The perfect combination of of spicy and sweet is what you will find in this easy recipe for Crock-Pot Cayenne Chicken! Serve this shredded chicken on buns with ranch and pickles for the perfect sandwich!
Slow Cooker Cayenne Chicken
Are you looking for a simple slow cooker chicken recipe? If so, then this Cayenne Chicken recipe is for you!
The recipe starts with 2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts and then a flavorful mixture of chicken broth, butter, brown sugar, cayenne pepper, paprika and chili powder is poured over top and the whole thing is cooked for 4 to 6 hours in the slow cooker.
Once the chicken is cooked, you shred the chicken meat and mix it back into the sauce in the slow cooker.
The classic way to serve this shredded chicken is on buns (we like Hawaiian Sweet Hamburger Buns) or rolls with a little drizzle of bottled ranch dressing and some dill pickle slices.
However, the chicken really is pretty versatile and you can serve it in lettuce leaves or low carb wraps to keep it healthy and low carb. Or you can add the shredded chicken to salads.
And, if you want to make this into a slow cooker freezer meal, you can do that too so that you have a bag (or two) of this lovely chicken ready to pop into your slow cooker on busy days when you don’t have time to even think about what’s for dinner!
Equipment Needed For Crock-Pot Cayenne Chicken Recipe:
- 6 Quart, 6.5 Quart Or 7 Quart Slow Cooker
- Liquid Measuring Cup
- Dry Measuring Cups And Spoons
- Whisk
- Tongs
- Forks
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can easily substitute boneless skinless chicken thighs for the boneless skinless chicken breasts called for in this recipe. Chicken thighs are often less expensive than breasts and are a great way to keep this recipe frugal.
Keep in mind however that the nutritional information in this recipe will change if using chicken thighs because thigh meat is higher in calories and fat.
On a spice level of 1 to 10 with 10 being mouthwatering hot, the spice level of this recipe is probably about a 5 or 6 using 2 tablespoons of cayenne pepper. If you would like the chicken to be less spicy feel free to use less cayenne pepper and if you would like it to be hotter add more cayenne pepper.
While this recipe as written is low carb, coming in at under 20 grams of carbohydrates per serving, the brown sugar called for in the recipe is not a keto diet approved sweetener. However there are several keto friendly brown sugar sweeteners on the market (my favorite is Sukrin Gold) or you can even make your own with this recipe for Homemade Brown Sugar Substitute For Low Carb Diets from Kim over at LowCarbMaven.com.
For serving the shredded chicken lettuce wraps are the easiest and cheapest option for a keto or low carb wrap. But feel free to use store bought or homemade keto bread or wraps too. The cayenne chicken would also be fantastic served in halved mini-bell peppers!
Special Diets
Gluten Free | Low Calorie | Low Carb | Low Fat | Low Sodium | Low Sugar
This recipe for Crock-Pot Cayenne Chicken is Weight Watchers Friendly on the new Personal Points plan. You can see the WW personal points for this recipe here on the Weight Watchers website. Click here for MORE of our Weight Watchers Recipes
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Recipe Collections:
- Chicken Crock-Pot Recipes
- 10 Ingredients Or Less Recipes
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast Recipes
- Easy Crock-Pot Recipes
- Entrée Recipes
Crock-Pot Cayenne Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Pounds Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
- ¾ Cup Low-Sodium Chicken Broth (Store Bought Or Homemade Chicken Broth)
- ¼ Cup Unsalted Butter (Melted)
- ¼ Cup Brown Sugar (Packed)
- 2 Tablespoons Ground Cayenne Pepper
- 1 Teaspoon Ground Paprika
- 1 Teaspoon Chili Powder
Instructions
- Place chicken in the bottom of a 6 quart or larger slow cooker.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients and pour over chicken in slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 6 hours or until chicken is cooked through.
- With tongs, remove cooked chicken from the slow cooker and place on a plate. Shred the chicken meat with two forks and return to the slow cooker stirring the meat into the liquid.
- Serve shredded chicken on buns or rolls with ranch dressing and dill pickle slices (if desired).
Notes
**Nutritional Note: The nutritional information and Weight Watchers SmartPoints are calculated based on the chicken recipe as written and does not include any buns or rolls, ranch dressing or pickles that you may serve with the shredded chicken with.
Freezer Meal Instructions:
- Place all ingredients into a 1 gallon size zippered freezer bag OR FoodSaver bag.
- Place bag on flat surface and seal bag closed while pressing out as much excess air as possible OR use your FoodSaver sealing system to vacuum seal the bag closed.
- Label bag with date prepared, name of recipe, ingredients and cooking instructions.
- Lay bag flat in freezer and allow to freeze for several hours. At that point you can stand the bags upright in your freezer if desired.
- Remove freezer meal bag from freezer and place either in refrigerator overnight OR in a clean kitchen sink filled with cool water for several hours just until the freezer meal is partially thawed enough to dump the contents of the bag into the slow cooker.
- Cook according to the recipe directions adding 1 additional hour cooking time (in this case 5 to 7 hours on LOW from the partially thawed state ).
Nutrition
Made this today…..Didn’t change a thing….so quick and easy and sooooo good!
So glad you enjoyed this recipe Phyllis! Thanks for the kind review!
This was incredible, made as written and wouldn’t change anything. Sweet with heat and very filling
Thanks for the recipe, always looking for something new to get away from the same old options
Thank you James for the lovely review. It always good to hear that others enjoy the recipes I share!