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!
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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I noticed not all your ingredients are called out for this recipe. You aren’t using onions, green onions or bell peppers? I noticed something green in the picture, but nothing green called out in your recipe.
I garnished with a few sliced green onions before serving.
Where would I find bourbon sauce?
Bourbon is a type of American Whisky that is sold with other alcohol.
Love ur recipes
Thank you Linda!
Any ideas how to make this gluten free?
Unfortunately I don’t follow a gluten free lifestyle so I can’t say for sure. Hopefully another reader will have a suggestion for you.
Hi, I have celiac disease and the only thing I see here to be really watchful of is the soy sauce. Everything else seems fine, as long as you purchase PURE products (ie, 100% cornstarch, etc) Check your labels. I can’t wait to try this one!
Agree with Jessica. I only see the soy sauce to be an issue and you can use Coconut Aminos to replace that. I am enjoying it this evening – Gluten free!
I am glad I read all the reviews. At 73 and living alone I am always looking for meals I can freeze. Thanks Don. Bourbon-chicken, when available, is a favorite meal I have when taken out to eat. Now it will take its turn with the several dishes I prepare to last each month for my main meals. Thank you Holly.
You’re welcome Gail! Enjoy!!
This is such a great recipe! I mix one pound each of sliced shitake and portebello mushrooms to the mix. Near the finish, I add diced and lightly fried green onions, the whole onion. I don’t remove the meat to thicken the sauce. I dip out a half cup of sauce, then thicken with flour/cornstarch, add back to pot. No mess here. You can also make a slurry of corn starch/water/milk/cream and add to the whole mix in the pot. Thickens just fine, be careful you don’t thicken too much! Um, if’n you do, just add more bourbon!!
This stuff just vanishes! You can freeze leftovers (if you’re lucky enough to have any) in a boil n bag. Ready for more, just pop in a pot of boiling water with instant rice bag and you are set in ten minutes! Enjoy!
At kind of bourbon is used??
cheap!
have you used bone-in chicken?
I have used bone-in chicken in similar recipes and it works wonderfully!
What size crockpot did you use for this? I have a 6qt and a 4qt. 6/7 hours on low will yield different results depending on which one you use.
I have made this successfully in a 4qt or 6qt slow cooker, most often in my 6qt.
I made it with whole skinless chicken thighs. There were a few doubtfuls in the house. It was really delicious! Thanks for the recipe. I’m making it again next week, but I’m going to add some chopped onions, peppers and carrots etc and serve it with rice.
So glad your family enjoyed it Rachel!
This recipe looks absolutely tasty and fabulous. Cannot wait to try…I think it will be great with the chicken thighs. Much more tender meat..
Other than chicken broth, any other suggestions for apple juice substitute? I don’t drink apple juice nd would hate to buy it for the small amount required for the recipe. Thanks!
I usually just buy the individual apple juice bottles from a convenience store
I made this not long ago but substituted chicken stock for bourbon and I was out of rice so I made grits instead. It turned out really well. Even my picky 12 year old son asked for seconds.
My chicken shredded after low 6 hours :( but overall it was so delicious!!!!
Has anyone ever made this recipe with chicken breast???
Just made this tonight for dinner. It was yummy, kid and adult approved. The kids had it over pasta since the rice wasn’t ready yet and they were “starving” and they enjoyed it. We ate it over brown rice and it was delicious, the sweetness with the brown rice was great. I forgot to add the garlic at the end but it still tasted good, although I can see how a bit more garlic and pepper at the end would be even better next time.
The end part seems like an awful lot of work to me. Would there be any way of thickening this without having to remove the chicken and thicken the sauce in a different pot. Yikes! So messy, all the stick sauce all over your hands while you are chopping up the chicken.
It’s very simple at the end. My hands weren’t sticky as the chicken was hot so I used utensils to handle it (and it was literally fall apart tender, you can cut it with a spoon).
Hi this sounds really good, but do you have any suggestions for soy substitute? I’m just asking due to family allergies. Thank you
I am not sure what the sub for soy would be as I have only made it as written. You may be able to find a suitable substitute using google.
I’m not sure what allergies you are speaking of. Gluten sensitivity can usually use Tamari sauce. Braggs Amino Acids might be another source for that taste. You can look online to see if they avoid your particular allergies.
If you have a soy allergy try coconut aminos. If you have a gluten allergy try GF soy (also called Tamari).
I tried it and it was yummy. I am not sure why mine wasn’t as dark or thick as yours. Any suggestions would be great. FYI I used 3 pounds of chicken breast 4 hours on low and an hour on high. They were tender and moist
Could’ve possibly been the brand of your items or even my lighting that would make it look different. As far as thickness, your chicken may have produced more juice. You could always up the cornstarch if needed. Hope that helps! :)
Sup Labbie!
Just wanted to let you know this is one of my staples dishes. Its low in fat, and high in protein -and flavour!
:) We love it too Allen! So happy to see you’ve popped by :D
Keep the recipes coming.