These tasty sliders are so much fun – perfect for game day, backyard parties, or just as something a little different for dinner. They have a great balance of sweet, spicy, and tangy flavors and are easy to make on a weeknight with ingredients from your pantry.
I don’t know about you, but chicken is my go-to weeknight dinner. It’s always on hand and it’s easy to keep the prep work down to a minimum.
That said, sometimes I get tired of the same old thing, especially when we’re hosting friends or family for game night.
These apple butter bbq chicken sliders are a great solution! They’re packed with flavor, super simple to make, and fun with all of the taste that people love about barbecue sauce and an Asian-inspired twist. You’ll never guess the secret ingredient in these pulled chicken sliders: Apple Butter! Combined with soy sauce, garlic, and five-spice seasoning, it makes an absolutely delicious Asian-inspired barbecue sauce.
Plus, they can be made in your slow cooker so there’s no last-minute cooking involved. The best part is they only take 5 minutes to put together before heading off to work or to run errands. You can even make them ahead of time and freeze them for later.
We hope you enjoy this family favorite as much as we do!
Ingredients for Apple Barbecue Sauce
To make this delicious and flavorful barbecue sauce, you’ll need a few simple ingredients:
- Apple Butter (try homemade apple butter, too!)
- Low Sodium Soy Sauce
- Five-Spice seasoning
- Garlic
- Honey
To complete the recipe, you’ll also need chicken breasts (thighs work well too!) and slider rolls. I also like to garnish my sliders with pickled jalapenos and scallions. Yum!
How to make pulled chicken in the slow cooker
I absolutely love using my slow cooker to make pulled chicken. The moist cooking environment ensures the chicken doesn’t dry out and cooking the chicken right in the sauce gives it time to soak up all that amazing flavor.
Plus it’s so easy! Just a few minutes of prep in the morning means you’ll have a delicious dinner waiting for you when you get home from work. It really doesn’t get any better than that!
More delicious ways to use apple butter
- Apple Butter Granola Yogurt Parfaits
- One Pan Apple Butter Mac and Cheese
- Apple Butter Blondies
- Deep Dish Pizza with Brussels Sprouts, Apple Butter, and Bacon
Ingredients
- 1 cup Apple Butter
- ¼ small Onion minced
- 2 Tablespoons low sodium Soy Sauce
- 2 Garlic Cloves smashed
- 1 Tablespoon Honey
- ½ teaspoon Five Spice Seasoning
- 1 pound boneless skinless Chicken Breasts
- 8 Slider Rolls or small dinner rolls
- Pickled Jalapeños
- Green Onions chopped
Instructions
- Combine the first six ingredients (through the five-spice seasoning) in your slow cooker. Mix well. Add the chicken breasts, turning so they are coated with the sauce.
- Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours. Use the back of a spoon to gently shred the chicken. Stir so that the shredded chicken is evenly coated with the sauce.
- Set slow cooker to warm and let chicken stand for 15 minutes to soak up the sauce.
- Serve the pulled chicken on rolls. Top with pickled jalapenos and chopped green onions.
I used a little Sriracha instead of jalapenos.
Gives it some heat while retaining the Asian influence. Very good!
Yum! I’m really excited to give the apple butter a try! Apple and chicken just go so well together!
I found this post when I was looking for a recipe for pulled chicken, and I have to say, I love this cooking method! I used different flavors and served the chicken in tacos instead of on a bun, but it was such a huge hit! I blogged about my version of pulled chicken recently and wanted to thank you for such a great original idea! Here’s the link if you’re interested: http://www.floptimism.com/2013/09/pulled-chicken-tacos.html
I made this recipe and posted my experiences on my healthy food blog. It was fine, but not too Asian, but I blame that on my five-spice powder, it seems like only cinnamon. Next time I would add more soy sauce and maybe a touch of sesame oil and seeds at the end. We had leftovers from this, which was nice on salads greens.
Asian chicken sliders sound amazing , also the barbecue shrimp, however I love Brussels sprouts but is this a tasty salad?
The shredded Brussels sprout salad? It’s delicious! I’ve made it for a few people and it’s always a huge hit (even with picky teenage boys!)
These look so yummy and I love the apple butter in them! I’m definitely going to try!
For some reason I’m just not a huge fan of straight-up apple butter, but I love how it’s used here! Maybe I’ll just have to whip up a batch and try this recipe before the season’s through.
i’ve never seen apple butter used in this way–excellent idea!
Here’s another great way to use apple butter:
Apple Butter Barbecued Shrimp (makes 24 appetizer servings)
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup apple butter
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
24 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
12 slices partially cooked bacon, cut in half
24 wooden skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes
Preheat grill for 5 minutes on high. Combine maple syrup, apple butter and mustard in a zip-top plastic bag. Add shrimp and marinate for 30 minutes. Remove shrimp, reserving marinade. Wrap each shrimp in the bacon. Fasten with toothpick.
Grill 3 minutes. Then brush with reserved marinade and turn. Brush the other side with remaining marinade and grill 2 to 3 minutes more, until shrimp are cooked.
This sounds great – I can’t wait to try it!