Grilled Huli Huli Chicken and Pineapple Spears

Every once and awhile a cooking video appears in my Facebook feed that cannot be ignored. My mouth starts watering as I watch. It goes instantly to the top of my must make list. Such is the case with this recipe - Grilled Huli Huli Chicken from a site called The Recipe Critic. They in turn adapted it from a recipe on Taste of Home. You know a recipe must be good when it continues to move from one site to the next.

When I first wrote this blog, I had company coming in a few days, so was excited to try it. Since then I have made it a few times. It's a great summer recipe for the grill which keeps you from heating up the house. And it is super easy. All you do is toss the chicken in the marinade the night before, then grill it along with some pineapple slices just before mealtime. 

I love the tropical marinade.  It gives a delicious flavor to the meat.  While the recipe didn't include grilled pineapple spears,  they were shown in the site's food image, so I have always included them in the meal.  I am not usually a fruit with my meat fan, but it works here. A small slice of grilled pineapple combined with a small slice of this chicken is a divine bite. 

As we are looking forward to a hot summer, I am pretty sure I will be making this delicious recipe again. Enjoy!

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Grilled Huli Huli Chicken
Serves: 8-10

Ingredients - 

4 lbs       Boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts (thighs would be juicier)
1 C         Unsweetened pineapple juice
½ C        Soy sauce
½ C        Brown sugar
⅓ C        Ketchup
¼ C        Chicken broth
2 tsp       Fresh ginger root, grated
1½ tsp    Minced garlic

Pineapple spears - The amount varies, but one per dinner guest plus 2 extra is usually enough.
Green Onions, sliced for garnish

Instructions - 

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together pineapple juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, ketchup, chicken broth, ginger and garlic. Reserve 1 cup sauce for basting. Add the chicken and the rest of the sauce to a Ziploc bag and marinate at least 3 hours or overnight. (I tend to dump everything in the bag, forgetting to save some marinade for basting and it still turns out great. However, it would get a better carmelized color if you basted the chicken while grilling.)

Grill the chicken, covered, over medium heat for 6-8 minutes on each side or until no longer pink. Baste occasionally with reserved marinade during the last 5 minutes. Grill the pineapple spears at the same time just long enough to warm and put grill marks on a couple sides.  Garnish with green onions if desired.