I absolutely love Asian inspired dishes, and have been experimenting with several different recipes lately. I recently made a spicy bourbon chicken that I thought was amazing…but the rest of my crowd, not so much. My family does not do spicy! So, the next time I had a craving for Chinese, I decided to skip the spice and see if I could create something my kids would eat. I had some pineapple in the fridge, which gave me inspiration for this Pineapple Chicken. It is sweet with the brown sugar and pineapple, but deliciously flavorful with hints of ginger and the saltiness of the tamari (gluten free soy sauce).
I topped mine with sesame seeds, green onions, and red pepper flakes, and served it over brown rice. We had an Asian chopped salad as a side, which is quickly made from a bagged salad kit (which I have found WalMart and Sam’s Club).
I am pleased to report that my girls loved it!! (My son is 5 and only eats chicken in the form of a nugget! I’m praying for the day he outgrows this.) I am super excited that I can add this to our regular rotation so I can get my Chinese food fix, and it is easy to spice up my individual portion so everyone is happy!
Pineapple Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. boneless chicken breasts - cut into bite size chunks
- 1 T. olive oil
- 1 clove garlic minced
- Approx. 1 cup pineapple tidbits or small chunks
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup Tamari
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup pineapple juice
- 2 T. ketchup
- 1 T. rice wine vinegar
- 1 T. cornstarch
- ½ tsp. powdered ginger
- Crushed red pepper flakes or sriracha optional
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet.
- Add chicken and cook until lightly browned.
- Remove chicken from pan and add remaining ingredients, heating over medium heat until well blended and dissolved.
- Add chicken back into pan with sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes uncovered.
KimM is a contributing writer for Eat at Home. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, three children, and 2 fur babies. She blogs about her kitchen adventures at Makin’ it Mo’Betta. You can also follow on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.
Cannot wait to make this one! Thanks for posting the recipe Kim!
Thanks Biz! We loved it.
I just made this for dinner, everyone ages 2, 22, & 39, absolutely loved it… No leftovers.. Will definitely be making this again! So great that it is gluten free!!!
Thanks Lauren! I’m so glad your family enjoyed it. Thanks for letting us know!
Hi there! This looks so good but can I use soy sauce instead of tamari and bbq sauce instead of ketchup? I’m trying to use what I have on hand instead of having to purchase other things, thanks!!
Hi Katie, absolutely use what you have on hand! Those subs should be fine. Hope you like it!
I thought this was excellent. I used about half the chicken (I had left-overs from a roasted chicken I made the night before), so I didn’t double the sauce. I also used about half the juice and brown sugar. I only used 1/2 tsp. of red pepper flakes and added thinly sliced scallions. Fantastic!
I tried this tonight with two additions, broccoli and baby corn. This was as good as it gets. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I added some green peppers and water chestnuts and OMG!!! It’s amazing! My family loved it. Their only complaint was there wasn’t enough. Next time I’ll double it up. Thank yoy for shearing this delicious recipe!
Glad you and your family enjoyed it! Thanks for letting me know!
Better late on this one than never. We all really enjoyed this meal alot. Thanks for posting this. As we talked we all had ideas. Top it with “green onions” like you did. One said add “water chestnuts” and/or “broccoli.” This meal is a definite keeper to be tweeked to keep it alive for the palate.