CrockPot Barbecued Chicken and Cornbread Casserole

BBQ Chicken and Cornbread Casserole -- it all cooks at the same time in  your CROCKPOT!!
Day 235.

131 days left. I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Our family really liked the tamale pie I made earlier in the year, and I was impressed at how easy it was to throw together and cook in the crockpot. This is a twist on that dish---with a pairing almost as perfect as peanut butter and jelly: barbecued chicken and cornbread.

The Ingredients:

--1 pound of cooked, or practically cooked chicken, cubed or shredded (I browned my chicken for a while on the stove, then lost interest. It was almost cooked, but not yet edible.)
--1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut in 1-inch chunks (optional.)
--1 red onion, diced (optional. I didn't use this, although I intended to, and am kind of kicking myself for the accidental omission.)
--1 cup frozen or fresh corn
--1 bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce (18 oz)
--1/4 cup hot water

cornbread topping:

use a mix and follow the directions on the box (minus the oil or butter), or mix together the following:

--3/4 cup corn meal
--1 1/4 cups of flour (I used a Bob Red's Mill GF mix--we were out of Pamela's)
--1 cup milk
--1/4 cup sugar
--1 egg
--1 tsp baking powder (only if using regular all-purpose flour)

The Directions.

I used a 4 qt round crockpot for this---it was the perfect size.

Spray the inside of your stoneware with cooking spray. Cut up the chicken and sweet potato, and add to the crock. Add the corn. Empty the contents of the barbecue sauce bottle, and then add 1/4 cup of hot water to the bottle, shake, and pour that out, too. Mix well with a spoon.

In a separate bowl, mix together the cornbread topping. You don't need to mix well, I just used a fork. Spread the topping on to the chicken mixture.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Ours cooked on low for exactly 6. If you are planning on being out of the house, cook for the shorter amount of time. You can always switch to high to brown the top when you get home.

The Verdict.

We all really liked this a lot. I can't wait to make it again, or a different variation.

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Posted by: Stephanie O'Dea | A Year of Slow Cooking at August 22, 2008

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What they say about this article

  1. Anonymous8/22/2008

    Oooh this sounds yummy! I will definitly be trying this soon.

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  2. Anonymous8/22/2008

    I love barbecued chicken! I would never have thought to make cornbread in the crockpot along with it. One question though - why should the chicken be "almost" cooked? Won't it have a weird texture if it continues to cook for 6-8 hours?

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  3. Anonymous8/22/2008

    Yum! This would be fantastic with a can of barbeque baked beans....or even just the vegetarian baked beans.

    jilldaugherty03 at yahoo dot com

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  4. Anonymous8/22/2008

    anything with the words "barbacue sauce" tastes good. I am obsessed with it!!! This looks amazing.

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  5. This seems like a great meal for th fall when you want barbeque but you don't wanna pull out the grill. And, yes, cornbread and BBQ definitely is quite a pair....like beans and cornbread :o)

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  6. inmomniac, the thinking is that you are going to use already-cooked leftover chicken, but if you are browning some up for just this dish, you don't need to make sure that all of the pink is completely gone, because it will continue to cook in the bbq sauce. I wouldn't do raw, because the only way to check to make sure it's cooked completely is to cut into the cornbread.

    xoxo
    steph

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  7. I made a tamale pie in the oven last night that was very good. I am super excited to see that it can be done in the crock as well!

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  8. I might try that with chili - I'm a huge fan of the chili and cornbread combination! How neat that you can make that in the crock pot!

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  9. so you cooked the cornbread on top of the chicken goodies, kind of like dumplings on top of a stew? This I can do!

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  10. Wow, my husband said...MAKE THIS! hahaa.. I was wondering though if I could use a Jiffy cornbread mix instead omitting the egg/milk?.. Thanks!

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  11. Hi jinxi, I'd make it according to the directions on the Jiffy box.

    xox
    steph

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  12. Anonymous8/22/2008

    Hi Steph!
    Does the cornbread need oil or butter or some form of fat as in a regular cornbread recipe? Thanks and keep up the good work! Love my daily email!

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  13. Hi Lori,

    you know, that's a good question. I guess not! I didn't use any---I'll fix that in the post.
    thanks!
    xox
    steph

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  14. Anonymous8/25/2008

    I'm a first time "crockpoter" and a long time lurker. We were planning a day trip on Sunday and would be gone all day. Usually we order in and I didn't want to do that. I searched for a dish that I had all the ingredients to and this came up. I went for it. And as we walked around the aquarium I was hoping that I wasn't going to come home to a burned up mess. Because I only filled the pot half full but I took your advise and set it on low and for the shorter amount of time. When we got home it had been over five hours that the pot had been on "warm". The house smelled wonderful and by the time every one was out of the car and washed up the table was set and we sat down to a home cooked meal that was out of this world. The bread was moist and dish was the perfect temp. My husband even asked for some to take in his lunch today.
    Thanks for all you do and I will be back, I promise.

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  15. oh, I'm so glad that you enjoyed this and it worked nicely for you!
    yay!
    xxxoox
    steph

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  16. Anonymous8/25/2008

    i did this tonight with jiffy cornbread mix. i didn't have an egg, so i just used milk. (i didn't realize i was out of eggs until the milk was already added, so i didn't have much to lose at that point).

    after 4 hours, the cornbread was still goo. i figured it was my fault for leaving out the egg. i stuck in the oven for about 20 minutes, and it firmed right up into real cornbread.

    this was yummy and super easy. i used a sweet bbq sauce, and combined with the sweet cornbread it was a bit overly sweet. next time i'll use a hotter bbq sauce to balance out the flavor. i did this with about 8 chicken tenders and 1/2 bottle bbq sauce. it completely filled my little 2(?) qt crock. but it was just enough for 2 of us. i added 1/2 bag of cole slaw to finish dinner. super easy.

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  17. Anonymous8/26/2008

    I made this tonight for dinner. It was so good. I'm definitely going to make this again. Thanks, Steph for another great idea. My kids wanna make the layered brownie tomorrow. I'm bribing them with that so they'll be good;)

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  18. I made this one yesterday. The Taco Soup will have to wait until I buy the rest of the ingredients! This was really good! My girls actually just ate the chicken and didn't want the cornbread, but David and I LOVED IT and gulped most of it down between the two of us!

    I wanted to tell you that for YEARS I have made my Thanksgiving turkey in a crock pot. It's a LARGE one, but you cannot screw it up that way! It's amazing! I also do full racks of baby back ribs in the same thing! Let me know if you want details...


    http://ishouldhavebrediguanas.blogspot.com/

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  19. Oh, my, that was yummy!

    I know it's only September, but I'm worried where all these great recipes will go when the year is over. Will you publish a book at the end of the year? Thanks again for the great recipes.

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  20. This was awesome. Even the kids loved it! and I doubled the veggies even!! I am still learning how to be gluten free. It has only been a few months, and the baking part is tricky. I can't find the mixes here in town. I guess I should order them online. I made the cornbread with rice flour and buckwheat flour. I added some xanthun gum to help it stick together. Anyway, it was flat and not a great texture. Do you use the Bob's Red Mill Biscuit Mix for all of your baking stuff?

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  21. Hi Gabe's Wife---No. I much prefer using Pamela's Baking Mix to Bob's---the texture is lighter, fluffier, and I think it doesn't taste as mealy and dry. But our regular store that's close by hasn't had the Pamela's baking mix in stock, so I've had to use the Bob's. I was just in AGAIN today and they still don't have it, so I'm either going to order online or go to Whole Foods to stock up.

    Pamela's has almond meal in it---so be aware if you need to steer clear from nuts.

    xoxox
    steph

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  22. Anonymous9/10/2008

    I made this tonight with 2 Jiffy mixes. It was wonderful and easy and one of my new recipes for my repertoire. Thank you so much, you really have inspired me!!!

    Laura

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  23. Anonymous9/16/2008

    We made this a while back and it was fabulous. We used a Trader Joe's cornbread mix but may try the Jiffy next time. We don't live near a Trader Joe's so the cornbread is shipped in by my in-laws. :-)

    Leann inspired me -- couldn't you make this to use up your leftover turkey? I wonder.

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  24. I am making this right now! It has been six hours and the cornbread is still goo. My husband swore he couldn't find corn meal at the store, so we used regular cornbread mix. I just turned the crock pot from low to high, here is hoping that it will finish cooking. If not, I will stick it in the oven like another commenter did.

    So glad I stumbled across your blog! I am going to make your spinach and tofu dish next! :)

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  25. Anonymous11/15/2008

    I made this the other night. I loved it, husband not to fond of it. But I kind of figured that one before I made it. I couldn't believe that the cornbread actually cooked in the crockpot. Great!!

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  26. I made this last night & it was really good! My 9 year old son loved it too.

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  27. Anonymous12/21/2008

    I love this site and have made several recipes so far, thanks a million :)

    Two things: why omit oil or butter from cornbread mix? honestly I usually sub out and put in applesauce instead, but wanted to make sure it wouldn't be goo?

    Second: will this site stay active after the new year or are you going to make a book or something. I definitely don't want to lose this resource!!

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  28. Hi Anon, the site will remain up.

    I omitted the oil/butter because the moisture from the bbq sauce and chicken was plenty to keep the cornbread moist.

    xox
    steph

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  29. I made this today and it was delicious! Thank you!

    I used Jiffy corn muffin mix for the topping. I wonder if 2 boxes would work? (Only because I like cornbread.)

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  30. Anonymous3/07/2009

    Here's what may be a stupid question about crockpot times. I'm out of the house for abt 10 hours each day so I'm not sure what to do about most of these recipes that you say to cook for 6hrs... I did the chicken cordon bleu last week & it was awful & over-cooked. I want to try this bbq recipe this week but not sure what to set my crock at. My 6-qt is the only one that's new enough to have a hold setting. So, do I set it for 8hrs (low is 8 or 10 - I usually do 10 hrs, high if 4 or 6hrs)) and let it hold it on warm for the final 2 hrs? I don't know if it'll even hold it on warm over an hour!?!?
    My 4 y/o is begging for bbq chicken now - help!!

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  31. Hi Anne,
    okay. In your case I would do 4 hours on high, then it will click to warm. The warm will stay warm for up to 12 hours, and is hot enough to keep bacteria away but not over-cook.
    If you don't feel comfortable with that, cook this on a day you're home to monitor.

    xoxo
    steph

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  32. Anonymous3/08/2009

    Awesome, Steph! Thanks for the quick reply. It's on the menu for tomorrow (Monday). ;)

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  33. I made a variation of this--in two different crockpots one to take to a friend, one for us. Her pot is bigger, mine is smaller. Mine was 75% burnt (mine cooks way too fast) hers was really good. I love the concept of this so I'll definitely try it again. (after I invest in a new crockpot)Here's what I did: left out the sweet potato and corn, added a can of baked beans. Used Jiffy mix for the cornbread and added a can of creamed corn to it.

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  34. My hubby thought this was delicious. I cheated a little. We used 2 cans of Tyson's canned chicken. Short red cans. We've already bought the ingredients to try out a few more recipes.

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  35. I made this tonight with leftover chicken, canned corn, did use a fair amount of onion and it was awesome. I used the Pamela's mix and the whole deal turned out amazing! Oh, and I've been sick for a few years, haven't cooked in nearly a year, haven't looked at recipes in about that much time. Your's is the first cookbook I've read since things got bad and the first recipe I've actually cooked. Thanks!

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  36. I made this a couple weeks ago, but only just remembered to post and tell you how well it turned out! The cornbread topping was especially a big hit. The sweet potato didn't really do anything for the dish in our opinion (other than shake things up a bit), so we'll probably omit it next time. The corn and onion, however, were great.

    I used leftover pulled BBQ chicken from dinner the previous night, so this was also very economical for us. I will probably do the same next time - cook up huge quantities of BBQ chicken and pull it, freeze some and eat some, and use the rest for this dish.

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  37. This recipe is fantastic! It's a husband pleaser!! I didn't use cooked chicken and cooked it for the 8 hours, and it came out perfect! I'm not a fan of chicken cooked twice. Love your blog and all the meal prep inspiration! Thank you!!

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  38. have this in the crockpot right now and it smells so good! can't wait to try it.

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  39. I made this recipe this week. We thought there was too much cornbread in relation to the filling, and next time I will double the filling (but probably not quite double the amount of sauce on it) and leave the cornbread the same.

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  40. Dear Crock Pot Lady,
    I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate all your recipes! As a newly wed living in a hotel room you saved us from a frightful fate of lame food. Now a few months later as I am unpacking in our first "real" home (and fighting morning sickness) I am once again turning to my trusty crock pot! The BBQ chicken Cornbread is on the menu for tonight!!
    Thanks!!
    -Michelle

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  41. Braksgirl5/04/2011

    I made this today and I didn't like the way it turned out. The chicken tasted ok but the cornbread soaked up all the moisture so the chicken was left quite dry. I didn't like the way the cornbread tasted. I won't be making this one again.

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  42. Carissa2/26/2012

    I've just recently found your blog and have started using some of your recipes. This turned out AMAZING! And, I didn't cook the chicken, I just put it in there chopped up and almost frozen (I had to defrost it for a couple minutes so I could cut it). This has just become one of my favorite meals, and definitely one I will use over and over again. Thank you!

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  43. Leslie L.3/06/2012

    This recipe was great with a few changes. My children absolutely cannot stand anything that is too sweet. We added 2 granny smith apples for a little tartness and we only used a half bottle of bbq sauce. This was fantastic. Definitely making it again soon.

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  44. We have made this several times. When we make it, we use 2 boxes of Jiffy corn muffin mix (including egg), and add a can of creamed corn to the topping mix. This makes the topping a little moister, and gives it some texture. I also add some coarse ground pepper to the topping mixture, for color.
    I have pre-mixed a few bags of "guts" and frozen them. Still good, even 4 months later!

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  45. I know you don't update this blog anymore, Steph. In case you still read comments, I wanted to share with you that this dish is still a family favorite, years after discovering it here on your blog. We have since relocated to the Netherlands, where corn bread isn't really a thing. I got my hands on some corn bread mix, and I am preparing this dish for our Christmas dinner today. All of 's are excited to dig in once it's done.

    Our other constant favorite is your taco soup. We have it at least a couple times a month.

    Hope you're doing well. Merry Christmas!

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  46. I'm curious if this recipe will turn out well for me as I've never had luck trying to make cornbread in my crockpot. I've tried making cornbread with and without the lid and it never really cooks completely. And yes, I used the high temperature setting. The top browns okay, but the bottom is always a bit soggy.

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