I love chicken dishes, and I especially like delicious, sticky, and sweet Hawaiian chicken. Tender chicken morsels are dusted with cornstarch and egg, pan-fried to crispy perfection, and baked in an incredibly delicious sauce made with pineapple juice, brown sugar, soy sauce, minced garlic, and a splash of sriracha to make it a bit spicy.
This sauce is thickened with cornstarch, and it sticks to the chicken pieces to make the most amazing Hawaiian chicken recipe.
The addition of red bell pepper and pineapple tidbits makes this dish complete. Add white rice, and you just found the best of the Hawaiian chicken recipes out there, or maybe live a little and serve it with my Easy Fried Rice Recipe.
If you liked this sweet chicken dish, you are going to love Honey Garlic Chicken Wings and Sweet Baby Ray’s Crockpot Chicken Recipe.
“The full recipe with ingredients can be found in the recipe card below.”
How To Make Hawaiian Chicken?
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and dust them with the cornstarch mixture until all of them are fully covered. You can do this by placing the cornstarch in a ziplock bag, adding the chicken pieces and shaking the bag, or dredging them one by one in the cornstarch.
- Once the chicken pieces are dusted with cornstarch, start heating your cast iron or oven-safe skillet on medium-high heat. While the skillet is getting hot, place the chicken into the beaten eggs to cover.
- Add the oil to the hot skillet and wait for it to get hot. Once hot, add the chicken pieces and cook them until browned.
- Make the sauce by mixing the pineapple juice, brown sugar, soy sauce, minced garlic, sriracha, and cornstarch until well combined.
- Pour the sauce over the chicken pieces and add the chopped red bell pepper and the pineapple tidbits. Bake for one hour, mixing every 15 minutes to cover the chicken pieces with the sauce.
What To Serve with Hawaiian Chicken?
White rice is the perfect side dish. I don’t need anything else, but if you wanted to make this a complete meal, the only other thing I would add is steamed broccoli on the side. For dessert, I think a lemon-based one would be just right. Mini Lemon Drop Cakes and Creamy Lemon Squares are a couple of great ones!
Cooking Tips
- When draining the pineapple tidbits, save the juice because it makes for the one cup you need to make the sauce.
- If you want to have perfectly browned chicken, make sure your skillet is hot before adding the oil, and make sure the oil is hot before adding the chicken.
- Don’t forget to mix the chicken and sauce every 15 mins while baking if you want to get a perfectly sticky chicken. You want to baste it with the sauce so it can caramelize properly.
- If you are serving this to kids, you can skip the sriracha.
Sweet Hawaiian Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 skinless boneless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch pieces
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 2 eggs beaten
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 cup pineapple juice from the drained pineapple tidbits can
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup soy sauce
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon sriracha optional
- ½ tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 1- 20 oz can pineapple tidbits drained
- 3 green onions chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Dredge them in the cornstarch until fully covered.
- Dip each piece into the beaten eggs
- Heat the oil in a large cast-iron or oven-safe skillet and cook the chicken pieces until browned
- Mix the pineapple juice, brown sugar, soy sauce, minced garlic, sriracha, and cornstarch until well combined, and add this sauce to the chicken. Mix in the chopped red bell pepper and pineapple tidbits to the skillet as well. Bake for one hour, mixing every 15 minutes to cover the chicken with the sauce. Serve with green onions and white rice.
Nutrition
