Crock Pot Bourbon Chicken is easy and delicious! Tender juicy chicken is cooked in a rich bourbon ginger sauce for a delicious meal. The whole family will love it. Serve it over rice, with a side of steamed broccoli, or inside some dinner rolls for a delicious bourbon chicken sandwich!
This Crock Pot bourbon chicken recipe takes all the work out of making dinner, making it perfect for busy weeknights. We love coming home to fall-apart, flavorful and tender chicken. It’s great just about any way you serve it!
Bourbon Chicken
Bourbon chicken received its name because it was created by a Chinese cook who worked in a restaurant on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Regardless of the name or how it came to be, this dish is absolutely delicious! This recipe creates a sweet and tender chicken that is perfect served over rice and it’s easy to make at home in the slow cooker!
The bourbon chicken sauce takes just a few minutes of prep the marinade and then it simmers in the slow cooker all day! The result is insanely tender chicken with a sweet Asian inspired sauce and lots of flavor.
How To Make Bourbon Chicken
To make this Crock Pot bourbon chicken:
- Combine sauce ingredients together and pour over chicken thighs.
- Turn the Slow Cooker to HIGH for 3 hours or LOW for 6-7 hours.
- Shred the chicken and create a cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce.
A few notes about this recipe… this dish is sweet as Bourbon chicken is a sweet dish (similar to sweet and sour). Do not use light soy sauce, the results and flavor are not the same. Chicken thighs are best in this recipe as they won’t dry out like slow cooked chicken breasts sometimes do!
5+ Slow Cooker Chicken Recipes You NEED in Your Life
- Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings – a classic!
- Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken – sweet and savory
- Crockpot Chicken Tacos – uber flavorful
- Slow Cooker Whole Chicken & Gravy – great for entertaining!
- Slow Cooker Chicken Chili – so easy
- Crock Pot BBQ Chicken – juicy shredded chicken!
Did you enjoy this Crock Pot Bourbon Chicken? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Crock Pot Bourbon Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- ¼ cup sliced green onions or more to taste
Sauce
- ½ teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ⅓ cup apple juice
- 1 ½ tablespoons honey
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup Bourbon
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Mix all sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
- Place chicken in slow cooker, pour sauce over top. Cover and cook on low 6-7 hours or on high 3 hours.
- Remove chicken and chop into bite sized pieces and cover to keep warm.
- Meanwhile, combine 3 tablespoons water with cornstarch. Turn slow cooker up to high. Whisk cornstarch slurry into the sauce. Cover and allow to thicken, stirring occasionally (about 10 minutes). Stir chicken back into the sauce and add in green onions.
- Serve over rice.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner
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Another winning recipe that the whole family loves!!
This recipe is soooo soooo good. This time I’m doing on stove (last time crock pot) I’m running short on time so hopefully it will be ok. Not sure why it won’t. Flavor is amazing!! My mother Even Loved it and she is an excellent cook
I added twice the amount of ginger, crushed red pepper, and garlic. I gently shredded the chicken and put it over brown rice! It was excellent!
Simple and delicious. I substituted a combination of apple juice and vanilla for the bourbon ( I googled it) as I didn’t have any and everyone loved it. I’ve made a few of your recipes now and so far so good!
can I put in frozen thighs in crockpot? if so, cooking time would be what?
Many readers have successfully used frozen chicken breasts in the slow cooker. I personally thaw them first in cold water in the sink. Let us know how it works out for you!
I accidentally bought boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of thighs. I then cut it up into bite size pieces. Would still cook on low for 6 – 7 hours? Remove chicken and then add slurry to thicken?
Chicken breasts can dry out faster in the slow cooker so you may want to reduce the cooking time to 5-6 hours on low. You will want to make sure it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F. Yes, we remove the chicken, setting aside to keep warm, while thickening the sauce with a slurry. Enjoy!
My first time making and I made the recipe exactly as it states. It wasn’t horrible but didn’t have much flavor. It smelled so good while cooking and with all the ingredients, I definitely was expecting more flavor.
Thanks for trying our recipe, Jill.
I’m surprised you didn’t offer up some suggestions to make the recipe more favorable? Instead of just saying thanks for trying this recipe.
Maybe you didn’t have any. I always read the reviews and go with some of your readers suggestions. ato me it makes a huge difference.
Hi LuAnn, we do appreciate you trying your recipe. If there is anything specific we can help you with we would be happy to! In general, you could swap the soy sauce for dark soy sauce for more umami flavor, or swap the honey with maple syrup if you were looking for something sweeter. You could also simmer the sauce in a sauce pan to reduce the sauce further and concentrate the flavor more. Depending on what you were looking for there are definitely some options to try.
This is such an easy and delicious recipe. My family loved it!
Really good just as in the recipe listed.
I usually love your recipes, but this one was not my favorite (there’s always a chance I messed things up). It was very mushy and lacked flavor. It’s possible I chopped the chicken too much vs. a coarse chop. I really thought with all the great ingredients in the sauce that it would be delicious, but it was just ok. I will keep using your site though because I really do usually love your recipes!
I’m sorry you didn’t love this recipe Robyn, thank you for trying it and for your feedback.
What can be substituted for bourbon if you are sober
You can replace it with apple juice, although it’ll change the flavor slightly.
the alcohol will cook off…one of the tiny bottles would be enough for flavor but if it’s the temptation that’s the issue then a substitute is understandable. I have actually thought of using Jack Daniels oak smoking chips found near the charcoal at stores to make a liquid flavoring by steeping them in boiling water and then straining to see if that would work.
Can you freeze this recipe? Looks delicious.. but my family is hit or miss if they can all sit down and eat dinner. Trying to only make meals that the leftovers can be frozen to limit waste. Hoping this is a candidate!
Yes, this recipe freezes well.
I am a hard sell when it comes to crock pot recipes. They usually either lack flavor, the meat is dry or rubbery, or it has a brick of cream cheese in it.
This one is a winner! The whole family approved- even the picky ones.
Awesome!!!