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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)
Can you through in the chicken frozen?
I used to and have been fine but really, it isn’t recommended to put frozen chicken in the slow cooker bc it takes too long to come up to a safe temp. That said, it’s your call.
I love this recipe! My problem is, it’s gets to watery in the crock pot, so it’s not gooey. Any tips?? Thanks
Hi Danielle – glad you like it! I like mine runny (to spoon over rice & veggies) but if you want it a lil thicker, you can take the chicken out set it aside. To a small bowl, add 4 teaspoons of corn starch to 6 Tablespoons of water and whisk it together. Pour the mixture back into the sauce, put the lid back on and turn it to high. It should thicken a bit in about 10 minutes. Then put the chicken back in & toss. =)
I’ve made this twice and it’s DELICIOUS but both times my sauce has been super watery! ???? Any idea what I am doing wrong or should change?
Hi Ashley – glad you like it! I like mine runny (to spoon over rice & veggies) but if you want it a lil thicker, you can take the chicken out and set it aside. To a small bowl, add 4 teaspoons of corn starch to 6 Tablespoons of water and whisk it together. Pour the mixture back into the sauce, give it a stir, then put the lid back on and turn it to high. It should thicken a bit in about 10 minutes. Then put the chicken back in & toss. =)
I’ve got this in the crockpot as I type. I doubled the recipe(chicken and sauce) as we have 3 big O-line college boys in our home!! Hopefully, doubling the measurments will be ok. I’ll let everyone know how it turns out. Your pictures look delicious!
I think you’ll be fine doubling it 🙂
Doubling this recipe worked except my crockpot cooks VERY hot. I probably shouldn’t have doubled the time but my thinking was I doubled everything else. The chicken was a bit dry(no reflection on this recipe – it was my crockpot)but the flavor was really good! I’ll definitely make this again & change the cooking time.
Hopefully I am not asking a previously asked question. How much longer do you think whole, bone in chicken thighs might take, an hour more on low? Thanks.
I’ve never made bone in chicken in the slow cooker (that I can remember) but I think 6 hours on low would be good. 🙂
This recipe looks delicious. Never cooked bone in chicken in a slow cooker??? Easiest “recipe” in the world. Put a whole chicken in slow cooker, salt generously, and cook on high for four hours or low for 6-8 hours. It is a kind of a cross between a rotisserie chicken from the market and boiling a chicken for recipes.
can you make this recipe on the instant pot ? it looks delicious.
I’ve never worked with an instant pot – but I want to!
Easy to make! Decided to shred it and make sandwiches with a potato salad recipe! Fun day in the kitchen!
Mmm sounds delicious!
My crock pot gives me the option of four or six hours on high or 8 or 10 hours on low. If I did 4 hours on high do I just cut it after two and a half hours? I just want to make sure that it is going to be cooked through. Or do you suggest I do 8 hours on low but stop at after four hours?
I’ve never seen limited options like that! Either way should be fine, just check it to make sure it’s done.
Thanks! It is a rival crock pot…I didn’t realize it was that odd. It has about 30 min left so I’ll check it then. Thanks for your hero. I made this before but I can’t remember what I did. What do you think would happen if I cooked on low for 8 hours?
It might not be odd, I’ve only had 2 crock pots haha
It would probably be fine on low for 8 hours it might just get dry
I’m curious how this worked out for you. I currently have this in my crock pot on high for 4 hours…but am hoping it really only takes 2 hours.
I cut it after 2.5 hours on high and it was cooked just fine!
I love crockpot recipes like this one – thanks so much for posting.
Does ANYONE actually read the recipe before asking a dumb question? Or try the recipe…. then comment!
This was delicious! Made this for my parents tonight and they thoroughly enjoyed the flavor. No one was disappointed there was no Bourbon in the sauce. Loved the story above on how the dish got its name!
❤
Making this in my crockpot as we speak! Can’t wait, already smells amazing!
I am terrible at cooking meals each day for my husband and four kids. The kids are involved in so many activities that eating out almost daily has been our main go to. I have decided to start doing crockpot meals, and it has changed our life! My husband picked this recipe out on pinterest. I made it for my family just tonight and it was a huge hit!!! Even my picky daughter devoured ita. Thank you so much for sharing! This recipe will now be a regular “go to” in my recipe box.
You made my day – thanks for sharing ❤
My chicken looks nothing like the 1st picture. That picture looks like there is cooked glaze on it. Needless to say, my family was expecting the Food Court Look and they were sadly disappointed.
Sorry yours didn’t look like you hoped. My video is in the post showing my steps – no false advertising. Did they like the taste?
Do you think if you added potatoes to it, they would taste good as well?
I have served it with potatoes & it’s really good with the extra sauce on them but I’ve never cooked them with the chicken. There’s plenty of liquid that it should work fine. You might be on to something – let me know how it works out! =)
I forgot to mention the broth it made,i drained and made into a gravy(added the chunks to the gravy)served over broccoli and rice. So amazing! Your recipe is Awesome! God Bless you! Thank you for sharing your recipe with us!omg that sounds good too. I might just do potatoes tonight. Thx for idea☺
Fantastic recipe – my family loves it so much I am making it for the second time in a week!
Yay, love hearing that ❤
At your Aunt Joyce’s suggestion I made this yesterday for dinner last evening. We invited granny over to join us. We all found it to be very tasty. Granny commented that she could taste the sweetness. I made it exactly as the recipe was written (did leave out the red pepper flakes), except I added 2oz of Jack Daniels to make it true Bourbon Chicken. (we didn’t tell granny) That also boost the flavor. I started out at 30 minutes on High than 4hrs on low. Chicken was amazingly tender. I also made the brown rice and roasted Zucchini to go with it. Overall a great meal. Diffidently will be making this again. I was wondering how it would turn out cutting the chicken into 1″ squares before cooking so the sauce flavor would permeate the meat more? Or do you think the meat may fall all apart and end up like a soup? That is what I love about a great recipe, you can always tweak it to match your own tastes and interests. Next time I make it I think I will try the less sweet version just for comparison. I really like your website Melissa. Very easy to use and lots of interesting recipes. There is a lot here to try. Great job.
Thanks, Darryl! I think the red pepper flakes help balance the sweetness a bit but it could definitely be cut down as well. I think it would work to cube the chicken before you start – let me know if you try =)
Have you tried cutting the chicken before cooking?
I haven’t, but I’ve used both tenders & breasts.
I made this today and it is a KEEPER! So easy and so delicious. I added a bit of corn starch to the sauce and served it over brown rice and quinoa. Thank you for this fabulous recipe!
LOVE hearing that – so glad you liked it! =)
This was great! Im always looking for bew chicken recipes and this is now in my faves!
~ im guessing that 1-no one has anything better to do than bitch. 2- Most bourbon recipes dont actually have it in it.
Ignore the haters hun!
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