Have you ever looked at the ingredients of a recipe and thought “what the heck, that is such a weird combination of flavors, how in the world is that going to taste any good?”
I happened to do that when my coworker & friend, Pam, told me about this recipe she had found. She told me she made it for dinner and her husband “loved it” and how she was hesitant to even try it because she smelled the sauce and was kind of repulsed by it. Haha, that totally made me want to try to make it ;) However, she followed up with that statement with “but then I tasted it and it was AWESOME.”
She wasn’t lying, folks. This sauce, albeit smells awkward (just cause of the ingredients), is the sh!t. Excuse my French there, but I have no other words to describe this sauce. It is what makes this chicken dish and I don’t want to have chicken any other way now (kidding of course). But that being said, it’s just seriously THAT good. The smooth and rich consistency of it with the Dijon hint in the background makes this such a great sauce. Good thing I have quite a bit of sauce left because I can whip up another batch of these babies or try this on pork or something else! Oh, might I add that there’s bourbon in the sauce? Does that convince you a little more now to go make this tonight?
Sidenote: this tastes NOTHING like bourbon chicken at those Chinese food places in food courts that hand you bourbon chicken on a toothpick. It’s far from it.

bourbon chicken
Ingredients
- 5 chicken tenderloins
- ½ cup Italian bread crumbs
- 4 tablespoon clarified butter*
For the sauce:
- 3 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 3 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- 2 tablespoon bourbon whiskey
- ¾ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons of low sodium soy sauce
- 4 tablespoon chilled unsalted butter,, cut into 1 tbsp cubes
Instructions
- In a small casserole dish, mix together breadcrumbs and 2 tbsp. of clarified butter.
- Cover each chicken tenderloin, both sides, with the breadcrumb mixture.
- In a large skillet, heat up your remaining 2 tbsp. of clarified butter on medium-high heat.
- Add in your chicken and cook both sides until brown and chicken is cooked all the way through, about 5-7 minutes. Flip often as you don't want the breadcrumbs to get black.
- To make your sauce, combine the Dijon mustard, brown sugar, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and bourbon. Mix until smooth in a small saucepot over medium heat then remove from heat when it starts to simmer.
- Whisk into the hot sauce the butter in 1 tbsp. cubes at a time.
- Plate your chicken and sides (I just steamed broccoli) and drizzle sauce all over, plus extra on the side for dipping.
Recipe Notes
Source: All Recipes
YOUR NOTES
NUTRITION FACTS
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition information can vary for a variety of reasons. For the most precise nutritional data use your preferred nutrition calculator based on the actual ingredients you used in the recipe.
Kelsey
Thursday 16th of May 2013
Thank you so much! This is one I will be holding on to! Perfect for when you only have 30 mins to put something together.
Gabrielle
Wednesday 20th of February 2013
Ok, so I am really a novice in the kitchen, but this recipe looks delicious. Any other tricks involved? Also, I wanted to substitute for very thin sliced chicken breasts, do you know approximately how many lbs would work for this recipe? 5 chicken tenderloins doesn't sound like much, maybe a lb? Thanks so much! I'm so happy I found your website today!!
Julie
Wednesday 20th of February 2013
Approx. 1- 1 1/2 pounds of chicken breasts would work. I really don't know because I never have cooked this with chicken breast before, but it should be ok. Good luck and enjoy!
Amber | Bluebonnets & Brownies
Wednesday 9th of May 2012
This looks so good! Quick tip regarding clarified butter: it's also known as ghee, and can be found in many Indian markets (or the Indian section of the grocery store). Makes life easy - it comes in a resealable tin, and you can use as much or as little as you want, when you want.
I haven't opened my new can yet, but I think I just found the recipe to get me to do that.
Michelle
Saturday 17th of December 2011
Made this tonight for dinner, it was great. I served it with white rice and green beans, very tasty.
jamie wendel
Monday 12th of December 2011
Making this right now and I am looking forward to it-looks delicious. But I wanted to alert you that when you hit printer friendly it somehow adds 1 cup additional dark brown sugar to the sauce. I came back to check because I thought that was a bit odd. thanks!
Julie
Monday 12th of December 2011
thanks for catching that -- it's fixed now :)