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Best Bourbon Chicken is juicy, tender chicken thighs cut into pieces simmered in a sweet, brown sugar glaze that will melt in your mouth. Rich in flavor and served over rice for a complete meal!
Easy to prepare and ready in minutes! For more quick chicken recipes try these Creamy Skillet Chicken Cacciatore, Slow Cooker General Tso’s Chicken or One Pan Honey Mustard Chicken and Veggies.
Bourbon Chicken
Need a simple dish that is going to be flavorful and demand attention?! This is it!
You will only see clean plates at your table after serving up some bourbon chicken.
My kids go crazy over this sweet, sticky chicken that tastes AMAZING!
With a few simple ingredients you can come up with a deliciously tasting, tried and true recipe that everyone will love.
The chicken is so tender and juicy and the glaze is rich in flavor creating the perfect combination.
You can’t go wrong with this bourbon chicken that your family is going to love!
What is bourbon chicken
Bourbon chicken is a dish named after Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana and for the bourbon whiskey ingredient.
The dish is commonly found at Cajun-themed and Chinese restaurants.
The recipe includes soy sauce, brown sugar, and bourbon whiskey in the base, and the chicken is marinated in this sauce.
So simple to make and everyone will be asking for more!
What you need to make bourbon chicken
Think of a rich, thick, sauce with a sweet and sticky consistency all covering bites of chicken!
It is a masterpiece in the making. So simple to make and comes together in minutes.
All the ingredients are most you already have in your pantry and they are ready to go with one bowl whisked together.
I love how easy this recipe is and how much my family craves it on a weekly basis.
- Chicken thighs: make this meat extra tender and juicy when simmered in the glaze.
- Olive oil: adding extra flavor when cooking your chicken.
- Bourbon: rich in flavor and cooks out when simmered with the glaze.
- Soy Sauce: brings added flavor and a pinch of salty taste.
- Brown Sugar: adds to the sweetness.
- Garlic Cloves: a hint of
- Cornstarch: coats the chicken living it a little crispy on the outside of the chicken.
- Water: makes it a runny sauce.
- Sliced Green Onions: garnished on top!
How to cook bourbon chicken
Simple ingredients that make a flavorful meal. It is a tried and true recipes that is a favorite!
Only a few items that you need to make this meal fantastic!
One skillet, two bowls and a side dish! So simple and easy to make on a busy weeknight.
When cooking your chicken make sure it reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
The sauce comes together quickly and smoothly. It has a thick, sticky consistency that will cover all of your chicken.
Make sure to watch over your chicken as it is cooking with the sauce that it does not burn.
Just a few minutes of simmering and you have a main meal! Add rice, green beans or asparagus.
- Cook you chicken: In a medium sized skillet over medium high heat add the olive oil and chicken. Cook until brown and no longer pink.
- Whisk together sauce: In a small bowl whisk together bourbon, soy sauce, brown sugar, and garlic. Whisk together cornstarch and water and add to the sauce.
- Combine chicken and sauce in a skillet: Pour the sauce over the chicken and simmer for 3-4 minutes until the sauce thickens up.
- Make it a complete meal: Serve over rice and garnish with chopped green onions if desired.
Tips for making bourbon chicken
This bourbon chicken is all about flavor and tender, juicy chicken.
There is not a lot to change with the recipe and ingredients but you will be thanking me after you make it!
Enjoy your bourbon chicken soon!
- I use chicken thighs but you are welcome to use chicken breast. This will help cut down on the fat content too. Chicken thighs are little more juicer though.
- If you don’t have bourbon, whiskey, brandy or even scotch will work in place of it.
- The alcohol from the bourbon does evaporate completely while cooking. It is safe for children to eat.
- If you prefer not to use alcohol substitute the bourbon for apple cider
- To make a thicker glaze, dip your chicken in a beaten egg and roll into flour. Then deep fry it for a crispier chicken.
- If you love a little heat, add some red pepper flakes, sriracha sauce or paprika to the glaze when whisking.
Is there bourbon in bourbon chicken?
Yes! Bourbon brings out the rich, flavor in the glaze. It adds so much to this chicken and gives it most of its flavor.
As the glaze is simmering, the alcohol from the bourbon will begin to reduce and over a few minutes it does evaporate.
My kids and I eat this quite often and it is safe for all of us.
If you are worried about the alcohol just substitute it for apple cider. You will still have a great taste and flavor over this chicken.
Looking for more chicken recipes? Here are some!
We love chicken in our home!
These are more tried and true recipes that are simple to make and turn out great for busy weeknight meals.
- Jerk Chicken
- Chili Lime Chicken Wings
- Grilled Honey Balsamic Chicken
- Glazed Lemon Honey Garlic Chicken
- Sheet Pan Teriyaki Chicken with Vegetables
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Bourbon Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken thighs or breasts cut into one inch pieces
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 cup bourbon*
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
- sliced green onions for garnish
Instructions
- In a medium sized skillet over medium high heat add the olive oil and chicken. Cook until brown and no longer pink.
- In a small bowl whisk together bourbon, soy sauce, brown sugar, and garlic. Whisk together cornstarch and water and add to the sauce.
- Pour the sauce over the chicken and simmer for 3-4 minutes until the sauce thickens up. Serve over rice and garnish with chopped green onions if desired.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Just made half of this recipe and scratched my head if I accidentally put the double amount of soy sauce in. But I’m confident I put only 1/4 cup with my half pound chicken.
Had to add a lot of sugar and some vinegar near the end of glazing to rescue the dish but even mixed with plain white rice it’s veeerrrry salty.
Way, way too salty. It went straight into the garbage. Couldn’t even thin out the salt with extra cornstarch and water. Sprinkling the chicken first with salt was overkill. Then it floats in pure sodium from the soy sauce. A regretful waste of food.
Can we use low sodium soy sauce? I didn’t see where salt is supposed to be sprinkled on chicken in these directions. I can see how salty this could be if extra salt is added.
Of course! Low sodium soy sauce can definitely be used.
I made this tonight for dinner, but used the sauce quantities for the crockpot version because we wanted more sauce than the skillet version. It was amazing!!! I was a little concerned because of all the comments saying it was too salty. It wasn’t. It was perfect. But then again, I have 19 different kinds of salt in my pantry, maybe I’m immune lol.
Too salty to the point of being inedible. Nasty and thrown away! If low sodium soy sauce should have been used (as mentioned in the comments), this should have been stated somewhere – we cook Chinese dishes with regular soy sauce all the time without issue. Also, many techniques, like the cornstarch/water ratio and adding it to sauce before sauce was heated (among other things) made this recipe not make sense. Chicken was very overcooked as well. I highly recommend trying a different recipe!!!
What bourbon did you use?
I made a double batch. I had to adapt the recipe as I lacked the chicken, oil, soy sauce, brown sugar, cloves, cornstarch, and green onions. I’m going to be honest, the consistency wasn’t what I expected, and I had to serve it in a glass, but it turned out surprisingly well! I loved it and I’m feeling awesome right about now.
Hank I think you may have just drank a glass of bourbon 🙂
Tasty recipe. What I like most is that it only uses ingredients that I always have on hand; some of the other internet recipes call for things like apple juice, which requires a trip to the store, and then the remainder sits in the fridge for months because I only need less than a cup.
I like a lot of sauce, so I found this made enough for only about 1 1/2 servings, so scale it accordingly.
A note on the alcohol: if you’re worried about it, alcohol *never* evaporates completely after you mix it with water. Water & alcohol form a new substance with a boiling point somewhere in between, so they evaporate together. If you want zero alcohol, you’d need to simmer the bourbon separately before adding the water.
Delicious and easy however this recipe does not make eight servings; possibly too large servings or three regular sized servings at best.
Inedible. Way too salty. I mean stupidly salty. Followed recipe and we both double and triple checked and had to throw it all in the trash.
Did you use regular soy sauce or low sodium? Always use low sodium for cooking.
Yes, quite an easy mistake to make, if you’re new to chinese cooking.
Did you use low sodium soy sauce? Never cook with regular. In small dipping quantities regular is fine, but you’ll end up with way too salty dishes otherwise.
The burbon chicken sounds really good is their any crock pot instructions for it
Yes! Make your sauce with all of the ingredients EXCEPT for the cornstarch and water. Add the chicken to the crockpot and pour sauce over the chicken. Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours. Once it is done cooking, add in the cornstarch and water to thicken the sauce. Serve over rice.
Should probably brown the chicken first.
Please, make it first normal — not crockpot, then do it crockpot. You’ll find that you probably like it so much more. Or, we tried CP recipes first, then we realized that the taste isn’t always as good as doing it in a Wok or on the skillet.
Very good!
Family loved it, easy quick meal.
Loved it! My hubby said “Bomb Ass Delicious!” lol it was a little salty but for a first try it was tasty good. Next time I will use the low sodium soy sauce, half cup of water and 3 teaspoons of corn starch.
(I 2x the recipe)
This was way to salty from the soy sauce. If I made it again, it would be with a lot less soy sauce. It was also my mistake for not reading all the comments about the saltiness. I also like the suggestion about aminos, I may try that too, but again much less.
Good recipe,the only thing I would do the next time I make this is to use half the soy sauce and add water 1/4 cup.
Yes, definitely! It was wayyyyyy to salty!
Has anyone tried this recipe using monk fruit extract? I often substitute monk fruit and maple flavoring in place of brown sugar in recipes. do yo think this would work? We have diabetic in our family. Would you replace the volume of the brown sugar with anything? I’ve also used pea protein powder as a thicker for low carb diets in place of corn starch. The taste goes well with soups and sauces.
The brown sugar is not only got flavoring, but for the glazing effect. I use monk fruit too, but I’m not sure it would work well here. I’m might use a brown sugar substitute. I plan to make the recipe as is and have that as the only carb in the meal.