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. Add some sides and appetizers like veggie fried rice, Asian slaw or cream cheese wontons for a memorable meal.
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.
Pineapple Chicken Ingredients
To make this recipe, you will need vegetable oil, chicken thighs, red bell pepper, pineapple, garlic, ginger, pineapple juice, soy sauce, chicken broth, hoisin sauce, brown sugar, corn starch, sesame seeds, green onions, salt and black pepper.
How Do You make pineapple chicken?
Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or large skillet over medium high heat. Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper, then add them to the pan. Cook the chicken until it is golden brown. Add the bell peppers and pinapple to the pan, and cook until tender. Next, add ginger and garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Place the sauce ingredients in a bowl, and whisk to combine. Add the sauce to the pan and bring to a simmer. Whisk together the corn starch with cold water, and pour it into the pan. Bring to a boil and cook until the sauce is thick. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onions, then serve and enjoy.
Tips For The Perfect Dish
- Leftovers will stay fresh in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- 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 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. Green bell peppers are not as sweet as red, orange and yellow peppers.
- Hoisin sauce is an Asian condiment that can be purchased in the international foods aisle of most grocery stores.
Quick Tip
Feel free to swap out the chicken thighs for boneless skinless chicken breast.
Recipe FAQs
Choose a flavorless oil that can withstand high heat for stir frying. Some great options include vegetable oil, canola oil, peanut oil or avocado oil.
Chicken and pineapple pair well together because the mild flavor of the chicken really lets the sweet, tropical flavor of the pineapple shine through. Pork also pairs well with pineapple.
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Flavor Variations
Pineapple chicken is delicious as-is, but you can easily customize the flavors to suit your taste.
- Protein: Swap out the chicken thighs for pork tenderloin, thinly sliced flank steak, ground chicken or even shrimp.
- Vegetables: Feel free to add extra vegetables to this recipe. Some great options include onions, mushrooms, broccoli or carrots.
- Flavorings: Amp up the flavor of the sauce with additions such as sriracha, toasted sesame oil or orange zest.
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.
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Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
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.
Notes
- Leftovers will stay fresh in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- 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.
Can this be made in a crockpot? How long would you cook it for?
You could try it in the crockpot, I'd guess maybe 2-4 hours on low, although I've never made it this way so I can't say for sure!
very good and easy. I'm a fresh pineapple fan as when the snow flies the choices of inexpensive fresh fruits are limited. Bananas and citrus are boring and so over done. The pineapple needs recognition and uses in both baking and especially the savory side of cooking. Vegetarian recipes could be conducive as well. Any ideas out there?
Yum!
Went with others suggestions to omit brown sugar and it was still sweet and flavorful. I think any sugar would be too much since pineapple and juice and hoisin are all sweet. Added jalapeno and served over rice. Great combination of flavors. Plenty of sauce with recipe as written and we love stuff saucy. Will definitely make again!
Thanks for a greatrecipe. It as quick, easy, very tasty, filling and satisfied all the taste buds. The smell was very good also as everone kept drifting into the kitchen to see what was up. No left overs either. Good job!
What is a good side dish?
I like to serve this with steamed rice and a vegetable such as broccoli!
Amazing flavor! I made extra sauce (we like our rice loaded with sauce) and doubled the rest of the recipe with green pepper and onion & chicken & pineapple so we’d have leftovers. First time using hoisin sauce and it adds a lot of flavor. This recipe is a “keeper”
This was easy and delicious! But it does not need the added brown sugar, it’s sweet enough without it.
Made this for my wife last night. She is gluten free and cannot really do spicy/acidic. I substitute olive oil for vegetable oil, an orange pepper for a red pepper, onion powder for green onion and a light teriyaki sauce for the hoisin sauce. Came out fantastic! Served it over a bed of rice. I will definitely check out your other recipes. I'm sharing this one on FB!
I bookmarked this recipe weeks ago and just got around to making this for dinner tonight. It was delicious! As good as the pictures above only better. I followed the recipe exactly except used 2 red peppers instead of one. Great recipe. Thanks!
Delicious and looked gorgeous served in a pineapple! I cut the sugar slightly and next time will try only putting in half the amount and possibly even omitting it altogether. But the recipe turned out great and the flavor and presentation was beautiful. I also sautéed onion with the red pepper. Can’t wait to make this again!
I LOVED this recipe! I followed the directions plus added mushrooms and green pepper. Absolutely YUM!!!
For those wondering how hard it is to find...I found the Hoisin sauce at the regular grocery store and it isn't expensive.
Thank you!!
Made this once and now I find myself craving it! Delicious recipe and thank you for sharing it! I admit to not being a complete purist, in that I have stopped adding the brown sugar (Diabetic, Type 2), but that doesnt stop this from being an incredible meal! Even my finicky “I HATE ONIONS!” teens loved it. Thank you again! 8)
Made with coconut rice, was very good. Next time I might add cashews for a nice crunch.
I am not familiar with hoisin sauce.
It's an Asian condiment found in the ethnic foods aisle of most grocery stores!
Will it be OK to leave out the Hosin sauce ?
Yes that's fine!
This recipe is great! My family really enjoyed it! I also served it for a dinner party and added roasted cashews!
This was a hit with my entire family; children are 12, and 10 they loved it. I omitted the sesame seeds (not my favourite) otherwise followed recipe exactly. Next time I’ll use two red peppers for extra veggies. Delicious can’t wait to make it again!
Really good recipe, was a hit with the family and is now my go-to Chinese-type dish... I only made a couple slight changes; I only used half a red bell pepper, and added in ~1/2 cup of edamame. Omitted the green onion garnish. Canned pineapple worked fine, but if you buy it as “chunks” I suggest cutting them up smaller.
I think next time I can probably omit the sugar from the sauce, the pineapple contributes enough sweetness, and will reduce the calories a little.
Thanks for posting this!
So delicious!! I used chicken breast tenderloins that I cut into 1 inch cubes and omitted the sesame seeds, otherwise stuck with the recipe exactly. The chicken was tender, juicy and full of flavor! Thank you for sharing this! It’s going to be added to my go-to recipes. Terrific over brown rice, but might try it with riced cauliflower or zoodles next time.
Amazing!!!
So glad to hear you enjoyed it, thanks for reporting back!
This was SO good. I added and onion just because I like onions with peppers! But otherwise used the recipe! Does the nutritional content include the rice? The carbs seem so high for the chicken and veggies!!!
So glad you liked it! The carbs come from the pineapple, pineapple juice and brown sugar.
What are the carb and sugar values for a serving?
The nutrition information is listed on the recipe card!