Just put the whole breast in and chop/shred after cooking. It should be falling off the bone when cooked and just remove the bones and proceed from there. If using boneless whole breast then you don't have to worry about the bones.:)

Any chicken breast that I have ever had that was cooked in the crock pot was dry and chewey, regardless of the amonunt of "stuff" you put in to cook with it.
White meat just gets nasty when over cooked.
If you must cook chicken in the crock pot, at least use thighs.
Linda C

I respectfully disagree with you Linda. I have cooked a whole chicken and a whole turkey breast in the crockpot and it was FAR from dry and chewey as you describe. I didn't have to coat it with tons of stuff to make it moist.

Thanks for your answers, folks.

I have a big bag of skinless, boneless chicken breasts that I've committed to cook for someone.

I was trying to come up with something other than fried or casserole.

If there is enough liquid, wouldn't that penetrate the meat? Especially if it's not overcooked?

Cream

I love to boil boneless skinless chicken breasts and then make bbq chicken meat for sandwiches with it. After boiling my breasts I mash them with a potato masher. Then I add my bbq sauce and simmer it until it cooks into the meat good. The acid in the vinegar and tomatoes will soften that meat up nice and tender. From there I scoop it onto toasted bread for nice bbq sandwiches. I hate skin, fat, gristle type stuff in my bbq sandwich... nothing but lean clean for me.

One time I bought a package of chicken breasts and didn't cook them for a couple days. No time but worried they might go bad I threw them in a soup pot and boiled them. I was very surprised at how edible they were! Not tough like you might reasonably expect. More then once I've boiled turkey in tomato juice for chili meat.

: )
lyra

lyra, that sounds good with the bbque sauce; I poach the breasts with little water, works well also. The trick is not to overcook, they stay moist.

I make yummy moist falling off the bone chicken in the crockpot all the time. Couple tips for success--leave on the bone, brown briefly first, don't cook too long (4-6 hours on low, my crockpot runs hot and my usual time is five hours).

In re-reading what I typed last night I see that it doesn't make sense. I had on my brain bone-in chicken breasts NOT boneless. I had on my brain a turkey breast which I have done which obviously doesn't have bones!

Neither of the above has been dry. I can not speak for boneless chicken breasts as I have never done them in the crockpot.

I apologize.

Here's a GREAT recipe that can be substituted with either bone-in chicken or chicken breasts. I've even made this recips in the past, saved the sauce, and remade it with chicken!

Fall Off The Bone BBQ Ribs

1 med onion chopped
½ cup ketchup
¼ cup cider vinegar
¼ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup tomato paste
2 T paprika
2 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T yellow mustard
Salt & Pepper
4 lbs pork spareribs

In crockpot, stir in onion, ketchup, vinegar, sugar, tomato paste, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, 1 tsp salt & 1 tsp pepper until combined. Cut ribs into several large pieces to fit the crockpot bowl and add to crockpot. Spoon sauce over ribs, cover and cook ribs Low 8 Â 10 hours or on High for 4 Â 5 hours.

Thank you, Gardengrl,
That recipe sounds close to what I make...it is tasty!

Cream

I have to chime in to say that boneless, skinless chicken breasts are not even a member of any food group. They belong to a group known as cardboard. Particularly with the new and improved super bred fat less chickens we find in our supermarkets. I rank these right up there with the other white meat.

Here is a link that might be useful: traveling and cooking with grandpa

I wouldn't do boneless chicken breasts in the crockpot. They cook so fast on the stove it is really not necessary. I have had good luck poaching them, or I guess it has been a little like braising--cooking in simmering veg. broth in the pan, but not totally submersed. I season them with seasoned salt or poultry seasoning, a little lemon peel is good too. Then I shred or chop or whatever and add them to salads or season with sauces. I rarely buy the boneless though, due to the bone in kind being cheaper.

I don't like the taste of dark meat poultry, so I usually substitute breasts for dark meat in chicken recipes. But the last time that I tried boneless skinless breasts in the crockpot they ended up being overcooked; there was a lot of liquid in the curry recipe, so they weren't technically 'dry,' but the texture was not tender and it was quite disappointing. The crockpot that I used tends to run 'hot' so they overcooked really fast (about 2 hours on high).

In contrast, I've used that crockpot to make the exact same curry recipe with bone-in chicken breasts, pre-browned on the stove, and those breasts were very tender although I cooked them longer than 2 hours. So if you are using boneless/skinless breasts I'd recommend that you keep a close eye on them to make sure you take them out before they're overcooked.

FOLLOW UP:
This is what I did...
Placed the raw chicken breast into the crock pot and cooked until firm and juices ran clear.

Removed the chicken from the pot. Cooled it just until I could handle it. Shredded it and placed it back in the crockpot along with the following stove-top sauce:

Sauteed onion, green pepper, garlic cloves, ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, hoisin sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.

It tastes pretty good.

I drained most of the juices released during cooking because I want the chicken to simmer in the bbq sauce.

Anyway, I found out you CAN use boneless, skinless chicken breast this way.

Cream

creamplease, in your first step, did you put any liquid with the breasts ?
was the crockpot on high or low ?

"Placed the raw chicken breast into the crock pot and cooked until firm and juices ran clear."

What setting and how long?

Hi Folks.
Although thawed, the chicken breasts still had some ice crystals from the freezer. Did not add any additional liquid.
The temperature was set on high. Took about 4-5 hours. At that point I drained off most of the cooking juices and added the sauce. After that another couple hours on low to let the meat absorb the flavor.
Hope that helps.
Cream