Peaches may not be the first ingredient you reach for when making BBQ chicken, yet this slow cooker version puts two full cups into the sauce. Their fruit sweetness joins smoky barbecue sauce, brown sugar, cider vinegar, garlic, and chipotle pepper before the mixture gets poured over chicken breasts.
Three hours in the slow cooker gives the chicken time to cook in that sweet, smoky sauce. Once shredded and returned to the pot, every piece gets coated with the peach and chipotle mixture, ready for buns, rolls, or a plate of barbecue sides.
Two Cups of Peaches Go Into the BBQ Sauce
Frozen sliced peaches make up a large part of the sauce rather than serving as a garnish at the end. Thaw them first, then combine them with a 21-ounce bottle of Kansas City-style BBQ sauce.
Brown sugar adds more sweetness, while cider vinegar brings acidity against the fruit and barbecue sauce. Minced garlic rounds out the mixture before the chipotle goes in.
Chipotle Keeps the Peaches From Taking Over
One chopped chipotle pepper in adobo changes the direction of the sauce. Peaches and brown sugar push toward sweet, while chipotle adds smoke and heat.
That contrast is the point of the combination. Peach flavor stays in the sauce, but the chicken still reads as barbecue rather than a fruit-based dish.
Pour Everything Over the Chicken
Place three pounds of chicken breast in the slow cooker, mix the sauce ingredients in a bowl, then pour the mixture over the meat. Cover the pot and cook on high for three hours.
No browning or separate sauce pan is required. The chicken cooks in the BBQ mixture from the start, while the peaches become part of the sauce surrounding it.
Shred the Chicken and Put It Back in the Sauce
After three hours, remove the cooked chicken and shred it with two forks. Return the meat to the slow cooker and stir until the strands pick up the sauce left in the pot.
Putting the chicken back matters for serving. Instead of spooning sauce over dry shredded meat, the smaller pieces get coated with the peach-chipotle mixture before they reach the plate.
Turn It Into Sandwiches or Sliders
Pile the shredded chicken onto burger buns or dinner rolls for sandwiches, or use smaller slider buns for an appetizer. Coleslaw, potato salad, fries, or another cold salad can fill out the plate.
Peaches change more than the sweetness here. Combined with cider vinegar and chipotle, they turn bottled BBQ sauce into a sauce built for shredded chicken, with fruit, smoke, heat, and acidity in each bite.
