Featured comment
This recipe is delicious. One of my go-to’s to take to a family that needs a meal. It is even great without the bourbon!
Amy Johnson
Hiiii.
That? That’s my life right there. That sticky bourbon chicken with rice on a blue plate/bowl basically sums it all up. No further comment. See it and believe it.
Mardi Gras? Um, didn’t even know it was, like, now. Or yesterday. When was it again? This bourbon sauce has me all in a tizzy. As fun and coordinated and themey as it might seem with the timing of Mardi Gras and me making bourbon chicken, the real me is more of an I-ate-it-at-Leeann-Chins-and-it-totally-surprised-me-with-yum-and-now-I-need-to-make-it-at-home kind of a cook. And oh, by the way, Mardi Gras. It was probably meant to be anyways.
The number one thing I love about this recipe? Spending about five minutes of hands on time and eventually walking out to the table with a gorgeously saucy golden platter of chicken, like so.
Like as if it’s fancy or something. Er, I don’t make chicken a lot – maybe that’s not even fancy looking. Don’t tell me.
But seriously, the five minute thing? You do have to have a tiny bit of planning ahead because it marinates the night before, but just try to find something as delicious and as simple to prepare that has a fun name like sticky bourbon chicken. With rice.
Speaking of rice, what the heck. It’s tasting so good lately. For most of my life I have been one of those girls who said the dumbest thing: “I don’t like rice”. UM WHAT. That’s a) weird, and b) annoying. Maybe the Philippines is finally breaking through to my food soul, or maybe the loooong drizzle of oil and thick sprinkle of salt is helping. But thankfully I’m over that non-rice-liking weirdness now, and when I smell the fragrant basmati cooking away in that little red rice cooker, I get extremely food happy.
Plus rice is basically your sponge for the sticky sweet bourbon soy garlic brown sugar-y sauce, so how can you not love it? Treat yourself right. Sticky Bourbon Chicken with Rice now.
Check Out Our Video For How To Make Bourbon Chicken:
Sticky Bourbon Chicken with Rice
- Total Time: 13 hours
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
This sticky bourbon chicken is so easy to make! Perfect served with rice, green onions, and a drizzle of extra sauce. So yummy!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs. chicken thighs (I used boneless skinless – delish!)
- 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar
- 1/4 cup bourbon
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon crushed or sliced ginger (fresh, not dried)
- 4 cloves crushed garlic
- 4–5 green onions, cut into thirds or sliced
- 1 cup uncooked basmati rice
Instructions
- THE NIGHT BEFORE: Combine the soy sauce, oil, vinegar, bourbon, and brown sugar in a bowl. Whisk until combined. Place the chicken in a baking dish (a casserole pan or something with high sides) with lid and pour the sauce over the chicken. Toss in the ginger, garlic, and half of the green onions. Cover and marinate overnight (or for as many hours as you have before baking).
- THE DAY OF: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Uncover the chicken and bake directly in the marinade for 45 minutes, basting the chicken with the sauce periodically and/or turning the pieces upside down to get them baking in the sauce on both sides. Cook the rice according to package directions.
- When the chicken is done, turn the oven temperature to broil and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes to get a nice, browned exterior on the chicken. Remove and serve whole or cut, with extra sauce and scallions, over the rice.
Notes
Nutrition facts are for the chicken and rice with most but not all of the sauce. I was pretty generous with my saucing and still had some sauce left in the pan.
- Prep Time: 12 hours
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: bourbon chicken, sticky bourbon chicken, chicken recipe, chicken dinner, baked chicken
Nutrition facts include the rice.
So easy and so good!
My sauce was very thin and runny but very tasty. Do you recommend adding some corn starch to thicken
How much apple juice or apple cider should I use to replace the bourbon
Can you make this without the bourbon if you don’t have any?
I am an experienced cook and I followed the recipe exactly. The sauce was thin and runny – no stickiness achieved. (In the future, I’ll read five-star reviews more carefully to make sure the person actually made the dish.)
I made this recipe but it didn’t turn out sticky at all. There was still quite a bit of juice even after broiling. Am I doing something wrong?
Can this recipe be made ahead and frozen? If so, do you recommend freezing the chicken raw in the marinade? Or, should I cook it first, let it cool and then freeze?
We actually haven’t tried that before to know if the texture of the chicken would still be okay. If you test it out though, we’d love to know!
I made this tonight. It was goin, but I would definitely recommend adding cornstarch to the sauce to thicken it. It was very very runny. Yummy otherwise!
Bourbon chicken is what I get at the mall and festivals, so that is what I was expecting. This came out with a very strong vinegar flavor and not enough sugar. The bourbon was strong too, hence the name, but just struck me since it isn’t that way take out. I will make again, decreasing the vinegar and bourbon and increasing the brown sugar. Maybe with less vinegar it won’t need the increased sugar, but I’ll play with it a bit. My least favorite recipe from this site, and we love Pinch of Yum, but it still got eaten.
Could this be made before and frozen? (Not the rice)
We think that’d work out just fine!
Love your recipes- I like that you don’t skimp on the sauces. More sauce the better
Couldn’t agree more!
Hi, I’m trying to do some prep-ahead freezer meals. Do you think I could make up the sauce and freeze chicken and sauce all together, then defrost and cook as per instructions? Thanks!
We think that’d work just fine!
This was delicious. I made it with pork chops.
Made this a few weeks ago it was very good! Was craving it again but all we have is beef. Just finished up mixing up a batch to try out with beef, broccoli and rice. Can’t wait to try it tomorrow.
Sounds amazing, Kate!
Does this taste like Leeann Chin’s bourbon chicken?
I made this in the crock pot tonight and shredded up the chicken before serving over rice. It wasn’t pretty but it was delicious!
Made this for dinner tonight used legs instead. *skinned* I also added 3 tips of honey to it. Made jasmine rice instead since it is what I had on hand. Pretty good was ready in 30 mins sauce when chicken was done i removed the chicken and added a teaspoon of cornstarch with a little water in it to make a paste turned my pot to saute and boiled the sauce to thicken it and put the chicken back in and coated it was good and thick will be cooking again.
Thanks for the recipe
Thanks for sharing, Nora!
Is there a reason you don’t marinate in a zip lock bag? We usually use one for marinating so that the marinade is in contact with all of the chicken all of the time. Since we usually freeze our meat in freezer bags, we can just add it.
You definitely can if you’d prefer – the baking dish option is just a little more environmentally-friendly. 🙂
I have made this recipe a dozen times. I have never gotten it right. Mine isn’t sticky, but more a watery liquid. The chicken always seems dry too. Could you help me with what I am doing wrong?
Hi, Jared! It’s hard to know without seeing your dish, but you might just need to baste the chicken a bit more. Let us know how this goes!
By bourbon do you mean the liquor bourbon?
Yep!
Can you use chicken breasts?
Yep!
I made this recipe and it was super yummy! Highly recommend. However the measurements are all off. I had to remove most of the liquid to bake it as it just wasn’t getting sticky. Someone in the comments said they boiled it down, to get it thick. I did that and added the sauce back in later. I feel like you could also cut the liquid recipe in half if you don’t want much sauce or don’t have as much of the ingredients.
have not made yet but plan to, what do I do with the other half of the green onion’s?
and if not needed, why use so many????
You can use the other half of the green onions to top your dish. 🙂
I work with several therapists from Philippines. Best advise I’ve ever gotten on how to cook rice. If using jasmine or any other white rice, rinse until water is clear, usually 3 or 4 times. Also don’t pay attention to amount of water started on package. Water should b to depth of first joint on middle finger with 2 Tblsp of butter or olive oil. Makes PERFECT rice everytime.
Thanks for the tip, Bridget! 😊
I’m not sure why there’s so many “rave reviews” when 98% of the people haven’t even tried the recipe. There are just a string of endless comments about it looking so good.
Well, here we go. I marinated the chicken this morning and cooked it for dinner tonight. Same as the other 5 people who made it, there is way too much sauce and it doesn’t get thick in the oven either. The taste is okay but I wouldn’t make it again.
If you are trying this for the first time, I highly recommend taking about 1 cup of the marinade and reserving it. Marinate the chicken at least 8 hours and then bake it in the sauce. When there’s about 20 minutes left in your cooking time, add the reserved marinade to a sauce pan, add some corn starch and syrup to thicken it and bring it to a boil. Continue to simmer until the marinade has been reduced and thickened (about 10 minutes). When there’s about 5 minutes of cook time left, take your chicken out, put it on a wire rack, and baste it with the thick sauce. Stick it back in for 2 minutes on the wire rack. Flip it. Baste it again and broil for the remaining 2 minutes. That will make it nice and “sticky” and create that texture you’re looking for.
Thanks for the tips, Ashley!