Slow Cooker Apple Cider Pulled Chicken
These effortless slow cooker pulled chicken sandwiches are so good! The chicken is simmered in the crockpot for hours with hard cider, apples, and onion, and it comes out SO tender. Throw it in your favorite bun with some sharp cheddar, and you won’t even know what hit you.
Delicious Details
- Cuisine Inspiration: American
- Primary Cooking Method: Slow cooker
- Dietary Info: Gluten-free, Dairy-free option
- Skill Level: Easy
Looking for a perfectly effortless, wonderfully comforting fall dinner? This slow cooker pulled chicken is calling your name. Simmered in hard apple cider with sweet apples and sweet onions, it’s bursting with autumn flavor. The cider and apples add fall flavor, while the chicken turns perfectly tender and shreds effortlessly.
Best of all, much like my Slow Cooker Root Beer Pulled Pork, this recipe couldn’t be simpler—just chop, season, and let your slow cooker work its magic. Serve it on warm rolls with shredded cheddar or enjoy it on its own—either way, it’s a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.
This Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Practically Cooks Itself
Calling all busy parents (or just people in general)! You’ve got to try this recipe. Here’s why:
- Deeply flavorful. The combination of sweet apples, hard cider, and beautifully caramelized onions creates a rich, comforting flavor that just screams “Fall!”. That cozy flavor really makes its way into each and every shred of chicken, and the results? Completely irresistible.
- SO tender (almost melt-in-your-mouth). Slow cooking transforms ordinary chicken breasts into a juicy, fall-apart-tender masterpiece. It shreds so easily with just the slightest touch of a fork.
- It couldn’t be easier. With just a few minutes of prep and the push of a button or two, you can walk away and return hours later to an incredible meal. Go enjoy your day while the house fills with the tantalizing aroma of apple cider chicken!
What You’ll Need
Time to head to the store to grab your ingredients! Here’s what you’ll need to make this easy crockpot shredded chicken (have a look at the recipe card below for precise measurements):
- Peeled and sliced apple – I prefer Granny Smith or Honeycrisp here. They hold up nicely in the slow cooker.
- Sliced sweet onion – Grab a large one (or two smaller onions). If you don’t like sweet onion, yellow onion would be just fine.
- Chicken – I used boneless, skinless breasts, but chicken thighs would be great, too. For safety reasons, I don’t recommend using frozen chicken unless you’ve thawed it properly first.
- Seasoning – I kept it at salt and pepper with a dash of paprika and dry mustard. Smoked paprika would be a fun addition, as well.
- Hard apple cider – Want to keep it non-alcoholic? A NA sparkling cider (like Martinelli’s) will work just fine.
- Rolls – I really like this pulled chicken on soft, fluffy rolls (these Easy Gluten Free Hamburger Buns are amazing!), but feel free to use something different. Sourdough or my Gluten Free French Bread would be yummy, toasted or not.
- Shredded sharp white cheddar cheese – Shred it fresh from the block if possible.
How to Make Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken
Here’s a quick look at how to make this apple cider pulled chicken. You’ll find more detailed instructions in the recipe card below:
- Load up the slow cooker. Place the onion and apple slices on the bottom of your slow cooker and lay the chicken breasts on top. Sprinkle it all with the seasonings and pour the cider over the top.
- Cook. Seal the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
- Shred. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board, shred with two forks, and return it to the slow cooker.
- Sauce it up. Toss together the chicken, apples, onions, and cooking liquid.
- Make sandwiches. Top the bottom half of a roll with shredded chicken, sprinkle with 1/4 cup of shredded cheese, and top with the top half of the roll.
Tips and Variation Ideas
This recipe is pretty hard to mess up, but I do have some tips and tricks for you, as well as a few fun variations on the original recipe:
- Don’t overload the slow cooker. While I highly encourage you to make a double batch of this shredded chicken, it’s important not to overload the slow cooker (the chicken won’t cook properly). So, just keep that in mind.
- Try it in the Instant Pot. Load your Instant Pot up, just as you would if you were doing this in the crockpot, and cook on high pressure for 15 minutes. Perform a quick release before opening the Instant Pot and shredding the chicken.
- Melt. If you’ve got a little extra time, toast your buns and, before adding the top bun, throw the chicken and cheese-topped bottom buns under the broiler for a minute or so to melt the cheese!
- Cheese swap. I like the sharp white cheddar here, but traditional cheddar would be great, too. So would Gouda, mozzarella, or pepper jack.
- Condiments galore. This chicken is so juicy that you don’t really need condiments. That said, you can’t go wrong with a little mayo. Feeling adventurous? Get wild with this Greek Yogurt Blue Cheese Dressing or Dip, or my spicy Buffalo Ranch.
- Have fun with the bread. I went with standard burger buns, but you could 100% use hearty slices of sourdough or go the slider route with my Gluten Free Hawaiian Rolls or these Gluten Free Garlic Butter Dinner Rolls.
How to Store and Reheat Extras
This chicken is GREAT for leftovers. So, make a double batch and save the extras for lunch the following day. Here’s how to store it properly (just the chicken…the buns and cheese shouldn’t be added to the picture until you’re ready to serve):
- Refrigerator. Seal any fully cooled leftover chicken in an airtight container. It’ll keep in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Freezer. Once cool, seal the leftover chicken in an airtight freezer-safe container and store it in the freezer for up to 3 months. Allow it to thaw in the fridge before reheating.
- To reheat. Put the chicken back in the slow cooker and cook on low until warm. Alternatively, heat it in a pot over medium heat (you may want to add a splash of broth or water). You can also microwave individual portions in 30-second intervals until heated through.
Once you’ve reheated the chicken, whip out some fresh buns and cheese and assemble sandwiches as you normally would.
Make It a Meal
These pulled chicken sandwiches are sure to be the star of any meal, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve some quality company on your plate!
- Try a refreshing salad. My Harvest Salad is packed with seasonal flavors, and this Crunchy Broccoli Apple Salad is always a hit.
- Have something a little heartier. You can’t go wrong with this Bacon Ranch Potato Salad or my Gluten Free Stovetop Mac & Cheese.
- Repurpose extras. I love this chicken because it’s easy to incorporate into other recipes. Ditch the bun (and the cheese) and try it in my Pecan Chicken Salad or in this Chicken Stuffing Casserole. What a great way to use up leftovers!
More Easy Chicken Dinner Ideas
On the lookout for more fuss-free chicken dinners? Here are a few more recipes you’ll go nuts over:
Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Sandwiches
Ingredients
- 1 apple peeled and sliced
- 1 large sweet onion sliced
- 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons dry mustard
- 12 oz. bottle of hard apple cider or 12 oz. (1 1/2 cups) non-alcoholic sparkling cider
- 12-16 slices of sourdough or your favorite bread, or 6-8 rolls toasted
- 8 oz. shredded sharp white cheddar cheese (about 2 cups)
Instructions
- Place 1 large sweet onion (sliced) and 1 apple (sliced) on the bottom of your slow cooker or Instant Pot.
- Lay the 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts on top of the apples and onions, and sprinkle on 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, 1 teaspoon paprika, and 2 teaspoons dry mustard. Pour a 12 oz. bottle of hard apple cider over the top.
- Cook on in the slow cooker low for 6-8 hours, or until chicken is cooked through and shreds easily. Or set the Instant Pot to Manual for 15 minutes and, after the cooking time is completed, use the Quick Release to release the pressure.
- Remove the chicken from the slow cooker or Instant Pot, shred with two forks, and return to the slow cooker or Instant Pot.
- Using tongs, toss together the chicken, apples, onions and cooking liquid until evenly distributed.
- Top the "bottom halves" of your 12-16 slices of sourdough or your favorite bread, or 6-8 rolls with the shredded chicken mixture, and sprinkle with about 1 oz. (1/4 cups) of your 8 oz. shredded sharp white cheddar cheese, and top with the other slice of bread or the top of the roll.
Did you make this?
Leave a star rating to help others know that they should make this recipe.
Share a photo and tag @cupcakesandkalechips on Instagram!
Hmm-this sounds really good-I’d add brie to the top of this and melt it just a little…if I were planning on making this supper and had bought the ingredients beforehand of course;)
Like your creativity!
Ooooh, Brie sounds awesome!
This looks delish! Pinned and sharing on fb, thanks for joining us at Marvelous Mondays!
Oh this looks amazing!!
Thanks! It was super tasty!
Ohdearlord, this looks absolutely delicious! And such a perfect recipe now that the weather has cooled down. I’ll try this out, whenever I actually get a slow cooker…
You must get a slow cooker. Soooo worth it.
Printed & Pinned and putting it on my menu next week!! Thank you!!!
Enjoy Cindy! Thanks!
I love all these fall flavors working together! I also love that this is a crock pot meal–my favorite type of meal when the weather takes a turn for the chilly 🙂
Crockpots are the best this time of year!
Wow, that looks good! Drooling on the screen.
Now THIS is my kinda meal, weeknight or any night. Holy deliciousness and convenience! Just out of curiosity, what kind of hard cider did you use? I have a jug of apple juice/cider at home (non-alcoholic) but I’m not sure if the extra sweetness there would be too much. I much prefer the carbonation of hard stuff, so maybe I’ll just postpone this recipe until I pick some up.
Speaking of sweetness, with subbing the cider for beer and apples for peppers, would you consider it more of a sweet or savory dish?
I think mine turned out savory with a hint of sweet, which I loved, especially with the salty cheese. I think regular cider would make it a bit sweeter – perhaps use less and use half chicken broth?
This looks amazing!!
Thanks Lori!
I’ve had apple and onion with pork and now I see I need to try it with chicken too. Time to get out my slow-cooker because this looks mighty tasty.
Renee, I’m actually sharing your pork on my Favebook page today!