Bourbon Chicken
Bourbon Chicken is made with tender juicy chicken thighs and is smothered in a slightly sweet and smokey bourbon, soy and brown sugar sauce. Just like your favorite food court meal!
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 416kcal
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 4 tablespoons cornstarch divided
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- ½ cup apple juice
- ½ cup unsalted chicken stock
- ½ cup bourbon
- ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
- ¾ cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 3 tablespoons water
- Green onions thinly sliced for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Start by cutting up the chicken thighs into bite-sized pieces and placing them in a zippered top, gallon-sized plastic bag.
- Next, add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, kosher salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.
- Then zip the bag closed and shake the ingredients around until the chicken is well coated.
- Over medium heat, heat a large skillet on the stove. Then add half of the oil. Once it's hot, sear the chicken in 2 batches, working until cooked through. Place the cooked chicken on a plate and add another tablespoon of oil to the pan and repeat with the remaining chicken.
- Add the garlic directly to the skillet and cook for about 30 seconds, or until just fragrant. Add in the apple juice, chicken stock, bourbon, and soy sauce and stir to combine.
- Add the brown sugar and ground ginger to the skillet and stir to combine.
- Whisk together the water and remaining 2 tablespoons of cornstarch until dissolved in a small mixing bowl. Slowly pour in the cornstarch slurry while whisking it in until combined.
- Then, add the chicken back to the skillet and coat in the sauce.
- Finally, bring it to a simmer and simmer for 2 minutes stirring occasionally. Take off the heat and add scallions if desired.
Notes
- You can use boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of thighs. Traditionally, mall food court Bourbon Chicken was only made with chicken thighs when I have had it.
- You can substitute a teaspoon of freshly grated ginger for the ground ginger. I recommend cooking it along with the garlic.
- This is so versatile, you can serve it over rice, mashed potatoes, or pasta! Any way you like it, go for it!
- This recipe makes a lot of sauce to pour over your rice, etc. If you don’t like as much sauce, just halve the garlic, apple juice, chicken stock, bourbon, soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, and water, and use just 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to make the slurry. Personally, I find that no one can get enough of this sauce and leave the recipe as it is!
- If you don’t want to use bourbon, use more apple juice to replace it. It really doesn’t taste like bourbon at all, it just gives complexity to the flavor.
- This can easily be doubled to serve more people.
- You can freeze this recipe, see above on how to do that.
Nutrition
Calories: 416kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 144mg | Sodium: 824mg | Potassium: 502mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 29g | Vitamin A: 38IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 48mg | Iron: 2mg