Pulled Chicken Sandwich (BBQ or Buffalo)
This is the weeknight pulled chicken sandwich: warm shredded chicken tossed in BBQ or buffalo sauce, piled onto a toasted bun. It’s fast, messy in the best way, and basically made for eating over the sink (no judgment).
What You'll Need
grocery Ingredients
- Chicken or Turkey or Pork or Jackfruit
- Burger buns or Bread rolls or Hot dog buns or Bread or White bread
- Barbecue sauce optional or Buffalo sauce or Hot sauce
- Buffalo sauce optional or Barbecue sauce or Hot sauce
- Canned pickles optional
- Onion optional or Red onion or White onion or Yellow onion
- Cheese optional or Swiss cheese or Blue cheese or Cream cheese
cooking Equipment
- Saucepan or Saute Pan or Dutch Oven or Slow Cooker or Instant Pot
- Toaster optional or Toaster Oven or Oven or Panini Press
- Mixing Bowl optional or Glass Mixing Bowl or Silicone Mixing Bowl or Mixing Bowls or Glass Mixing Bowls
- Tongs optional or Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer or Bamboo Rice Paddle
- Cutting Board optional or Wooden Cutting Board or Plastic Cutting Board or End Grain Cutting Board or Bamboo Cutting Board
bookmark_star Instructions
Instructions
1) Warm the chicken and sauce it up
Grab a saucepan and put it on medium heat. Add the stewed chicken and your barbecue sauce (or buffalo sauce) and stir until it’s hot, saucy, and evenly coated — about 5–8 minutes.
If it starts looking dry, add a tiny splash of water. If it looks like soup, congratulations, you invented chicken bathwater — just simmer a bit longer.
2) Shred it like you mean it
Move the hot chicken to a mixing bowl. Use tongs (or two forks from the drawer you pretend is organized) and pull the chicken into shreds, chunks, or whatever vibe you’re on. Keep mixing so the sauce gets into every little piece.
Don’t do what I did once and “shred” it with a butter knife. Technically it works. Emotionally it’s not okay.
3) Toast the buns
Toast the burger buns in a toaster until they’re warm, golden, and not sad. This takes 1–2 minutes.
Skip toasting if you want, but the bun will soak up sauce like a sponge and then fall apart mid-bite. That’s a character-building moment you don’t need today.
4) Build the sandwich
Put the bottom bun on a cutting board. Pile on the pulled chicken, then add canned pickles, onion, and cheese if you want. Close it up with the top bun and press gently so it doesn’t launch fillings across the kitchen.
If you overstuff it, that’s fine. Just accept you’re eating an open-faced sandwich with your hands. We’ve all been there.
5) Serve right away
Eat it while it’s hot, messy, and actually holding together. If you’re serving a crowd, keep the chicken warm in the saucepan and toast buns as you go so nobody gets a cold, soggy situation.
lightbulb_2 Tips
Pro tip: If you’re using buffalo sauce, add a slice of blue cheese or Swiss cheese on top. It gets melty and tames the heat a bit — like a tiny dairy fire extinguisher.
Common mistake: Don’t crank the heat to “volcano” to warm the chicken faster. Barbecue sauce can go from sticky to burnt sugar science experiment in like 30 seconds.
Pro tip: Want it less messy? Toast the buns a little darker so they’re sturdier. Or do what I do and just accept you’ll need two napkins and a life coach.
Swap idea: No burger buns? Use hot dog buns or bread rolls. Worst case, use white bread — it’s not fancy, but it works and nobody has to know.
Make-ahead move: Warm and sauce the chicken, then keep it covered in the fridge. Reheat on medium-low so it gets hot without turning into stringy sadness.
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