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.
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 was amazing!!!!!! I used flour to thicken. So delish!!!!!
So happy you enjoyed it Cherianne!
It tasted good but my sauce was runny too, I kept it simmering for a while and it still never became thick, sticky or glossy. The sauce looked the same as it did 15 minutes later as it did 2 minutes after mixing it all together.
Sorry to hear that Kristina! I am not sure why it didn’t thicken for you :( Next time you could add a cornstarch mixture to help. Combine equal parts of cornstarch and water. Add a little bit at a time to the boiling sauce while whisking until it reaches the desired consistency. I hope that helps!
We absolutely love the Hawaiian chicken! I used a spicy BBQ sauce that married very well with the sweetness of the pineapple. This recipe is a keeper!. Thank you for sharing
AMAZING flavor!!! Super easy and perfect portion size… the only issue is that it turned out kind of runny( I added cornstarch and it turned out beautifully), besides that I 110% recommend this dish.
Made the Hawaiian chicken recently, it was quick and delicious. Added broccoli and carrots for crunch.
I like to add water chestnuts, they work really well. I also put the rice in the mix at the end to help thicken the sauce, love this recipe
For some reason I couldn’t get the sauce to thicken up. I followed the recipe exactly. Maybe it’s the BBQ sauce I used? I don’t know. Anyone else have this problem? P. S. It still tasted really good!
Oh no, that’s disappointing. I can’t say for sure why it didn’t thicken for you however perhaps next time adding cornstarch would help. Combine equal parts cornstarch and water. Add a little bit at a time to the boiling sauce while whisking until it reaches desired consistency. I hope that helps!
This sounds so yummy and I’d like to try it for an upcoming baby shower I’m hosting. So here’s the dumb question…the recipe says it serves 4…how would I increase the amount of ingredients to serve a boatload…I’m talking 75 plus people, without sacrificing the taste???
To serve 75 you would need to do about 15x the amounts listed. I hope this helps!
Hawaiian chicken is a perfect slow cooker summer supper. When the weather is too warm for you to stand over a hot stove but you don’t want to sacrifice flavor, put this delicious dish on your menu. We serve with white rice, cilantro, and a dash of hot sauce. Combine 2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs (trimmed of excess fat), diced bellpepper, (16oz) of barbecue sauce,
(8oz) crushed pineapple and garlic powder in the slow cooker. Season liberally with salt and pepper and stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for six hours, or until the chicken is tender. Season with salt and pepper. Serve the chicken and serve over rice. If you want to thicker, richer sauce, you can reduce it a bit on the stove top. First transfer the chicken to warm up later. Then pour the sauce into a sauce pan and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the sauce is thickened. Enjoy!
Wow that sounds amazing!! Thanks Kenny G!
Could you use boneless skinless chicken thighs instead of breasts?
Sure you can, that would be delicious!
can this recipe be used in a slow cooker?
I have only made the recipe as written.
This was a great change of pace from my usual savory chicken dishes. My husband loved it & told me so twice!
My changes:
1. I made it in the oven to make it more hands free. Roasted 6 chicken thighs in a large roasting pan at 350 F while I shopped for some of the ingredients.
2. Thighs were done when I came home, so turned off oven & left thighs in hot oven while I prepped veggies.
3. Chopped fresh kale, carrots, & green onions in the food processor, added them to the roasting pan just for extra veggie nutrition.
4. Cut the pineapple & peppers. Added to roasting pan. Turned oven on at 375 F to start roasting/caramelizing the peppers & pineapple.
5. Made the sauce in a pot on cooktop, doubling the amounts. Added some orange juice & apricot jam to the mix for flavors.
6. Poured sauce over the chicken/ veggies/fruit & let it cook down.
7. Made basmati rice.
Delicious!
Thank you for sharing your changes with us, Audrey!
This is SO good!! I used a 20 oz. can of diced pineapple and it turned out Perfect. I have made it 3 times & is now my Go 2 quick meal.
I’m so happy to hear that Bella!
Hi
Sorry! Question again ☺️
You think is it okay to use this hawaiin bbq sauce?
I think the sauce you picked would be great Kaye!
Hi
What kind/brand of barbecue sauce and soy sauce did you used?
Thank you!
Trying it tonight; sounds absolutely delicious.
It is delicious AC!
Made this and now making it again for the 2nd time! Its super delicious, the flavors work so well together and I love feeding my family such a healthy dinner, its a win-win!! Love the pineapple with the peppers and that sauce is WOW, totally ties it all together! I used canned pineapple chunks and it worked great! Thank you for the recipe
So glad you enjoyed it Nadia!
MMmm all the flavor right here! Love it!
Enjoy it Suzy!
This looks insanely flavorful! Love the pineapple in there :)
These photos are making my mouth water. The sauce sounds absolutely delicious!
It’s so yummy!
Love this flavor combination!!! How can I resist?????
I can see how this dish would make the whole family happy. Chicken and pineapple, that’s just brilliant!
Super kid friendly!