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’m going to try this today would like to double it ..lots of mouths to feed lol..I assume double everything? Thoughts?
I would suggest doubling everything but I think the cooking time should be close the the same (and not doubled).
Thanks
what do you strain the liquid from? the crockpot?? that part of the instructions doesn’t make sense to me.
Yes, strain the liquid from the crock pot so it can be thickened.
This is probably a dumb question but what am I supposed to place over medium high heat in a small pot? Is it the chicken?
The sauce to thicken it.
Looks great. Can this be cooked in a pressure cooker thanks
I haven’t tried it but I think it should work just fine!
I would like to try this but my daughter can’t have alcohol. What else can I use instead of the alcohol
You could try apple juice however it will change the flavor.
What is a good non-alcoholic substitute for the bourbon?
Sounds great. I wonder if you could add mushrooms and reduce the chicken to reduce the calories.
This recipe looks delicious. Can’t wait to try it.
This recipe looks amazing I can’t wait to try it out!
Looks really delicious I will try .
The picture has green onions but the recipe does not call for them. Is this an over site? How much did you use and when do you put it in the recipe? Is it just a garnish?
They are just garnish and they are optional.
I made this for family and friends on Sunday. I cooked it all day, and used chicken breasts. Before I cooked it however, I cut the chicken into bite sized pieces to absorb the flavor; it turned out perfect. Thanks for the recipe!
I am completely new to cooking. I am looking for new dishes to learn to cook with my family. If bourbon is whiskey, is it ok to make for my family that includes a 2 year old?
Yes, you can serve this to children. During cooking with alcohol, whether rum or wine or beer or whiskey, the alcohol itself boils out, leaving the flavors behind. My kids love bourbon chicken and chicken marsala. Marsala is a kind of cooking wine. I have not tried this recipe, yet. We’ve only ever made both on the stove top. Crock pot is next!
This is my second time trying to make this. Last time it was too spicy, where did I go wrong? Which ingredient did I over do or maybe can leave out? Thanks Jenn
#notaspicyeater
You can leave out the chili flakes if you find they add too much heat for you.
Oh my goodness, this was awesome and flavorful! My husband and kids LOVED it. They were very complimentary. Thank you for the recipe. I will absolutely try others of yours.
I’m so glad your family loved it! :)
Just curious…I followed the recipe as shown…this is the second time making it (my husband made it last time) both times it came out not sweet at all and almost sour. I thought my husband did it wrong the first time but nope, I got the same result. Any idea why this happened. Also it looks more like shredded bbq then bourbin chicken. :(
It could be the brand of products you are using, I find it plenty sweet enough. If you’d prefer a sweeter dish, you can certainly add more brown sugar.
Someone was asking for a substitute for soy sauce… I use Liquid Coconut Amino. Healthy and tastes almost exactly like soy sauce. Hope this helps! :)
Thank you for sharing!
what are chili flakes and where do you find them?
Chili Flakes are also known as crushed red pepper and they can be found in the spice aisle.
Ugh, I thought it was chili powder and that’s what i added, not red pepper flakes. I wish that was made clear in the actual recipe, not buried in a million comments.
It is in the original recipe she posted.
It doesn’t say chili powder now does it – it says ‘crushed red chili flakes’. I make sure to READ the recipe and if I don’t know what something is I ask someone or ‘Google It’
I’ve actually just completed this recipe. I have the chopped thighs and sauce simmering in the crockpot now. In response to comments the sauce is too thin, if you add the 3 Tbl spoons of cornstarch mixed with 3 tbl spoons of water to low boiling sauce, problem solved.
I followed the recipe exactly. When I tasted it, it was bland imo. It definitely needs salt to be included in the recipe. 1/4 cup of soy sauce does not make up for no salt. I see many comments it’s too sweet. A little bit, I agree. It just seems like it’s missing something. No richness to the sauce. Just tastes bland to me. What can I add at this point to make it a little richer, but not sweeter?? Please help, I’m hungry lol…..
Did you use light soy sauce or regular? Light soy sauce doesn’t work in this recipe.
I’ve always enjoyed Bourbon chicken and we have been using our own recipe. We decided to try this (reluctantly, as it calls for so much chicken). Our fears were realized on the first bite. HORRIBLE! This is nothing like bourbon chicken. Look elsewhere for your recipe!
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy this recipe Josh, it’s one of our favorites!
You know… If you are fearful of trying a recipe for the first time, you could always try cutting the quantity in half… :)
Horrible is really a mean thing to say. I understand it isn’t like bourbon chicken – so that is helpful. How helpful is “HORRIBLE” Are your tastes the same as everyone else? Well they are saying it is pretty good so your review is – well why is it so mean and not helpful?
You could have said what qualities you found objectionable. Why did you even review it since you don’t seem to want to help people (by giving them helpful comments)?