Sweet & Salty Pineapple Chicken 🍍 🐓

Name: Sweet & Salty Pineapple Chicken 🍍 🐓
Total time: 2400 s
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 4 chicken breasts (~2 pounds) cut into bite-sized chunks (~1 inch square); 4 teaspoons baking soda; 1 cup diced pineapple (fresh is preferred, but you can use canned); 3/4 cup diced onion; 3/4 cup diced red bell pepper; 1 Tablespoon fresh minced garlic; 1/3 cup hoisin sauce; 1/2 cup pineapple juice; 1/3 cup soy sauce; 1/3 cup low sodium chicken stock; 1/3 cup packed brown sugar; 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger; 2-3 teaspoons cornstarch; Olive oil for frying; Cooked rice, for serving; Salt and pepper as needed to taste; 1/2 cup chopped lightly salted cashews, for serving (optional)

Chris Gan @ChrissyAlpha

This is an Asian-inspired dish that is a family favorite. It can be prepared fairly quickly, and will disappear from your family’s plates equally quickly. 😁
This recipe is modified from the Food Network.
#GlobalApron - Week 9 - Pineapple
#Dinner #Savory #Asian #Meat

Chris Gan @ChrissyAlpha

Saved

Ingredients

About 40 min total

6 to 8 servings

4chicken breasts (~2 pounds) cut into bite-sized chunks (~1 inch square)
4 teaspoonsbaking soda
1 cupdiced pineapple (fresh is preferred, but you can use canned)
3/4 cupdiced onion
3/4 cupdiced red bell pepper
1 Tablespoonfresh minced garlic
For Sauce:
1/3 cuphoisin sauce
1/2 cuppineapple juice
1/3 cupsoy sauce
1/3 cuplow sodium chicken stock
1/3 cuppacked brown sugar
1/4 teaspoonground ginger
2-3 teaspoonscornstarch
Other Ingredients:
Olive oil for frying
Cooked rice, for serving
Salt and pepper as needed to taste
1/2 cupchopped lightly salted cashews, for serving (optional)

Saved

Steps

About 40 min total

1

If using a fresh pineapple, cut it into small pieces and then dice enough to obtain 1 cup. Save the rest for garnish or to eat as a snack.
A good video showing how to efficiently and easily cut a pineapple is on YouTube titled “How to Cut a Pineapple “ by Clean & Delicious. It has 20 M views for good reason. 😁
2

Trim the excess fat off the chicken breasts and cut them into bite sized pieces.
Place the pieces into a bowl and sprinkle them with 4 teaspoons baking soda.
Let sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes.
3

Rinse the chicken well to remove the baking soda, then gently pat it dry with paper towels.
Season it with salt and pepper.
4

Sauté the chicken in a a few teaspoons of olive oil until it is browned on all sides and cooked through.
Work in batches and don’t crowd the pan. This will help the chicken brown evenly.
5

Transfer the chicken to a fresh plate, and continue cooking until all the chicken is done.
6

Dice the onion and red bell pepper, and sauté in a few teaspoons of olive oil until softened and translucent.
Add the garlic and sauté for one more minute. Set aside.
7

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sauce ingredients: pineapple juice, soy sauce, chicken stock, hoisin sauce, ginger, and brown sugar.
8

Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and cook until the mixture has reduced to about 1 and 1/2 cups. (It’s okay if it’s not exact).
Add the cornstarch, and continue cooking and stirring until the sauce thickens and becomes slightly syrupy.
9

Transfer everything (chicken, onion, bell pepper, sauce) back into the skillet. Add the diced pineapple. Stir and cook until everything is well coated and heated through.
If the sauce isn’t thick enough to your liking, you can add another teaspoon of cornstarch if you like. Just be sure to cook it thoroughly so that it thickens.
10

Serve over rice, sprinkled with the chopped cashews and some leftover pineapple. I like to use sticky rice. 🍚 😋
If you want to get fancy, you can serve the chicken and rice in a carved out pineapple half.
11

Notes:
🍍 You can use chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts if you prefer.
🍍 I advise checking the nutritional label of the Hoisin sauce you purchase. Some have way more sugar than others! You don’t need all that extra sugar. Let the flavor of the pineapple shine through.
🍍The original recipe called for 1/2 cup brown sugar, but I reduced it to 1/3 cup. To be honest, you could probably decrease it a little further.
12

🍍 if you want to break up the work, you could slice up the pineapple and mix the sauce ingredients together, then refrigerate these ingredients overnight. Proceed with the recipe the next day.