Marinated slaw: slice scallions and add them to a bowl with the rest of the cole slaw mix. If you can't find cole slaw mix, you can use 1/2 green cabbage shredded and 1 carrot shredded and add that in with the scallions.
Add the rest of the slaw ingredients to a second bowl and whisk to combine. Once combined pour over the slaw mix and scallions and toss to coat everything.
Keep the slaw in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Sandwich assembly: toast your sandwich buns.
Top the bottom bun with a generous portion of sriracha bourbon BBQ chicken and then drizzle more BBQ sauce on top if desired.
Top the chicken with slaw and then close the sandwich with the top bun.
Check back next week
Next week we’re turning some sausages into Labor Day meal options. If you’re reading this on the day it’s posted, I’m still overseas eating all the sandwiches I can find but I should be back next week as long as my airplane seat is large enough…
