Looking for a slow cooker dinner that goes from freezer to slow cooker? This BBQ Chicken and Vegetables combines chicken with lots of vegetables and a flavorful homemade BBQ sauce. It’s an easy freezer-friendly meal perfect for easy weeknights.
Want another slow cooker dinner that is great to stock the freezer with? Try this Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken.
This Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken and Vegetables is an easy, flavorful dinner made with chicken, sweet potatoes, bell pepper, and onion cooked in a homemade BBQ-style sauce. Everything goes into the slow cooker for a simple hands-off meal, and you can even assemble it ahead of time and freeze it for an easy freezer meal.
If you’re looking for a dinner that does more than just cook the chicken, this is it. The vegetables cook right alongside the chicken, soaking up all of that sweet, tangy BBQ flavor. Serve it over rice for a hearty family dinner with very little hands-on work.
Ingredients
- Sweet Potatoes: Sweet potatoes add a little natural sweetness and make this meal more filling. Peel and cut them into fairly even cubes so they cook evenly.
- Bell Pepper: This adds great color and flavor to the meal. Feel free to use any color of bell pepper.
- Onion and Garlic: These both add great flavor.
- Chicken: I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces. Chicken thighs can also be used, although the cooking time may vary slightly.
- Tomato Sauce: Tomato sauce forms the base of the homemade BBQ sauce.
- Brown Sugar: Brown sugar gives the sauce its sweet BBQ flavor and balances the acidity from the tomato sauce and Worcestershire sauce.
- Worcestershire Sauce: Worcestershire sauce adds savory, tangy flavor and makes the homemade sauce taste more complex.
- Mustard Powder: Mustard powder adds a little tang and helps give the sauce that classic BBQ flavor.
- Rice: I like to serve this over rice. But feel free to mix it up and serve it over potatoes, quinoa, or even just eat it as is!
- Cilantro: I always like to add something fresh when serving a slow cooker meal. The cilantro really brings everything together.
How to Make BBQ Chicken and Vegetables
STEP 1: Prep all of your vegetables and the chicken. This is the most time consuming part of the recipe! You want to chop your potatoes, bell pepper, and chicken into bite-sized pieces. I will usually cut the onion into larger pieces, but you can also roughly chop it.
STEP 2: In a very large bowl, combine the chicken, vegetables, and the bbq sauce ingredients. This makes a lot of food, so you need a very large bowl. I have a really large stainless steel bowl that works perfectly for this.
STEP 3: Once everything is mixed well, divide it between 2 freezer safe bags. You can also use another freezer safe container, if desired.
STEP 4: I like to flatten the bag for easy freezer storage, and don’t forget to label. Place in the freezer for up to 3 months.
STEP 5: When you are ready to cook your meal, remove one bag from the freezer and place it in your slow cooker. Cook on low for 4-5 hours, or until the chicken is done and the vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper, as needed, and serve over rice.
Tips and Tricks
Cut the vegetables evenly. Try to cut the sweet potatoes into similar-sized pieces so they cook at about the same rate.
Don’t cut the chicken too small. Bite-sized pieces are perfect, but very small pieces can overcook during the long slow-cooking time.
Know your slow cooker. Slow cookers can vary quite a bit in temperature. If yours tends to cook hot, start checking the chicken and vegetables earlier.
Change up the vegetables. This recipe can be very versatile, so feel free to swap in some of your favorite veggies. You just want to make sure they are vegetables that hold up well during slow cooking.
You can cook without freezing. Want to serve it now and later? Place half in your slow cooker to cook right away, and freeze the other half for later. If you are cooking this without freezing, you’ll want to cut 1 to 2 hours off of the cook time.
More Easy Slow Cooker Dinners
Slow Cooker Tex-Mex Chicken
Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff
Mississippi Pot Roast
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BBQ Chicken and Vegetables
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 pound sweet potatoes
- 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 large bell pepper
- 1 medium onion
- 2 (15 oz) each cans tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon mustard powder
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- Fresh cilantro and prepared rice for serving
Instructions
- Peel and dice the sweet potatoes. Cut the chicken into bite-size cubes. Dice the bell pepper and the onion.2 1/2 pound sweet potatoes, 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 1 large bell pepper, 1 medium onion
- In a very large bowl, combine the potatoes, chicken, bell pepper, and onion. Add the tomato sauce, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard powder, and garlic. Mix until everything is evenly coated.2 (15 oz) each cans tomato sauce, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon mustard powder, 4 cloves minced garlic
- Divide the mixture between 2 freezer safe bags or containers. Label and freeze.
- When ready to make, dump the contents of one bag into a slow cooker. Cook on low for 4-5 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through. Taste and season with salt and pepper before serving.
- Serve the chicken over rice, topped with fresh cilantro.Fresh cilantro and prepared rice
Rachael Harris says
Have you tried putting the rice in with the meal in the slow cooker? I am making this for a freezer meal swap and kind of want to dump the uncooked rice in with some extra liquid for the rice 😉
Deborah says
I haven’t tried it before, so I don’t know how it would turn out. Sorry!
Kelly says
Does this meal need any thing to keep it from burning? Like a broth since it has very little liquid. Thanks. I am new at cooking and always nervous about leaving crockpot on while working all day.
Deborah says
@Kelly, the chicken and vegetables will start to give out liquid as they cook, so nothing additional is needed!
Kerri says
I love slow cooker recipes, but slow cooker is by far the category of recipes that fail with the family come from. However this one was really good. My husband and kids loved it, too. And I just realized while typing that I even forgot to put the brown sugar in it. This will definitely be a keeper.
Deborah says
@Kerri, I’m so glad to hear that you all liked it! And it’s good to know that it’s even good without the brown sugar!
Heather of Kitchen Concoctions says
Freezer meal and a slow cooker meal!?! Double score! This is perfect for when you can’t or don’t have time to cook! PS: I hope that your baby boy comes soon and that you have an easy delivery!
kristy says
I’m with you. I usually don’t like freezer meals (desserts hidden away in the freezer are another story though). So it’s good to hear this one works because it would be nice to have this option available for when I inevitably need it. 🙂 Have a great Halloween and I’ll be thinking of you these next few weeks. So excited for you!
Donna says
Sending good vibes your way ~ can’t have too many freezer meals stashed away with a baby boy coming!
Becky @ Project Domestication says
Freezer meals do get a bad rep. I’d totally try this one. I know I’d love it with that awesome flavor combo.
Good luck!
Jen @ Savory Simple says
What a delicious dinner, Deb! Added it to my recipe box to try sometime soon.
Kim Bee says
You rock, I was probably moping with my feet up when I was pregnant. You are so organized. Love it. And love this meal. It looks sort of like a stir fry which I love so I’m all in.