Crock Pot Honey Bourbon Chicken

4.79 from 14 votes

A little sweet and a little spicy, this Bourbon Chicken recipe is big on flavor and takes just minutes to throw in the slow cooker.

Prep Time15

Cook Time3

Total Time3 15

Course: Chicken

Cuisine: Asian

Keyword: bourbon chicken recipe

Servings: servings

Calories: 329kcal

1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup organic or all-natural ketchup
1/4 cup bourbon or other whiskey
2 tablespoons avocado oil or olive oil
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves, minced minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes decrease to 1/8 teaspoon, if sensitive to heat
1/2 cup sliced green onions plus more for garnish
2 pounds boneless skinless medium chicken breasts or thighs, trimmed of fat
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional for serving: Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice or Instant Pot Brown Rice, stir fry vegetables

Make Sauce: In the slow cooker, whisk together the soy sauce, honey, ketchup, bourbon, oil, ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes, and green onions. Add the chicken and turn to coat.
Slow Cook: Cover and cook the chicken and sauce on Low for 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours or until cooked through. (The chicken is done when it is no longer pink inside and/or registers 165°F internally.) Carefully transfer the chicken to a wooden cutting board, dice or shred the meat, and set aside.
Thicken the Sauce: Turn the crock pot on High. (You may want to use a small strainer or slotted spoon to remove any random chicken pieces in the leftover juices.)
In a small bowl, stir together the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of water until smooth. Stir the cornstarch mixture into the juices and put the lid on. Let it cook for about 30 minutes, or until thickened into a glaze-like sauce. (Alternately, you can pour the juices into a pot on the stovetop, stir in the cornstarch mixture, and boil for 3 minutes.)
Finish & Serve: Return the chicken to the sauce, and stir gently to combine. Taste and season with salt and pepper, as needed. Serve over rice. Garnish with green onions and serve with stir fry veggies, if desired.

If you don't end up using all the cooked rice in a recipe, you can freeze the leftovers. We've written an in depth post on how to freeze rice here.
Gluten-Free Version:
- Use coconut aminos or GF Tamari soy sauce instead of soy sauce.
- According to Beyond Celiac, most bourbon is gluten-free due to the distillation process, however, you can omit bourbon/whiskey and use apple juice or no salt chicken stock/broth instead.
Instant Pot Instructions: Use our Instant Pot Bourbon Chicken recipe.
How to Replace the Bourbon: One of our readers tested this recipe without the bourbon and reported that their family thought it was still delicious. Another tester said it worked with chicken broth instead. Other recipes say to use apple juice instead.
Where We Get Our Chicken: We get our meat from ButcherBox. The chicken is organic and curated from small, trusted farms. We highly recommend this service to source healthy meat--like uncured bacon, wild salmon, and grass-fed beef--and have used it for years ourselves.