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If you love bourbon chicken from the food court at the mall, you’ll love this version of Crock Pot Honey Bourbon Chicken that’s made right in your slow cooker!
Slow Cooker Honey Bourbon Chicken
Crock Pot Honey Bourbon Chicken
One of my favorite things about cooking, and I’ve said this before, is having leftovers. Today, however, there was no chicken left and none of the M&M cookies.
I hate when that happens. But, it is a good indicator of how good these dishes are.
I’ve made bourbon chicken before but I really liked this crock pot rendition. This version tastes less like the food court dish but it is simple and very good. I forgot how much I’ve missed my crock pot the last few months.
Why it’s called Bourbon Chicken
Fun Fact: There’s no bourbon in this recipe, which many of you have pointed out to me (mostly rudely). The name Bourbon Chicken comes from Bourbon Street in New Orleans, which it’s named after.
If it makes you happy, throw in some bourbon.
When I was in college, I used to stop at the mall that was across the street and have lunch. My favorite restaurant in the food court was one called Bourbon Street Grill. They had the best bourbon chicken.
I used to get the chicken with potatoes and rice. #carbsoncarbs
This slow cooker version makes a lot of “sauce” which is perfect for spooning over rice or potatoes or whatever you’re serving with the chicken.
Bourbon Chicken Ingredients
Below is a list of the ingredients you’ll need to gather to make this recipe. Scroll all the way down for the full recipe card.
- Chicken – I like to use boneless, skinless chicken breasts. You can also use thighs or tenders.
- Salt & Pepper – The essentials.
- Honey
- Soy Sauce – I like to use low sodium.
- Ketchup
- Oil – I usually use vegetable oil but you could use olive oil or canola oil.
- Garlic – Use two cloves or 1 teaspoon of minced garlic.
- Onion – I usually use a yellow or white onion.
- Red Pepper Flakes – Red pepper flakes help to balance the sweetness of the honey and give the chicken a tiny kick. You can skip it if you want.
How to thicken up the sauce
It will be a thin sauce but you can make a cornstarch slurry (2 parts cold water with 1 part cornstarch) and whisk it in to thicken it up. I personally prefer it thin to spoon over my rice and veggies, but I’ve had many commenters say they’d like it thicker.
How to store leftovers
Leftovers should be stored covered in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave or on the stove top. Or, if you have enough, you can put it back in the slow cooker to heat through.
Do you call it a slow cooker or a crock pot? I asked on Facebook and it seems most people call it a Crock Pot but that’s a brand.
Like calling tissue Kleenex.
Or inline skates Roller Blades (do people still do that?? ha).
Whatever you call it, it’s good. & really easy. I served it with brown rice and roasted zucchini.
PIN SLOW COOKER HONEY BOURBON CHICKEN FOR LATER
Can you put frozen chicken in the Crock Pot?
This is a common question I get, but the safest, best answer is no, you shouldn’t put frozen chicken in the slow cooker.
Because of the amount of time it takes a slow cooker to get meat up to a safe temperature (it’s a slow cooker, after all), bacteria could contaminate the chicken.
Meat should already be thawed when you place it in the crock pot. Ideally, you’d thaw the chicken in the fridge the night before.
That said, I have used frozen chicken in a pinch and lived to tell the tale, but now that I know better, I don’t.
Can I make it in the Instant Pot?
I haven’t tested in the IP, I’m more of a slow cooker girl lol, but I’d whisk up the sauce in the instant pot, put the thawed chicken in & coat it in the sauce. Seal & cook for 15 mins, natural release for 5 mins, then quick release.
Tools to make Slow Cooker Bourbon Chicken
- My slow cooker of choice – I love that you can set the cook time then it automatically switches over to “warm” after the cook time.
- Time-saving minced garlic – I always keep minced garlic packed in oil in my fridge.
- A whisk if you’re going to make that slurry I talked about above.
Need more crock pot chicken ideas? Try these:
Click here to view my entire collection of slow cooker recipes.
Watch how easy this Crock Pot Honey Bourbon Chicken is to make:
How to make Bourbon Chicken
Crock Pot Honey Bourbon Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
- salt and pepper
- 1 cup honey
- 1 cup low sodium soy sauce
- ½ cup ketchup
- 4 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 cloves minced garlic or 1 teaspoon minced garlic in oil
- ½ cup onion diced
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Trim your chicken breasts, sprinkle with salt & pepper and place them in your slow cooker.
- In a medium bowl, add the honey, soy sauce, ketchup, oil, garlic, onion and red pepper flakes. Stir well to combine. Pour over the chicken in the slow cooker.
- Cook on low for 3-4 hours or high for 1½ to 2½ hours.
- When done, remove chicken from crock pot and cut into chunks.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag me on Instagram @melissa_pplates so I can see!
Or maybe you’d like…
Bourbon Chicken with Roasted Potatoes (a non-slow cooker version)
Made crock pot honey bourbon chicken tonight for dinner. I picked this recipe because I had all the ingredients on hand.
The only thing I did differently was i used half the soy sauce. I used Kikkoman Soy Sauce. Thanks for mentioning how to thicken the sauce. It was GREAT!!!. I’m going to check out the other recipes you have. Thanks again
Yay, thanks so much for reporting back! 🙂
The Bourbon Chicken recipe has no bourbon in it…???
Does this recipe actually have bourbon in it?
It does not. The reason is addressed in the post above.
I haven’t made it yet but was curious when to add the cornstartch mixture to thicken the sauce? Thank you!
It goes in at the end. You can scoop the chicken out, pour the slurry in & mix it up, then add the chicken back in.
No Bourbon? Can’t see this addressed any where
It’s addressed above.
It’s named after Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Hence the name.
Low for only 3-4 hours? There are raw chicken breast correct? Just want to make sure! Plan to try this today.
Yes, that should be plenty with raw/thawed chicken. All slow cookers run differently though so make sure you hit a safe temp (165°).
The perfect slow cooker chicken dinner recipe. Easy to make and soooooo good. My family loved it and I will absolutely be making it again.
Yay, thanks, Jaclyn ❤️
Can I use boneless chicken thighs ? And I have 6 people in my family do I double the recipe ?
Yes to boneless thighs. You can double the recipe but cook time will vary based on your slow cooker. Just make sure you get to 165° internal temp.
Just discovered your website, nicely put together, recipes looks and sounds amazing. Going to use.
Thanks, Ronney! Welcome 🙂
Tried your Crock Pot Honey Bourbon Chicken and it was very good. I didn’t have any honey on hand so, I used corn syrup. I didn’t have any low salt soy sauce and had to use the regular soy sauce and it did turn out too salty so, I just added some water to it and that worked out good. My husband and i enjoyed it very much! Thank you for this recipe.
Sounds like good swaps, thanks for letting me know what worked!
Absolutely delicious. Always hesitant to try new recipes but incredibly glad I tried this. Ended up doing a slurry to get a thick sauce. Can’t wait to have my leftovers!
Yay 🙂
what is the rice receipt?
It’s just shown with plain brown rice but you can try my fried rice!
So trim the chicken in pieces before cooking?
Never mind I just fully read it lol thanks can’t wait to taste it
=)
We love this recipe and have used the sauce part for chicken and pork. We use our InstaPot instead of a slow cooker, supper ready in 15 minutes.
It’s super fast in the IP! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
I just wanted to share that I saw this recipe at 11pm at night on a weekend and decided why not cook this now! Unfortunately, not knowing I was out of honey 😳 it was too late to turn back so I decided why not try molasses before it becomes a wasted dish in the trash. I have to say for on the whim it really did the job haha!
ha! Love the pivot 🙂 I’m glad you liked it!
can i use a combination of breasts and thigh?
That should be fine as long as both are boneless.
Has anyone tried this recipe in the instant pot?
Yes, others in the comments have reported back 🙂
This recipe sounds amazing! Although I only have 1/2 cup of soy sauce. I want to make sure I have enough liquid. Any suggestions on what to substitute for the 1/2 cup I don’t have? I was thinking maybe just water or chicken broth?
Yes, water or broth to thin it will work fine. Especially if it’s not low sodium soy sauce.
This was very good! There was none left and my family still wanted more!
Thanks, Kristie!
I love this recipe. I usually add more red pepper flakes for a bigger kick, but it’s always delicious.