This Easy Bourbon Chicken Recipe made with chicken breasts and a few simple ingredients is better than takeout and perfect for a delicious quick dinner.
Back in the day, I used to love grabbing a quick bite to eat from the Bourbon Street Grill. Since it's hard to find good bourbon chicken near me, these days, I'd much rather make my own Bourbon chicken at home!
This quick and easy recipe for Bourbon chicken is super simple and comes together in no time. So, no need to make a trip to the mall food court or your local Chinese restaurant if you're craving this popular chicken recipe!
Ingredients
You only need a few ingredients to make your own homemade Bourbon chicken. And, you probably have everything you need in your pantry and fridge!
- Chicken breasts or thighs
- Vegetable oil
- Bourbon
- Apple Juice
- Soy sauce
- Ketchup
- Brown sugar
- Spices and cornstarch
How to Make Bourbon Chicken
First, cut up your chicken into bite sized pieces. Then, heat up a little oil in a large pan, and add the chicken and spices.
You just need to cook the chicken until it's no longer pink. It will continue to cook after you add the sauce.
While the chicken is cooking, you can make the ingredients for the Bourbon sauce in a mixing bowl. Or, you can just add them all to the frying pan.
If you want see how the sauce tastes, I recommend mixing it up first. That way, you can adjust the ingredients. The next time you make it, you can add everything directly to the pan if you prefer.
Next, stir everything together, and bring to a simmer. The sauce will seem thin at first, but it thickens up as it cooks.
You can thicken the sauce even more by adding a cornstarch slurry. Just mix up some cornstarch and cold water, and stir the mixture into the sauce.
After about 10 minutes or so, the sauce will be rich, thick and just perfect! If you find that the sauce is too thick, you can thin it out with extra apple juice or water.
And that, my friends, is it! You're ready to enjoy this delicious restaurant quality Bourbon chicken!
What to Serve with the Chicken
I usually serve Bourbon Chicken over Instant Pot Jasmine Rice or Instant Pot Brown Rice. Add some Air Fryer Broccoli, or steam broccoli in the microwave, and you're good to go.
Substitute for Bourbon
If you don't want to use bourbon, just use more apple juice, instead. It will be a little sweeter, but it will still taste good!
Easy Bourbon Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken breasts cubed
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon dried minced onions
- ¼ cup bourbon
- ¼ cup apple juice
- ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons ketchup
Cornstarch slurry
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon cold water
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large skillet or heavy bottomed pan, add chicken, and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, ginger, and onions
- Cook chicken until no longer pink, and stir in bourbon, apple juice, soy sauce, brown sugar and ketchup
- Simmer for 10 minutes, or until sauce thickens and chicken is fully cooked (165 degrees) internally. Mix cornstarch slurry in small bowl, and add to sauce to thicken more, if desired
Notes
Nutrition
Jim says
Made this last night and so easy and great tasting. The aroma filled the house for hours. Leftovers for lunch today were incredible as well.
Cathy says
Such a delicious recipe! I'll be making this often!
Beth says
This looks so delicious and tasty! I can’t wait to give this a try! So excited!
Toni says
This became an instant hit for dinner at my house! I love that it comes ready to eat in less than 30 minutes!
Dee says
Thank you so much, Toni! Glad you liked it!
betimicevska @ easyweeknightrecipes.com says
This was incredibly delicious! Everyone loved it! Thanks!
katerina @ diethood.com says
I love how easy and delicious this is! The perfect weeknight meal!!
Suzy says
Did not realize how easy this would be to make! WE loved it! Also love that there is a second way to make this with apple juice!
Dee says
Thank you so much, Suzy. It's super easy!