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
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- Crockpot Chicken Tacos – uber flavorful
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- 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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Just wondering if you knew what the individual serving size would be? Also at the top of the recipe it says it serves 8 but in the comments it says it serves 6? Thanks. I can’t wait to try this out!!!
Hi Dawn, this recipe makes 6 servings. I’ve updated the error! :)
It may be that my slow cooker settings are off but I decided to disregard the ” 6 to 8 hours ” on low and cooked it for 5 on low – still too much – chicken was overdone and stringy. Next time I’ll try 4 but I suspect that 3:30 on low might be enough. After I deboned the chicken thighs, I threw the bones in with the chicken and cooked them all. – Pretty good !
Great idea to add the bones for extra flavor. Thanks for your feedback on the cooking time.
I thought it was pretty good, but would be even better if it was a little sweeter! I wish I would have caught the recipe before you made it less sweet! Maybe next time I’ll add in more honey or sugar. Overall, still pretty good! Thanks!
Can I cut the chicken into bite size pieces prior to cooking
I’m sure that would work.
Hi in the bourbon chicken recipe is the bourbon a jar of sauce or is it the alcohol version ?
It is alcohol.
Great recipe, full of flavor. Read all the comments and made a few changes. Used hot water to make sauce, which will aid in the blending of the brown sugar and honey with the rest of the ingredients. Removed chicken after 3 hours of slow cooking and cut into bite sized pieces, then added back to sauce for the remainder of the cooking time. This helps to keep the chicken from shredding. Also added a cup of frozen mixed veggies 45 minutes before completion for texture contrast and color. Not to say any of these extra steps are necessary, but as a chemistry junkie, I can’t help myself.
Thank you for sharing Warren, I’ll have to try your suggestion of cutting the chicken at the 3 hour mark. So glad you enjoyed it!
I must have done something wrong when making this because it tasted awful! Hubby and I couldn’t even eat it… We ended up dumping the whole thing out. :-/
How disappointing, we love this recipe. Did you change or substitute any ingredients?
The flavor is amazing, and it is so easy to make. However, there is not enough liquid to make it a dish I could serve over rice. I would double the sauce so that I had enough sauce for it to be a dish where people could choose the amount of sauce they wanted with their dish. otherwise…a fantastic recipe!
Thank you Lynne!
Can this recipe be made without the ginger? I am allergic to ginger but the recipe sounds amazing!!!
You can leave out the ginger however this will change the flavor of the dish as ginger is a large part of the flavor profile. (I have read online that if you can’t have ginger you may like to add a tiny bit of lemon zest and up the chili flake a little bit. I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure).
This was good except I’d recommend cutting the chicken before you cook it. When I did it after, it was so moist and tender that it shredded which is fine, but with the thick sauce, it just isn’t what I was going for. Will try different next time because the sauce is amazing!!
So glad you enjoyed this Ashley!
Hi Holly,
I am making this now and was wondering if I should stir it occasionally or just leave it be for the 6 to 7 hours it is cooking? I have it on low and started it a few hours ago. Thanks!
I don’t stir it while it’s cooking. The slow cooker is intended for recipes to cook without being the lid opened. :)
Hi Holly!
I’ve made this recipe before and my husband and I LOVED it!! I just can’t remember whether the chicken I used was frozen or thawed (I’m not sure if it will make a difference). Thanks for your help, I can’t wait to make it again!
Thanks Alyssa!
I made this last night and it was so delicious. My whole family loved it. No leftovers!
I’m so glad your family loved this dish Renee! :)
Could the chicken be cut before it’s cooked? I like the texture better.
I have only made this recipe as written. While I think it should work just fine, it may not soak up the sauce as well.
Second time I have made this. It is awesome! This time I made it with pork chops, to die for. Keep up the great recipes.
Pork Chops would be great with this sauce! Thank you for sharing!
I really love this post. it makes me think back to my childhood. on the occasions we had a family night out growing up we would usually go to a fantastic buffet that served the best bourbon chicken I’d ever had. so I’m really happy to have a recipe to make it at home for my own family. i especially love that the ingredients are all things that i have on hand in my kitchen and seems to be no fuss. can’t wait to make this on my own.
Those are some of the best memories!
I would like to try this recipe with a split chicken, would it be the same as 3 boneless thighs? Or should I add more to make it a little more saucey, so it’ll come out moist? I will be cooking it in my crockpot.
I think it should be pretty close. This recipe does make quite a bit of sauce. You may need a little bit less cornstarch.
What can be substituted for the bourbon if I don’t have that?
I have only made this recipe as written.
Holly I was wondering if you suggest a certain brand of bourbon? My husband and I love bourbon chicken and I can’t wait to make this! Thanks
Any brand will work, I usually choose whatever is least expensive.
I just made this. Instead of white rice I used extra wide egg noodles. It came out great! The family loves it. No leftovers.
I’m so glad your family loved this!
I just noticed u said not to use light soy sauce . I didn’t read that part. I usually go right to the recipe. A suggestion would be to say in the recipe ” use regular soy sauce not light”. Hopefully the dinner will be ok. It’s ready in an hour. : )
Thank you for the suggestion. I hope your dish was still delicious!