Main Dishes
Slow Cooker Chicken Breast Mini Pita Sliders
Prep
20 minutes
Cook
1 hour 40 minutes
Yield
10 mini pita sliders
These Slow Cooker Chicken Breast Pita Sliders are the perfect, family-friendly sliders for an easy, summer meal.
In the summer months, I don’t love spending the sunny, beautiful weather indoors cooking. So I’m always looking for easy-to-make, delicious recipes that I can just throw in the Instant Pot in the morning and have ready to enjoy at the end of a long, busy day. Crockpot and Instant Pot meals are perfect for busy parents that are on-the-go, for easy meals to have ready after summer camp/work, and there are so many easy, nutritious meals you can make in your trusty pot like these Slow Cooker Chicken Breast Mini Pita Sliders.
❤️ Why You’ll Love Slow Cooker Chicken Breast Pita Sliders
- Healthy: Chicken is a healthy, lean protein source and it’s so good when slow cooked in the crockpot
- Versatile: You can totally make this juicy chicken in the crockpot and use it in other ways other than on a slider (see my ideas below)
- Family-Friendly: This recipe is one that the whole family will love. Once the chicken is cooked, the kids can get involved to build their own pita sliders
🍲 Ingredients
Chicken – Chicken is a lean, healthy protein that is so versatile. It’s one of the go-to protein sources in our house because it cooks so nicely on the BBQ, in the oven, in a pan, and in a slow cooker. For this recipe we have a juicy, slow cooker chicken breast that we’ve seasoned to perfection and it makes a flavorful chicken to use on sliders, tacos, or in bowls/salads.
Pickled Red Onions – Pickled red onions are so easy-to-make because you can quick pickle them which only takes a few minutes. This Pickled Onion Recipe only takes 5-minutes and takes only 5-ingredients to make. These are great for adding to sandwiches, salads, bowls, tacos, and so much more.
👩🍳 How to Make Slow Cooker Chicken Breast Sliders
For the pitas
- To a medium bowl add warm water and milk (temperature should be very warm to the touch but not too hot that you can’t hold a finger in the water for a few seconds).
- Whisk in the sugar first and then the yeast. Let sit for 5-10 minutes until it becomes frothy.
- Whisk in the olive oil and salt.
- Use a wooden spoon to stir in the flour and mix until a shaggy dough forms. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until the dough becomes more smooth and elastic.
- Put the dough back into the mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
- After the first rise, put the dough back onto a floured work surface and form the dough into a circle so you can divide it into 10 equal pieces. The dough might be sticky so feel free to wet your hands with water and dust the dough with flour if needed.
- Form the 10 pieces of dough into small circles and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Let rest covered with a tea towel for 1 more hour.
- After the second rise, roll or use your fingers to press each dough circle into 2 inch wide circles.
- Heat a cast iron or heavy-bottomed non-stick skillet over high heat and once hot (this may take 3-4 minutes) turn to medium heat. Place 3-4 rolled out mini pitas in the pan, leaving enough space between for them to cook. Cook for 1 minute 30 seconds and flip. Cook for 1 minutes 30 seconds more. Then, drizzle a little olive oil on the mini pitas (both sides). Cook for 1-2 more minutes, flipping every minute for a total of 4-5 minutes. The pitas should be a deep golden brown and puffed up. Repeat the cooking process until all the mini pitas are cooked.
For the chicken
- Add the chicken to the Instant Pot. To a small bowl add the salt, pepper, pressed garlic, dried oregano, lemon juice, cumin, yogurt, olive oil and chicken broth and whisk to combine. Pour over the chicken in the instant pot and close the lid (leave the vent in the ‘on / open’ position if you don’t have the clear instant pot lid).
- Press slow cook and set for 1.5 hours. Once the chicken is cooked through, shred the chicken in the juices and set aside to cool a bit.
To make the mini pita sliders
- Add the mini pitas to a platter and assemble by layering tzatziki on each mini pita followed by shredded chicken (make sure to use a fork to layer the chicken so you don’t bring all the juice with it), followed by pickled onions and fresh dill or fresh mint.
🗒 Tips and Tricks
- Make the pitas ahead of time! Make them a day ahead of serving this appetizer and store in an airtight container until ready to use.
- You can also make the pickled onions and/or tzatziki ahead of time too
- Don’t have an Instant Pot with a Slow Cooker setting? No problem! Make this in a regular slow cooker. Add the chicken into your pot, set it to low, and cook for about 3 hours until it reaches a 165F internal temperature
🗒 Variations
Here are some recipes that you can use the Slow Cooker Chicken Breast on if the sliders aren’t your vibe:
- Homemade CAVA Bowl Recipe with Instant Pot Chicken
- Vegan Taco Meat Nachos (swap out the vegan meat with chicken)
- Tofu Tacos (swap the tofu for chicken)
🗒 Best served with
👝 How to Store Leftovers
Store leftover chicken in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Assemble the sliders fresh when you’re ready to consume.
🤔 Common Questions
Absolutely! Slow cookers will cook all the contents. Just make sure you put meat in for long enough so it’s cooked through.
A slow cooker is great to slowly cook things to perfection. An Instant Pot has a multitude of different purposes. An Instant Pot uses steam under pressure to cook food and not everything turns out well in this type of cooking method. So the answer is, it really depends on what you are cooking!
Slow Cooker Chicken Breast Mini Pita Sliders
Ingredients
For the pitas
- 1 cups bread flour (or all purpose flour)
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 2 tbsp warm whole milk
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
For the chicken
- 450 g chicken breasts
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tbsp plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/3 cup chicken broth
For serving
Instructions
For the pitas
- To a medium bowl add warm water and milk (temperature should be very warm to the touch but not too hot that you can’t hold a finger in the water for a few seconds).
- Whisk in the sugar first and then the yeast. Let sit for 5-10 minutes until it becomes frothy.
- Whisk in the olive oil and salt.
- Use a wooden spoon to stir in the flour and mix until a shaggy dough forms. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until the dough becomes more smooth and elastic.
- Put the dough back into the mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
- After the first rise, put the dough back onto a floured work surface and form the dough into a circle so you can divide it into 10 equal pieces. The dough might be sticky so feel free to wet your hands with water and dust the dough with flour if needed.
- Form the 10 pieces of dough into small circles and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Let rest covered with a tea towel for 1 more hour.
- After the second rise, roll or use your fingers to press each dough circle into 2 inch wide circles.
- Heat a cast iron or heavy-bottomed non-stick skillet over high heat and once hot (this may take 3-4 minutes) turn to medium heat. Place 3-4 rolled out mini pitas in the pan, leaving enough space between for them to cook. Cook for 1 minute 30 seconds and flip. Cook for 1 minutes 30 seconds more. Then, drizzle a little olive oil on the mini pitas (both sides). Cook for 1-2 more minutes, flipping every minute for a total of 4-5 minutes. The pitas should be a deep golden brown and puffed up. Repeat the cooking process until all the mini pitas are cooked.
For the chicken
- Add the chicken to the Instant Pot. To a small bowl add the salt, pepper, pressed garlic, dried oregano, lemon juice, cumin, yogurt, olive oil and chicken broth and whisk to combine. Pour over the chicken in the instant pot and close the lid (leave the vent in the ‘on / open’ position if you don’t have the clear instant pot lid).
- Press slow cook and set for 1.5 hours. Once the chicken is cooked through, shred the chicken in the juices and set aside to cool a bit.
To make the mini pita sliders
- Add the mini pitas to a platter and assemble by layering tzatziki on each mini pita followed by shredded chicken (make sure to use a fork to layer the chicken so you don't bring all the juice with it), followed by pickled onions and fresh dill or fresh mint.
Video
Notes
- Make the pitas ahead of time! Make them a day ahead of serving this appetizer and store in an airtight container until ready to use.
- You can also make the pickled onions and/or tzatziki ahead of time too.
- If you have leftover chicken it’s delicious when enjoyed in our Homemade CAVA Bowl Recipe with Instant Pot Chicken
