These BBQ chicken bowls are loaded with so much goodness: shredded BBQ chicken, seasoned cubed sweet potatoes roasted until crisp, a simple coleslaw, and quick homemade dill pickles. They’re healthy and filling and surprisingly quick and easy. Whole30 and paleo, too.
Why This BBQ Chicken Is So Good!
- These paleo and Whole30 BBQ bowls are incredibly flavorful with seasoned sweet potatoes, cool and crunchy coleslaw, and tangy dill pickles. So filling and healthy and an amazing flavor combo!
- The homemade dill pickles are surprisingly simple, fast, and absolutely elevate this bowl to the next level!
- These BBQ chicken bowls with sweet potatoes and coleslaw are super easy to make thanks to an Instant Pot or slow cooker, but can easily be made without either one.
How To Make BBQ Chicken Bowls With Sweet Potatoes And Coleslaw:
- Preheat the oven to 425º F.
- For the sweet potatoes, toss the potatoes, chili powder, cinnamon, and avocado or refined coconut oils on a baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes. Stir them well before returning to the oven. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until they are browning on edges, but not too crunchy or crisp.
- Make BBQ chicken by combining all the ingredients in an Instant Pot (see notes for regular shredded chicken or if using a slow cooker). Seal and cook at High Pressure for 10 minutes. Quick-release when the time is up. Shred the chicken breasts with two forks or use a hand mixer on low speed. Turn on Sauté mode and heat for 5 minutes until the chicken is coated in sauce.
- While the sweet potatoes roast, combine all the pickle ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
- To make the coleslaw, mix all ingredients other than the coleslaw mix in a small bowl. Place the coleslaw mix in a medium bowl and pour the dressing over. Combine well, using your hands if desired.
- Assemble the bowls by dividing the sweet potatoes, BBQ chicken, and coleslaw evenly among 4 bowls. Top with a couple of pickle slices, and garnish with fresh chopped parsley if desired.
How To Make BBQ Chicken Without An Instant Pot
- To make your chicken in a Crockpot, combine all your BBQ chicken ingredients in the slow cooker. Cook covered on High for 3 hours or Low for 5 hours.
- To make BBQ chicken without a slow cooker or Instant Pot, shred the chicken breasts with two forks, then place in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cover with 3/4 cup of BBQ sauce and stir until chicken is heated through and the sauce is absorbed. Add more sauce if desired.
Top Tips For Making BBQ Chicken With Sweet Potatoes And Coleslaw
- Make sure to use Whole30-compliant barbecue sauce if you want true Whole30 BBQ bowls. My recipe is a great option if you want to make your own!
- When making the BBQ chicken, if you do not have Italian dressing, substitute 1 1/2 tablespoon oil, 1/2 tablespoon white or white wine vinegar, and a small pinch of Italian seasoning.
- You can substitute pickles bought from the store for the homemade ones (but I really, really recommend the homemade version). If you’re using store-bought pickles, use high-quality cold pickles, not the bright yellow sort from the aisles.
- You can store any leftover coleslaw mix to use in other dishes. Drain excess liquid and save for another use in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
More Delish And Healthy Recipes
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BBQ Chicken Bowls with Sweet Potatoes, Coleslaw, and Pickles
A healthy and filling bowl of BBQ chicken, sweet potatoes, coleslaw, and homemade dill pickles. Surprisingly simple and quick to make but packed full of flavor. Whole30 and paleo.
Ingredients
BBQ Chicken
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts about 1 1/4 pounds
- 3/4 cup Whole30 BBQ sauce
- 2 tablespoons Italian dressing See Note
- salt to taste
- or about 2 1/2 cups shredded BBQ chicken or pork
Sweet Potatoes
- 2 sweet potatoes peeled and cubed
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- dash of cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon avocado or refined coconut oil
Quick Dill Pickles:
- Sprig of fresh dill
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1/4 English cucumber sliced thin
- Pinch yellow mustard seeds
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup white or white wine vinegar
- 1/2 tablespoon salt
- OR 1/4 cup sliced cold dill pickles See Note
Coleslaw:
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 1/2 tablespoon white apple cider, or white wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons coconut aminos
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1 14- oz bag shredded coleslaw mix See Note
Garnish:
- Fresh chopped parsley
- Dry BBQ seasoning
Wine Pairings (NOT for Whole30!) – See Notes
- 2018 The Resident Zinfandel click to buy
- 2017 Solar Del Alma Malbec click to buy
- Epic Pursuit Rosé Wine Spritzer click to buy
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 425º F. Make sweet potatoes: On a baking sheet, toss all ingredients and roast for 20 m. After 20 minutes, stir well, then return to oven. Bake another 10-15 minutes or until browning on edges but not too crunchy or crisp.
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Make the pickles: While sweet potatoes roast, combine all pickle ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.
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Make BBQ chicken: Next, combine all ingredients in an Instant Pot. Seal and cook at High Pressure for 10 minutes. Quick release when time is up then shred chicken breasts with two forks or use a hand mixer on low speed. Turn on Sauté mode and heat for 5 minutes until chicken is coated in sauce. If you do not have an Instant Pot, see Note for regular shredded chicken or slow cooker directions.
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Make coleslaw: Mix all ingredients besides coleslaw mix in a small bowl. Place coleslaw mix in a medium bowl and pour dressing over. Combine well, using hands if desired.
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Assemble bowls: Divide sweet potatoes, BBQ chicken, and coleslaw evenly among 4 bowls. Top with a couple pickle slices. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley if desired.
Recipe Notes
- Cooking chicken in a Crockpot: Combine all your BBQ chicken ingredients in the slow cooker. Cook covered on High for 3 hours or Low for 5 hours.
- To make without a slow cooker or Instant Pot: Shred 2 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts with two forks, then place in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cover with 3/4 cup of BBQ sauce and stir until chicken is heated through and sauce is absorbed. Add more sauce if desired.
- Whole30: Make sure you are using Whole30-compliant BBQ sauce.
- If you don’t have Italian dressing for BBQ chicken: Substitute 1 1/2 tablespoon oil, 1/2 tablespoon white or white wine vinegar, and a small pinch of Italian seasoning.
- Using store-bought pickles instead of homemade: Use high-quality cold pickles, not the bright yellow sort from the aisles.
- To save extra coleslaw: Drain excess liquid and save for another use in an airtight container in the fridge up to 4 days.
-
Wine Pairings
NO wine on Whole30 — no exceptions. I recommend buying wine from Scout and Cellar, especially for lower carb or sugar and the health conscious. There’s no added sugar to these wines, and they’re all much lower in carbs, calories, and sugar. For me, there’s no headache or fogginess the next day!
This recipe has chicken, creamy barbecue, and sweet potato flavors, so you can get away with a variety of wine pairings. I recommend:
Fantastic recipe, thank you! This will now be one of my favorite Paleo recipes!
Great to hear!
Oh my goodness. This was sooooo yummy! Y’all won’t be disappointed. I hate sweet potatoes but I wanted to give it a try and oh my goodness this is the first time I can say I loved eating sweet potatoes. I even had seconds. I could eat this once a week for sure.
Those look finger-lickin’ delicious
I think I’ll try this today!
Do it!! It’s so tasty!
Hello –
I absolutely love and recommend your whole30 amd paleo recipes!
I want to let you know that all the pop ups now on your site are sadly making it difficult to even use on the phone and I find myself falling away from using the site. I also wasn’t able to fill out the contact form to share this with you.
Kindly,
Ann Opinion
What’s the best kind of BBQ sauce to use in your opinion?
A good smoky sauce is good here to balance out the sweetness of the potatoes, or a nice vinegar-based sauce for a little extra acid.
Super nummie! As everyone said… this would be great for mean prep! xo
Definitely a great meal prep option!
Really delicious, fast, and easy! Honestly I don’t really like sweet potato but with the flavours and textures in this .. you don’t even realize you’re eating it!
That’s awesome! It’s amazing how versatile sweet potatoes can be, especially when you use them in more savory dishes.
The potatoes are really good with the spice and cinnamon. Unfortunately the chicken was still a little raw after 10 minutes so starting instant pot again hopefully 5 more minutes will work.
It could be the weight of your chicken breasts that slowed down the instant pot time. The heavier the cut, the longer the cook time. I hope five more minutes worked for you!
How long would I need to cook pork for? (Instead of chicken)
About the same amount of time. Always make sure pork reaches a 145° internal temperature and you’re good to go!
do you think you could use plain yogourt instead of mayo for the coleslaw, i am not a fan of mayonnaise
I would think so yes!
This is hands down my favorite whole30 meal – I could eat this every day and have been for the last couple of weeks!
I like to make my sweet potatoes in the air fryer so they are nice and crispy. I make this for lunch and just toss my pre cooked sweet potatoes in the air fryer for a few minutes and lunch is ready. This meal is one that definitely helps me stay on track because it does not feel like a whole30 meal.
These were out of this world. DO NOT SKIMP ON THE PICKLES. I normally like a tangier coleslaw, but this one really balanced out the acid in the other parts. We added a bag of baby carrots and a sliced onion to the potatoes to stretch the veggies a little further in our fam. All around hit and we will be making this again!
I made this for work lunch prep. SO delish. I ended up scrapping the coleslaw only because, honestly, it was too much food. I like just being able to pop it in the microwave and eat. The spice on those sweet potatoes was the BOMB. The cinnamon makes it. I’ll be making this again soon.
I’m so glad you loved it! Definitely great for meal prep.
Who is the magical woman creating these recipes? This meal came out perfect! I’ve tried the Italian sausage breakfast casserole and that came out so friggin’ good! I love the photos and can’t wait to try more recipes.
Oh my gosh, thank you so much! Definitely let me know what other recipes you love!
This was really delicious! I loved the spices on the sweet potatoes, I cut them small and they were done in 20 minutes! I really liked using the Instant Pot for the chicken. My coleslaw dressing was mayo, vinegar, lemon juice, a little sugar, salt and pepper. I didn’t make the pickles but they look delicious. Thanks for a great recipe, will make again for sure!
sounds great!
Made this tonight and it was amazing! My favorite whole30 recipe so far. I didn’t have time to make my own bbq sauce so I used Tessemae’s bbq sauce that’s compliant.
Thanks for the tip! I’m glad you loved it!
This is definitely one of my favorite Whole 30 recipes! Everything was amazing! I made my own compliant smoky paprika BBQ sauce and MUCH better than store bought. I’m addicted to the pickles too now! I used my slow cooker the night before and then prepped the rest the next morning. Even my non compliant friend loved it all!
This recipe was DELICIOUS!! I am finishing up my first round of Whole30 and your recipes have been a staple for me! Everything I have tried had been absolutely wonderful and I will continue trying more of your recipes..I am beyond happy that I found your website!!
Wondering what I could have with this instead of sweet potatoes? We are not a sweet potato household ?
Roasted white potatoes would also be delish.
I made these last night. So delicious! I used The New Primal’s Noble BBQ sauce. It all came out great. Those crispy sweet potatoes were perfect. Everything went together so well.