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Bourbon makes all things better, so why not combine it with chicken? This recipe for bourbon chicken is pretty simple and cooks up easily for a fast dinner!
For more great ways to use bourbon, why not try this Chocolate Bourbon or Rum Balls Recipe, or this recipe for a Boulevardier Cocktail?
Bourbon Chicken
Bourbon chicken is a recipe that you can just tell came about from a late-night need to make something tasty really quickly. Mixing together soy sauce, sugar, apple juice, and Bourbon somehow turns a regular chicken thigh into something intensely delicious.
Serve this sticky, slightly sweet chicken over some rice to provide some great balance, or just enjoy it with a spoon, sauce, and all.
Bourbon Chicken Ingredients
Make sure to check the recipe card at the bottom for the accurate amounts of all the ingredients down below.
- Boneless chicken thighs
- Salt & pepper
- Olive oil
Bourbon Sauce
- Bourbon
- Low sodium soy sauce
- Brown sugar
- Chicken broth
- Apple juice
- Ketchup
- Garlic cloves
- Fresh ginger
- Apple cider vinegar
- Red pepper flakes
- Cornstarch
Cornstarch Slurry
- Cornstarch
- Water
- Diced green onions
How To Make Bourbon Chicken
- Whisk together all of the bourbon sauce ingredients
- Sprinkle salt & pepper over the chicken
- Fry the chicken over high heat in some oil in a large saucepan
- Pour the sauce over the pan when the chicken is browned on all sides
- Cook for 10 minutes until the sauce has thickened
- For a thicker sauce, add in the cornstarch slurry, whisking constantly
- Remove from the heat and serve over rice
What Kind of Chicken Should You Use For This Recipe?
Whenever you get a chicken recipe that doesn’t just use an entire roast chicken, there is always the inevitable question of what kind of chicken pieces should you use?
The general toss-up is between chicken breasts or chicken thighs. While chicken breasts are healthier and cook a bit faster, for this sort of recipe, you really need to stick to chicken thighs.
The longer cooking times really benefit something like a chicken thigh because it allows the natural collagen and fat to break down and thicken the sauce. If you tried to use a chicken breast, however, you’d just end up with really dry, stringy chicken that simply wouldn’t taste any good.
Do I Have To Use Bourbon?
Bourbon is easily the most quintessential American liquor out there, so it makes sense that it shows up in some many different recipes.
However, not everyone is a big fan of the oaky intensity of Bourbon, so what could you use instead?
Any other type of whiskey could definitely work in the place of Bourbon, but maybe not a really expensive, peat-y Scotch – the flavors would just be too much.
You could even use some vodka if you preferred it, but you might find the taste a bit bland.
A good substitute could also be slightly cheaper tequila, as it hits many of the same flavor notes of some bourbons while still having a good layer of intensity on its own.
Looking for more tasty Chicken recipes? Try these out:
Happy cooking!
Love,
Karlynn
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Bourbon Chicken
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 25 minutes
- Course
- Main Course
- Cuisine
- American
- Servings
- 4
- Calories
- 681
- Equipment
- saucepan
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
- 8 chicken thighs boneless, skinless and cut into one inch pieces
- salt and pepper
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
Bourbon Sauce
- 1/4 cup bourbon
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 cup apple juice
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger grated
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- cornstarch slurry
Instructions
- Whisk together the ingredients for the bourbon sauce and set aside. Adjust any of the seasonings to taste at this point.
- Sprinkle salt and pepper over the chicken thigh pieces.
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Fry the chicken thigh pieces until browned on both sides. Drain any excess oil and fat.
- Pour the sauce into the pan, stirring it to coat the chicken completely. Cook on medium heat for another 10-15 minutes until the chicken has cooked all the way through.
- If the sauce hasn't thickened to your liking after the chicken is cooked, prepare the cornstarch slurry and slowly whisk into the hot sauce until it thickens to your liking.
- Remove from the heat. Serve over rice.
Recipe Notes
- Only use the cornstarch slurry if the sauce hasn’t thickened. This could be due to water content or juice from the chicken thighs
- If desired you can DOUBLE the sauce recipe easily for tons of sauce!
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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Mary Kiley says
Can vinegar and brown sugar or another whiskey be substituted for the Bourbon?
Emilia says
Another home run the family loved. Imho idiot-proof so new cooks, DON’T BE AFRAID TO MAKE THIS! I made this a printed but instead of putting it over white rice I made a combination of “brown rice” (made of hearts of palm), forbidden rice, and peas. So it was very light and healthy.