In addition to cooking more in general and trying new recipes, I’m also trying to experiment more with toss-together dinners that I come up with on my own based on what we might have lying around. This barbecue chicken and slaw was incredibly easy and had maybe 10 minutes of active prep time, none of which needed to be done right before serving.Plus, the timing of the steps can be adjusted to your schedule and it will still come out delicious!

For the chicken, I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs, but you could use breasts as well. I simply put the chicken in the slow cooker, topped it with a bottle of barbecue sauce and tossed to coat. In this case, we had Stonewall Kitchen Honey Miso Barbecue Sauce already in the pantry (thanks, Nan!), but you could use any sauce. I thought this one worked particularly well because it was on the thicker side, so it didn’t thin out much while it was cooking.

I cooked the chicken on high for 4 hours, until it fell apart when I tried to remove one of the pieces. At that time, I shredded the chicken, returned it to the slow cooker and tossed it again in the sauce. Then I switched the temperature to warm to sit until dinnertime.

The sugars in the bbq sauce caramelized, which is why there are some dark spots around the sides.

Around mid-afternoon, while the chicken was cooking, I made the Brussels sprouts slaw—the longer it can sit in the fridge in the dressing, the better! Here’s what I used:

Trader Joe’s sells pre-shaven Brussels sprouts, which is what gave me the idea to make a slaw with them in the first place, but you could also buy whole raw Brussels sprouts and grate them. You can find the Marzetti slaw dressing (and also a few other brands, if you have a favorite) in the produce section at the grocery store with the veggie dips. I also added a handful each of dried cranberries and slivered almonds because I had those in the pantry as well, but again, you could use your favorite add-ins. The dressing had instructions on how much to use, and I thought the ratio it gave was perfect, so I suggest following that. Here’s the finished product:

For serving, I picked up some potato rolls and gave them a quick toast (Jeff added some cheese to his). Then I piled some chicken and slaw on each roll, and voila!

The chicken was tender, juicy and flavorful and the slaw was tangy, sweet and crunchy. The best part, though, was how easy it was! I did use some pre-made ingredients, but if you wanted to make your own barbecue sauce and coleslaw dressing you totally could. Either way, I promise it will be fast and delicious!