Slow-cooked BBQ-ish chicken

Ah, the joys of having a slow-cooker! Just throw some stuff in the pot, wait a few hours, and voila! Dinner!

Here was the plan: chicken slow-cooked in BBQ sauce with some vegetables.

Here was the problem: no BBQ sauce handy. I know, I know... I should lose my guy badge for being caught without some sweet smoky BBQ goodness, and I really have no defense.

So, I decided to whip up something approximating BBQ, using roughly:

1/4 cup ketchup
4 Tbsp "pizza sauce" (canned tomato sauce, tomato paste, garlic powder, herbs)
3 Tbsp red wine
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp truffle oil
a few shakes of liquid smoke
dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp mustard seeds

It turned out a little liquidy, but flavorful. Not exactly something you'd find in Memphis, but a half-cousin perhaps.

Anyway, this went into the slow-cooker with:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed (still frozen, yay procrastination!)
3 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 medium white onion, chopped

4 hours on high and BAM!

Adequacy.

It wasn't bad, but not a result I'd aim for in the future. The sauce ended up tasting more like Sloppy Joe sauce than BBQ, and it actually went quite well with the sweet potatoes and onions, but the chicken sort of blanded everything out. A marinade was probably called for here, or "pulling" the chicken so that the sauce could permeate every fiber -- but both of those would have taken more time.