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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Can you use any type of whiskey?
Great recipe! I made this in a pressure cooker (7 minutes for super tender chicken thighs!), pulled out the chicken, and then cooked down the sauce. Next time, to adapt the recipe better for a pressure cooker, I would omit the 1/4 water because the chicken gives off plenty of fluid.
I used Pearl River Superior Dark Soy Sauce (Mushroom flavor), and irish whiskey because I had run out of bourbon…I guess that makes it Whiskey Chicken. Ha ha.
Super easy and super delicious. Thanks for a tasty recipe!
Ooh! 7 minutes cooking time? That is awesome- and proof you truly can have a homemade meal on the table in no time!
I made this a couple of days ago and we loved it! I didn’t have b/s thighs on hand but did have two huge leg/thigh chicken quarters. I skinned them and put them in the pot. I needed extra chicken so I added 3 b/s breasts (not my favorite, but they were free) and put them on top of the legs and thighs. I took the breasts out after about 3-1/2 hours on low, they were perfect. I cooked the rest for another few hours. I boned and shredded all the chicken Ned put it into the thickened sauce. My husband and I loved it!
I”m so glad you loved it! I bet the bone in chicken was great in this recipe!
Just tried this tonight and I loved it. We replaced the Bourbon with some Fireball Cinnamon Whisky and that added a nice (different) flavor to it. She said next time she wants me to try adding a little pineapple to it. We just love taking a great recipe like this, using it as a base, and tweaking it just to make it a little different each time.
Ohhh what a fun twist!! I agree, I love swapping up certain ingredients and changing flavors after I’ve tried a dish once!!
Hi! I’m thinking about making this soon (it looks and sounds yum). Just wondering if there’s a reason not to cut up the chicken before cookin? Thanks!
Smaller pieces of chicken will cook quicker so I prefer to chop after it has cooked.
You can substitute the soy with coconut aminos and use arrow root powder instead of corn starch.
Just made this recipe for about the 5th time, but this time with thin sliced beef. Still delicious, still one of my favourites! Now poking through all your other recipes here, definitely going to try some others also. Thanks!
Yummy! I’ll have to try it with thin beef, what a great way to change things up!
Just finished getting this in the crockpot, but used frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts due to hubby’s aversion to dark meat & am looking forward to having it tonight. One tip I discovered a while back for easily shredding chicken – remove boneless chicken pieces from crock pot & put in bowl of stand mixer; using flat beater, turn on low for a minute or two to quickly shred chicken, then pop back into crockpot & mix back into sauce. Quick & easy peasy!
This is sooo brilliant and delicious! I have been looking for a good bourbon chicken for long..finally found it!
Thanks for a gorgeous recipe.. Sharing on my Fb blog page :)
Thank you for sharing! :)
This is delicious and super-easy to make. I’m quite shocked at some of the idiotic comments of this article. Honestly, some people need absolute hand-holding, don’t they??? I wonder how they manage their daily lives?!
Anyway, this recipe is on the freezer favourites list at our place now. Thanks so much!
I’m so glad you loved this as much as we did!
Ha! Thanks for the giggle this morning!
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who feels that way. I guess not everyone learned to cook the way I did…watching mom in the kitchen and tweaking recipes to suit your taste as you go along.
I’m with you on that one Beth!! Some people just show their stupidity / naivety, call it what you like, in their comments duh!!
Just discovered crock pot cooking. This recipe was so easy…and it turned out great! I stuck to the recipe exactly. I’m steaming rice to go with it. Yum!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Amy! I love crock pot cooking! :)
Do you think it would be ok if I use some kind of wine instead of bourbon? I don’t have bourbon in my house and wouldn’t want to buy a bottle to only use this small amount. I realize the taste will be different, but what exactly does the bourbon do, just flavor or tenderizing or anything else?
It would change the flavor but if you do try wine I would suggest white wine (not red).
Can I prepare the sauce the evening before, keep it in the fridge overnight and simply pour it on the chicken in the crockpot in the morning before heading to work? Or does it need to be prepared right before putting it in the crockpot?Thanks. Looking forward to this recipe.
You can absolutely prepare the sauce the night before. I’d just be sure to give it a good stir before pouring it on to make sure it hasn’t separated at all.
What can we use instead of bourbon…..any suggestions…..due to health concerns , some our family can not use alcohol….even a small amt
If I wanted to add some veggies to this.. I’m thinking onions, green peppers and maybe some sliced carrots, would you recommend adding them at start or later on? Thanks.
The onions could be added early on but I think the green peppers would get too soft so I’d add them with about 45 minutes left.
First of all, this recipe looks delicious; it’s a bit more complex than I like (I’m lazy) but it is certainly tempting me to try it. If I do I’ll pop back in and give the results.
But mainly I wanted to say, after having read all the comments (it’s a compulsive thing, I can’t help it), I just wanted to say that, Holly, based on what I’ve seen here, you’re either an incredibly patient, kind, and even-keeled individual, or you’re a robot. Well done to you for providing some excellent customer service here!
Aww, thank you Elayne. :) You are so sweet. (I’m not a robot LOL, but sometimes I feel like one). I hope you enjoy this recipe, I look forward to your feedback.
Have a great day!
Yes I agree a zillion. Percent. You are so patient and take the take to respond to everyone. Thanks so much. I am going to make this this week for sure.
Aww, thank you Lisa! I love and appreciate everyone who stops by to leave a comment!
I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we do!
Found this recipe via Pinterest and made it for dinner tonight. My husband and I loved it! Thanks for the great meal
Thank you for stopping by! I’m so glad your family enjoyed it Tarah! :)
Could the soy sauce be substituted with teriyaki sauce? Soy sauce always seems so salty to me.
I haven’t tried it and although it would change the flavor, I’m sure it would work.
I didn’t think it was that great, but my Filipino husband loved it. Hint: Make LOTS of rice to absorb the sauce.
This was amazing, my husband told me I need to make this onice a week! Thank you!
I’m so glad he loved it Becky! :)