Easy Bourbon Chicken

8 Servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes

Easy Bourbon Chicken that’s crispy, sweet, sticky and tastes just like the kind you grew up eating at the mall!

Easy Bourbon Chicken that's crispy, sweet, sticky and tastes just like the kind you grew up eating at the mall!

Easy, Crispy Bourbon Chicken

Making this Crispy Bourbon Chicken actually makes me feel like a teenager. A teenager who was a rebel and once actually took Chinese food into the movie theater!

A quick apology to those people who had to watch Dude Where’s My Car in LA in the late 90’s in a Chinese food scented theater. 😉 My bad.

It was kind of the perfect movie to do that in though because the Chinese takeout drive thru scene still makes me belly laugh.

Back to the task at hand, Bourbon Chicken. This chicken is so deliciously sweet and sticky and has a deep bourbon flavor with hints of the apple juice. It’s good. Super good.

Bourbon Chicken. This chicken is so deliciously sweet and sticky and has a deep bourbon flavor with hints of the apple juice. It's good. Super good.

Is there bourbon in bourbon chicken? Yes! There absolutely is, but it cooks down in the sauce so much it just adds a certain unique flavor and won’t impair your driving. If you prefer to skip the bourbon, just double the apple juice.

Some tips to make this the best bourbon chicken ever:

  • I used chicken breast because my mall used to. If you want a more tender cut, use chicken thighs.
  • If you’d like a thicker coating dredge in the cornstarch, dip in a beaten egg then dredge in some flour and deep fry.
  • To make this more spicy double the crushed red pepper or swap the red pepper for Sriracha sauce.

Crockpot Bourbon Chicken Recipe:

To make in the crockpot, cook the chicken (use chicken thighs) as directed and add in half the amounts of the rest of the recipe sauce ingredients (they won’t be able to cook down in the slow cooker). Cook on low for 5 hours. Add in the last tablespoon of cornstarch then cook on high for 30 minutes.

Want more Chinese Food Recipes?

The best nostalgic Bourbon Chicken of your childhood! Crispy, sweet, sticky and full of apple juice and bourbon flavors.

Tools Used in the making of the Easy Bourbon Chicken:
Wok: Great for high heat, quick cooking. This wok is a great addition to your kitchen if you love cooking Chinese food or stir fries in general.
Large Frying Pan: I use this Cuisinart for most of my non cast iron cooking unless I am going with a stainless steel option, then I choose my All Clad.
Soy Sauce: Nothing much to say here except Kikkoman has the best flavor overall and I always recommend reduced sodium.

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Easy Bourbon Chicken

Easy Bourbon Chicken that's crispy, sweet, sticky and tastes just like the kind you grew up eating at the mall!  
Yield 8 Servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 5-6 skinless boneless chicken breasts - about 3 pounds
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch divided
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 4 tablespoons canola oil
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup apple juice
  • 1/4 cup bourbon
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth
  • 2/3 cup lite soy sauce lower sodium
  • 1/3 cup ketchup
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Instructions

  • Cut the chicken into 1 inch pieces and in a large bowl toss it with 2 tablespoons of the cornstarch, salt, and pepper.
  • Add 2 tablespoons of canola oil into your nonstick skillet on medium high heat and let it heat until adding the first piece of chicken sizzles.
  • Add half the chicken pieces and cook for 3 minutes without stirring.
  • Turn the chicken pieces and cook and additional three minutes.
  • Remove the chicken from the pan.
  • Use the remaining oil to cook the second half of the chicken the same way.
  • Remove the chicken from the pan.
  • Add in the garlic and cook for 20 seconds until you can just smell it.
  • Add in the water, apple juice, bourbon, chicken broth, lite soy sauce, ketchup, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, onion powder, ground ginger and red pepper flakes.
  • Bring to a boil then add back in the chicken.
  • Cook for 10-15 minutes or until the sauce is reduced by about half.
  • Add the remaining tablespoon of cornstarch to a small glass with a tablespoon of water and stir.
  • Add into the pan and stir.
  • Cook until the sauce is thickened. Serve immediately.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 208kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 67mg | Sodium: 1437mg | Potassium: 272mg | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 105IU | Vitamin C: 1.8mg | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 1.1mg
Keyword: Easy Bourbon Chicken
Easy Bourbon Chicken that's crispy, sweet, sticky and tastes just like the kind you grew up eating at the mall!
Bourbon Chicken. This chicken is so deliciously sweet and sticky and has a deep bourbon flavor with hints of the apple juice. It's good. Super good.

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. My kid is literally the pickiest eater on the planet. He is a 15-year-old boy, who is very particular about what he consumes and what he puts into his body. I have a hard time finding different ways to prepare chicken. He flipped for this dish. I made it for the first time, three weeks ago and tonight will be the fourth time I’ve made it for him,. In 3 weeks! I did try to double it on my second go around and it was nothing like the first time. Not sure what I did wrong but since that second disaster, I go step first step minus the brown sugar. I 1/2 that and at the very end, stir in a tablespoon of honey Absolutely phenomenal. If I could give 10 stars I would.

    1. Wow! High Praise from a 15 year old boy! Made my day. Thank you Juanita and thanks for the “10” stars!!

  2. Tasted exactly how I remember Bourbon Chicken at those mall Chinese joints (sweet & savory). Directions were clear and easy to follow. Thanks for posting this great recipe!

  3. 5 stars for it being an online recipe that actually goes together correctly from start to finish (there are a lot of half-a**ed recipes out there).

    I made this tonight and it was a pleasant surprise. From the first bite I was thinking “Mall Chinese…” but in a good way. The wife liked it as well and it will have a place in my recipe rotation. It was a tad sweet for my taste, so I will probably adjust the sugar by a 1/4 cup and maybe add more soy sauce.

  4. Family loved it! I used 1/2 the sugar after I read the prior reviews and I only used 1/2 the chicken and replaced with a ton of broccoli. Will be adding to the recipe rotation!

  5. If I wanted to double this dish, would I just double all the ingredients, including the bourbon? And because I want to make such a large batch (6 lbs), I know this won’t fit in one pan.
    Is it possible to mix all the ingredients together and bake this dish?

    1. Use the Yield button to automatically change the recipe to reflect how many people you wish to serve. I’ve used my All Clad frying pan as well as a wok to make this recipe. Not sure how big a frying pan or wok would be to handle 6 lbs. Maybe two frying pans? Mine is a 14 inch and worked well for the recipe as is. Let me know how it turns out!

  6. It was pretty good, I didn’t think it tasted like the bourbon chicken at the mall at all and that’s what I was looking for. A little to sweet for my taste, but over all pretty good. Kids loved it ??