Slow Cooker Bourbon Chicken

Slow Cooker Bourbon Chicken is a delicious weeknight dinner recipe. Chicken cooked in a sweet and spicy Chinese takeout-inspired sauce. It’s full of garlic, ginger, and crushed red pepper flakes.

Originally posted February 8, 2010. Updated August 10, 2025.

If you need an easy, no fuss, pantry ingredient dinner that turns out absolutely delicious, this bourbon chicken is it.

Getting ready to write this post, I spent a solid amount of time trying to determine the exact origin of bourbon chicken and I’m bummed to tell you that nobody really knows?

The story I saw the most is that a Chinese restaurant on Bourbon Street was the first to make it. It’s definitely a Chinese-American chicken so we’ll go with that one.

The chicken is cooked in a sweet soy sauce-based sauce with garlic and ginger and crushed red pepper flakes for some heat. We like to have it over white rice with a roasted green vegetable on the side.

Ingredients

• Chicken – I suggest using boneless, skinless chicken breasts in this recipe.
• Soy sauce – use low-sodium soy sauce if that’s an option.
• Brown sugar – this adds the sweetness to the sauce.
• Ketchup – this contributes to the sweetness but also gives that nice ketchup tang that we all know and love.
• Rice vinegar – just a little vinegar to give you that sweet and sour taste.
• Garlic – you can use garlic powder if you don’t have fresh garlic on hand.
• Ground ginger – you can use fresh ginger if you prefer.
• Crushed red pepper flakes – you can adjust the amount of red pepper flakes based on your spice preferences.
• Cornstarch – this is the thickener for the sauce. You’re going to dissolve it into cold water before you add it to the sauce.

How To Make Bourbon Chicken in the Crockpot

• Prep. Place chicken in bottom of slow cooker.
• Sauce. Top the chicken with soy sauce, brown sugar, ketchup, rice vinegar, garlic, ground ginger, and crushed red pepper flakes.
• Cook. Cook on low for 3 – 4 hours or high 5 – 6 hours.
• Shred. Remove the chicken to a bowl or plate. Shred the chicken. Set aside.
• Make slurry. Whisk cornstarch into cold water until dissolved.
• Thicken. Pour the cornstarch slurry into the sauce and whisk until incorporated.
• Cook. Return chicken to slow cooker and stir to coat the chicken. Cook another 5 – 10 minutes until sauce has thickened.

How Long Is It Good For?

Bourbon chicken is good for up to 3 days if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

When you are ready to serve it, reheat in the microwave or on the stove. The sauce will likely be very thicken but a splash of broth or water will help to get it back to it’s original sauciness.

Can You Freeze It?

You can freeze leftovers for up to 3 months. Let it cool completely and then transfer to an airtight container, like a freezer ziploc bag.

When you are ready to serve it, let it defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat in the microwave or on the stove.

What To Serve With Bourbon Chicken

We like to serve bourbon chicken with plain white rice and then drizzle extra sauce over the rice. The rice really soaks up the sauce and becomes really flavorful. You could also do fried rice.

A green vegetable on the side it really nice, too. We usually do roasted broccoli or roasted green beans. Bok choy would also be delicious! If you are really in a hurry, just do a steam in the microwave bag of broccoli!

More Slow Cooker Chicken Recipes

• Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Tacos
• Slow Cooker Orange Chicken
• Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili
• Slow Cooker Cool Ranch Chicken
• Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken and Rice

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