This pineapple chicken is a stir fry of chicken, pineapple and vegetables all tossed in a sweet and savory sauce. Serve this Chinese style pineapple chicken over rice for an easy dinner that everyone will love!
In the mood for something tropical for dinner? Try some pineapple chicken with sauteed chicken thighs, chunks of fresh pineapple and crisp red bell peppers. You can have this easy meal on the table in less than 30 minutes.
I’m constantly searching for easy chicken dinners that my whole family will love, and I’m happy to say that this quick and easy pineapple chicken is always a huge hit! It’s essentially a chicken stir fry with the addition of juicy pineapple, and the sauce is also infused with pineapple flavor. You’ll feel like you’re on a tropical vacation when you serve this dish for dinner.
How to make pineapple chicken
The basis of this dish is chicken thighs, pineapple and red bell peppers. These ingredients are sauteed to golden brown, then flavored with garlic and ginger and tossed in a sweet and savory sauce. Add some rice on the side, and you’ve got a complete meal. If you’re feeling really fancy, you can even serve this dinner in a hollowed out pineapple for a fun presentation.
You can use either fresh or canned pineapple here, but I wouldn’t recommend frozen pineapple. If you use a can of pineapple, be sure to reserve the juice to use in the sauce. I use a red bell pepper here because it adds flavor and crunch, but you could use a different colored pepper if you prefer. A yellow or orange pepper tastes the same as a red pepper if you’ve got one of those on hand. Sometimes I also add a little chopped onion for extra flavor.
I like to make this dish with chicken thighs because it’s more traditional, and the dark meat chicken adds a little bit of richness to the recipe. If you’re a white meat fan, you can absolutely use cut up chicken breasts in lieu of the thighs.
I finish this dish with sesame seeds and green onions, but if you don’t have those garnishes on hand, don’t even worry about it. You can omit those finishing touches and still end up with a fabulous meal.
I typically put a pot of rice on the stove at the same time as I start cooking my pineapple chicken, that way everything is done at the same time. Pineapple chicken with rice is really a complete meal as is, because you’ve got fruit, vegetables, protein and your starch. That being said, sometimes I add a side of steamed broccoli, because I don’t think it’s possible to eat too many green veggies!
While serving this meal inside a pineapple is clearly optional, it’s also super impressive and not a lot of work to pull off. It’s a great one to serve to company, or just to make a weeknight dinner feel a little more special.
More easy chicken recipes
Pineapple Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 red bell pepper seeded. cored and cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 cup pineapple chunks fresh or canned
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 3/4 cup pineapple juice
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/3 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 1/3 cup hoisin sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- 2 teaspoons sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon sliced green onions
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper to taste and add to the pan.
- Cook the chicken for 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through.
- Add the red bell pepper and pineapple to the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes or until tender. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for 30 seconds more.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the pineapple juice, soy sauce, chicken broth, hoisin sauce and brown sugar.
- Add the sauce mixture to the pan and bring to a simmer.
- Mix the corn starch with 1 tablespoon of cold water; stir until smooth.
- Add the cornstarch mixture to the pan and stir to combine. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute or until sauce has just thickened.
- Sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onions, then serve.
Do you have a cookbook with these recipes?
Unfortunately I don’t have a cookbook at this time!
A keeper! Thank you!
Great Recipe — I added Water Chestnuts & Endameme for crunch!
I believe I would take the chicken out and let the peppers and pineapple cook for a few minutes before adding the chicken back. It was very tasty even though I didn’t have any sesame seeds. It’s a good recipe overall. Thanks for sharing!
Great dish !!!! Added portobello mushrooms and steamed broccoli. Used a little less brown sugar and did a tablespoon of corn starch. Excellent!!!
Great dish. Much try it. I didn’t have hoisin sauce and corn starch. It still came out great. My son enjoy it.
Look forward to making this recipe. I think I’ll mix the thighs and the breast. Can I use ground ginger instead if I don’t have minced?
Really good. This time I omitted the chicken stock and increased the pineapple juice to 1 cup. Cut down the brown sugar to 2 tablespoons. I would probably try 1 tablespoon of cornflour next time.
I made it i add more veggies
So so yummy
Loved it…I added red pepper flakes for a little kick. Will definitely make it again
Can this be made in advance for a very busy family
I think that should be fine!
Loved this recipe just added some more veggies thickened a little more served with rice Delicious!!
Tried it was delicious served over rice
Very good. Next time I will cut the amount of brown sugar in half. A little too sweet for me. I added broccoli florets, sliced carrots, red onion and pea pods. We like a thicker sauce, so I doubled the cornstarch slurry. A great base recipe to build from.
Served with Jasmine rice, definitely on my top 5 dinner recipes
Made this tonight and it was absolutely delicious. I didn’t have any sesame seeds but that was the only difference. I’ll be making this for company, also. Thank you for posting this. We loved it. I served it over jasmine rice.
Love the sauce! Doubled the recipe and used boneless, skinless chicken breast. Added onions, carrots and celery. Used a 1 tblsp of chile oil and 3 tblsp of chile paste in the sauce for a little heat, which coupled well with the sweetness. Rave reviews all around. This one’s a keeper!
The sauce was very runny. I had to boil it way down and make an additional corn starch slurry. I might double the dry ingredients the next time I make it. That being said, the whole family loved it!
I followed the recipe exactly, except I used chicken breast (turns out caramalized and juicy if cooked on medium high in hot oil), added two tablespoons, rather than teaspoons, of cornstarch, a bit of broccoli, and served it with jasmine rice. It was delicious – a keeper.
Try increasing the cornstarch 👍
I cut way back on the soy sauce and threw in some broccoli and it was quite good. Only other thing I would do next time is add some hot pepper flakes for some zip,
Followed recipe as is. Only thing I didn’t have was sesame seeds. One of the best recipes I’ve ever tried and tasted!!!!!! Cannot wait to make again!!!!