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.
More Chicken Recipes
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Slow Cooker Orange Chicken
3 hrs 20 mins
Monterey Chicken
30 mins
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.
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!!!!