Golden Corral Bourbon Street Chicken Copycat brings all the sweet, sticky, salty and yummy flavors you love right in your own kitchen. Only five ingredients and less than 20 minutes of cook time for an amazing dinner meal the whole family will love!
For a budget-friendly all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant, Golden Corral definitely delivers with a wide selection of family favorites. But although they offer a delicious variety of menu items, from dinner classics such as pot roast and meatloaf to Asian-inspired dishes such as Mandarin chicken and fried rice, it’s their bourbon street chicken I always beeline for.
A delicious marriage of sweet and savory, it’s absolutely yummy with steamed rice!
While the bourbon chicken is worth a trip to the restaurant, I wanted to replicate the same delectable experience at home. I’ve tried a few recipes online which were great copycat versions on their own but on one of our many visits to the restaurant, I pulled my face off my plate long enough to look around and saw this on their wall.
I used Kikkoman teriyaki sauce which is available at most major supermarkets to simplify things a bit but you can easily make your own by combining equal parts of dark soy sauce, sake, mirin, and honey. As commercial teriyaki marinade is thinner in consistency than homemade, I like to heat up the final glaze with a bit of cornstarch so it’s thick enough to coat the chicken pieces with a beautiful sheen.
Want more copycat recipes? This Woodland Restaurant’s Peanut Coleslaw is our staple dish for backyard parties, this Panda Express Firecracker Chicken Copycat is just amazing as the restaurant’s, we love waking up toIHOP Pancakes Copycat and this Disneyland’s Hot Chocolate Copycat is the ultimate comfort food.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless, chicken thigh meat, cut into thin strips
- 3 teaspoons brown sugar bourbon seasoning
- 1 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved in 2 tablespoons cold water
Instructions
- Rinse chicken, pat dry and place in a wide pan.
- In a small bowl, combine 1 cup of the teriyaki sauce and 2 teaspoons of the bourbon seasoning. Whisk together until bourbon seasoning is dissolved.
- Pour over chicken and stir to evenly distribute marinade and fully coat chicken. Cover pan with film and marinate the chicken in the refrigerator overnight. Drain the chicken well.
- On a hot stove top grill or wide thick bottomed skillet over medium heat, add chicken in a single layer. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 teaspoon of bourbon seasoning.
- Cook, stirring regularly until lightly browned and thermometer inserted into meat reads 165 F.
- Meanwhile, combine the remaining 1/2 cup of teriyaki sauce and honey in a saucepan. Stir until well-blended. Over medium heat, bring to a simmer. Add cornstarch slurry, stirring well to prevent lumps. Cook, stirring regularly, for about 1 to 2 minutes or until slightly thickened and heated through.
- Transfer cooked chicken into a serving platter. Top with hot teriyaki glaze just before serving. Serve hot.
Nutrition Information
“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”
Tanya says
I made this and it is delicious the only alteration I made was added a bit more honey to combate the sodium although I like my food salty my family doesn’t feel the same. It came out so good and tastes just like golden Carol. This is my new favorite recipe. Thank you.
Nancy says
Delish! Tastes exactly the same!
Kendra Ledbetter says
My husband loved it and said it was better than golden corral.
Rebecca Karns says
I have made this 2 times now and it turned out good. I did sub the teriyaki sauce for the glaze just for the lower sodium content. Also after I cooked the chicken in a pan I transfered it to a crock pot cooked on low until I got the desired look which worked out well and I also added I think was about a tablespoon or 2 of light brown sugar after the transfer to the crockpot and it lowered the salty taste a bit more to make it like GC’s. Everyone at my party I had a few days ago loved it and asking me to either make it for them or wanting the recipe.
Jessica Owens says
This recipe is delicious, I bought 2 bottles of P.F Changs Teriyaki sauce and let me tell you! It was sooo good. Used one bottle to marinate, only for an hour because
that’s all the time I had, but it was still good. The other bottle to make extra sauce because my husband and kids like it with their rice.
Shardae says
I followed the recipe and added my own touches. I brought food lion brand teriyaki, added ground ginger to my marinade. Was kinda pressed for time so I only marinated a few hours. Cooked down chicken took out added Marinade with honey and cornstarch mixture! Was so good! Thanks for the recipe! It is now one of my favorite SIMPLE meal! I made Brock and cheese and Mexican street corn to go with!
Mike says
For those that say the recipe is too salty, try using a teriyaki glaze type sauce in place of kikkoman type. These are sweeter and have less salt. I used this and the recipe was good. Not quite the same as Golden Corral but in my opinion it was better
Lalaine says
Thanks for the tip, Mike! I am glad the recipe worked well for you 🙂
Lalaine says
Thanks for the tip, Mike!
Jean Duggan says
My husband is a fussy eater. He loves the bourbon street chicken at golden corral. I have tried a couple recipes and he wasn’t enjoying them at all. I tried this recipe and he said that this one was really close and he enjoyed it.
Cici says
Thank you very much for this great recipe! I have prepared this recipe twice with chicken breasts and rice, but other than rice, what other side dishes would go well with Bourbon Street Chicken? Also, is it better to use white meat or dark meat chicken?
SLaw says
I was so excited about this recipe after seeing the photos at the top of the page. It looks exactly like my favorite dish at Golden Corral! When I got ready to cook the chicken I noticed the cooking video just about the recipe that you posted, and that the finish product looked nothing like your photos at the top of the page or what is sold at GC. I was already cooking it though so I was hopeful it would still taste like it. Nope. It was so incredibly salty and just tasted like a slightly doctored version of regular teriyaki chicken. It tasted nothing like the bourbon chicken from Golden Corral, even if the salt level was decreased. I’m very frustrated that I wasted money not only on the chicken that was too salty to eat, but on a seasoning blend that we won’t even have a use for now. So disappointing. I don’t know what GC you eat at, but truly, this is nothing like the “real thing”.
🙁
Lalaine says
Hello Slaw,
I am so sorry the recipe didn’t meet your expectations. We love this dish at home and I am not really sure what went wrong on your end.
If you scroll through the post, you’ll see a photo I took of a board displayed at Golden Corral. It has the same ingredients and instructions as my recipe as I based mine on that. The only reason the video doesn’t look like my photos is that I cooked them longer until almost caramelized for my pictures.
Teresa says
Can I use boneless skinless chicken breasts?
Lalaine says
Yes, you can! Just adjust cook time as they cook faster 🙂