Hawaiian Chicken is like a cross between a sweet and sour chicken and a brown sugar chicken. It has a sweet sticky sauce, and delightful chunks of pineapple and peppers, served over white rice.
I don’t know about you guys, but I could always use a vacation to the beautiful islands that make up Hawaii. Unfortunately, I can’t get there nearly as often as I want. But lucky for me, this unbreaded, cooked on the stove-top, easy Hawaiian chicken will have your tastebuds going on a tropical vacation in no time. It is better than take-out, and absolutely mouthwatering with both sweet and tangy notes.
The best way to describe the taste is a sweet and tangy sauce that is a cross between pineapple chicken, sweet and sour chicken, and brown sugar chicken.
The sauce ends up being this sticky, caramelized sauce of brown sugar and pineapple, with some nice tangy notes from the vinegar and BBQ sauce. In fact, the sauce on this chicken is so good I sometimes use it for grilling chicken breasts, not just to make this yummy, almost stir fry like meal.
When it is kind of gloomy, and we are stuck in the colder, darker, winter months, I love having fresh and flavorful meals that bring some sunshine and brighten the table. This is definitely one of those meals. No one is going to feel gloomy or sad when they get a taste of this meal. The flavors are absolutely mouthwatering.
How Do You Make Hawaiian Chicken?
One of my favorite parts of this Hawaiian chicken recipe is it is comprised of everyday ingredients that are simple to find, and totally awesome when combined. So despite the simplicity, it feels so special.
It’s so simple: sear the chicken, cook the peppers, combine the sauce ingredients, and then add all of the ingredients together. Cook until the peppers are soft, and the sauce has thickened and glossy. It’s that simple!
And if you are in a hurry, and don’t want to cut your chicken up, it is totally easy to customize the recipe, and just use chicken tenders, or chicken breasts. The one thing to keep in mind is that the sauce thickens and caramelizes as it cooks down, so if you plan to use whole chicken breasts, cook them a little longer before you start the sauce so they can be cooked through by the time the sauce reaches that sticky, deliciously luscious consistency. Consider pounding your chicken breasts to make them flat and even for a more consistent cooking time and even cooking across the whole breast.
And of course, serve it all on white rice or cauliflower rice. I love serving this with a vegetable side like this Cucumber Dill Salad.
If you are looking for other great chicken recipes for weeknight meals, be sure to check out this mega-popular Lemon Butter Chicken or this Sheet Pan Baked Greek Chicken.
Hawaiian Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts diced
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 cups diced bell peppers red, orange or yellow
- 1 whole pineapple diced
- 3 cups cooked white rice
SAUCE
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- ½ cup barbecue sauce
- ½ cup pineapple juice
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Season chicken with salt and pepper then add to the skillet.
- Sear outside until a nice golden crust forms.
- Remove chicken from pan, add in bell peppers and saute for 3-5 minutes until tender, remove from pan.
- Add sauce ingredients to pan, and bring to a simmer, add chicken back in, and cook on medium-low heat, letting sauce reduce while chicken cooks through.
- Add peppers and pineapple to pan, and cook a few minutes more, until sauce is thick, sticky, and glossy, and peppers are tender.
- Serve over cooked white rice.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner
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this recipe is amazing everyone should try it really good I will do it over again.
Can i do hawian chicken in a slow cooker please
I haven’t tried this in a slow cooker so I can’t say for sure.
I loved this recipe. I did use canned pineapple but it was delicious! My Mom used to make something similar but used ketchup instead of barbecue sauce.
I liked it very much but personally didn’t find the BBQ sauce to be a great addition. The recipe reminds me of a wonderfully tropical dish so when I get that bbq flavor it seems to take the “tropics” away. I love bbq but not in this. It could also have been the brand of bbq sauce I used that turned me off because It wasn’t my go to. It was an off brand I’ve never used before.
Besides that, the food was delicious.
I am glad you enjoyed it! It definitely could have been the brand of BBQ sauce you used.
Husband loved it so much that he mentioned it three times.
I’m keeping this recipe it was very delicious thank you, couldn’t figure out what to make for dinner the other day , sorry just posting my comments
This is absolutely delicious. The sauce is not overly sweet and my guests loved it