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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)
Going to make this today! What a great simple recipe!
P.S. ignore all the haters. Clearly no one told them if you have nothing nice to say then don’t say anything at all.
Excellent recipe! Full of taste and simple! I don’t care if there is bourbon in it or not, the end result is it tastes great and easy to throw together! I appreciate your recipe and blog. Keep up the hard work!
Thank you, Michelle! Made me smile 🙂
This was so delicious!!! Thank you for sharing. I just modified it for a single serving while I’m home and the rest of my family is camping.
Thanks for reporting back, Chrissy!
I was really excited I try this but we didn’t love it. There was definitely too much soy sauce which overpowered everything else. It was decent, but not a recipe that I’ll make again.
Delicious! I reduced the honey to 1/4 cup and added 1/4 cup of bourbon and added small carrots and chopped potatoes. Flavor was amazing!
Yay 🙂
I want to add some sliced peppers. What time would you recommend adding to the chicken?
Hi Sandy – bell peppers? I would add them in the last hour of cook time.
Thanks for this marvelous and marvelously easy recipe. We lessened the amount of honey and upped the red pepper flakes. Also made double the sauce because as some famous hot sauce says “we can put this s…t on everything”! It’s a keeper.
Thanks, Cris! Agreed, I love the sauce on rice, potatoes, veggies…
I’m sure I’m messed something up, or my slow cooker just cooks hotter than I realize. I made the recipe as listed, cooked it on low, and you could smell the honey almost scorching. The sauce was still good, but not as sweet as I was thinking it would be with the amount of honey in it. I’m going to thicken the sauce up, and maybe that will help concentrate the flavor. Chicken is tender, and it’s good over rice. I just wasn’t as wowed as I wanted to be.
It does sound like your slow cooker runs hot.
Too many points. How many points do you get for this? Honey is 64 points.
Points? Like weight watchers? I don’t calculate those.
I’m excited to make this tonight! I’m going to cook it on low. At what point would it be a good idea to add raw broccoli into the crock pot? Thanks!
Hi Amanda – I would add it the last hour or so of cook time. Hope you like it!
Everyone loved it, even my 2 year old, and it was so easy to make! I didn’t have soy sauce on hand so I substituted coco aminos. Thank you
🙂
Yay 🙂 maybe your 2 year old can come have a talk with my 4 year old lol
Where is the Bourbon? No hating, but if it’s called honey Bourbon, it should have Bourbon in it. It does still sound good!
So… nevermind my previous comment. I posted before reading other comments. Lol
I tend to be lazy, and if I’m offered the “jump to recipe” tab, I use it. 🙂
I am sure many were legitimately asking about the lack of Bourbon, for the same reason I did. And unless you have since changed it, I didn’t see anything rude from you in your reaction in what you added to your post.
As I was starting to read from the beginning, I actually started to wonder if the name came from what you explained, and as I continued to read, I saw it was! 🙂
I still have the recipe saved, and will eventually try it for myself! I have to be in the mood to cook or bake, but I definitely like saving yummy and interesting sounding recipes!
First, I’m happy you’re getting use of the jump to recipe button.
Second, thanks for going back & reading & updating your comment! You were one of 3 comments in an hour asking where the bourbon is – yours was not rude, the other two were (one even left 3 stars for a recipe they’ve never made). I’m here to be helpful but it gets tiring sometimes 🥴
Any suggestions on adaption for using an “Instant Pot” ?
Hello, I’d mix the sauce, pour it in the IP, put the thawed chicken in & coat it in the sauce. Seal & cook for 12 mins, natural release for 5 mins, then quick release. Hope that helps!
This is an amazing dish! My family really enjoyed it. So much so that I’ve made it twice in three weeks! The first time I didn’t have any fresh chopped onion, so I subbed 1/4 c dried minced onion instead. It was fine. But the second time, I made it exactly as written, and it was fantastic. The sauce is the perfect blend of salty, spicy and sweet, which makes my family happy. I definitely plan to keep this in the regular rotation! I will be checking out Melissa’s other recipes as well. Thanks for sharing this one – it was delicious!
Yay 🙂 thanks so much for reporting back, I really appreciate it!
Delicious but way too salty. I prepared as directed and used a full cup of low sodium soy sauce for 2 lbs of chicken. The volume of liquid was way too much, so I only cooked the chicken in about half of the prepared sauce. Next time I will adjust and use less.
The pictures make my tongue water. Can’t wait to try it out.
This is currently in my crock pot right now. I had to use some teriyaki sauce along with the soy sauce as I did not have enough on hand, also had to put minced onion in as I currently have no onions fresh. ( searched Chicken in crock pot this morning since its supposed to be a hot one today). I was at first worried about how much sauce there would be, I have double the amount of chicken but honestly looks as if there will be plenty of sauce. Cant wait to try it.
It’s very hot here, too. Let me know how it turns out!
This was a hit! We all liked it and will be made again.
Thanks for reporting back!
I found the sauce to be way too sweet. I also could have cut the red pepper flakes in half. The flavor was good and I might try it again using 1/4 cup of honey
Do I cook it with the thicken sauce or thicken it after the chicken is cooked
Thicken after, if you want. Then put the chicken back in for a bit to soak it up.
Made this for dinner last night and it was good. Hubby and son loved it and my son doesn’t really like chicken. I cooked the chicken a little longer because the breast pieces were quite large. Next time I will use 3 or 4 breasts because there was a lot of sauce and we’ll have leftovers.
Super easy and flavorful.
Thanks, Kathy!