Baked Pineapple Chicken Bowls
Savory, sweet and sour with the juiciest of pineapple chunks and the most tender chicken bites baked to absolute perfection.
Pineapple chicken. Now that’s a combination of flavors that can never go wrong.
All this is missing is a drizzle of Sriracha. Because at the end of the day, everything needs Sriracha. EVERYTHING. Even if it’s just a small drizzle.
But if you don’t have the highest tolerance for spicy foods, I guess I can forgive you.
The sweet and savory sour flavors here will still stand alone just fine.
But really, my favorite part about this are the juicy pineapple chunks.
That’s all you really need anyway.
The pineapples and Sriracha. The chicken, as juicy and tender as it is, can stay by the sidelines, I guess.
Baked Pineapple Chicken Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 cup pineapple juice
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon Sriracha, optional
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups diced pineapple, canned or fresh
- 1 green onion, thinly sliced
- ¼ teaspoon sesame seeds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9x13 baking dish or coat with nonstick spray.
- To make the sauce, whisk together pineapple juice, brown sugar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and Sriracha in a medium bowl; set aside.
- In a large bowl, season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in cornstarch and gently toss to combine. Working one at a time, dip chicken into the eggs.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large saucepan. Add chicken and cook until golden brown, about 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate; discard excess oil.
- Add chicken and pineapple to prepared baking dish. Top with pineapple juice mixture.
- Place into oven and bake until the sauce has thickened, about 55 minutes, turning over every 15 minutes to evenly coat the chicken.
- Serve immediately, garnished with green onion and sesame seeds, if desired.
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I made this on a whim last night for dinner and it blew me away! So easy and delicious. 🙂 You’re recipes are always on point and great. Thanks for sharing this.
I used chicken broth instead of pineapple juice because I didn’t have juice. Super yummy and may have cut the sweet nicely.
Wow! I love pineapple chicken and used to order it at an Asian restaurant that switched ownership and isn’t nearly as good anymore. I decided to make this tonight. Hadn’t eaten all day and the stovetop chicken cooking part took much longer than expected but it was so well worth it! My boyfriend and I ate the entire lot in less than thirty minutes because it was so good.
Some said the sauce didn’t thicken up that well, so I whisked a little bit of flour in with the sauce and baked it at 350 degrees. It was amazing! I want more but it’s unfortunately all gone. Exceeded my expectations and wasn’t mushy like I assumed it might be.
Made this today. I cannot cook, so I have to follow recipes to a T, which also makes me a pretty good “recipe tester.” It’s not like I can tweak a recipe, since I don’t really know what I’m doing. 😛
I gotta say this dish was awesome! I am actually still kinda thinking about it, and I might eat some of what I have already put away for a couple more days. 🙂 Thanks a lot!
Hi! I was wondering if you knew of any good substitutes for the egg in the recipe because I am allergic to eggs?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
Use milk or buttermilk if you can’t use eggs
I made this for dinner a couple of nights ago and it was so delicious. I used almost double the amount of chicken, so I doubled the sauce, and followed the recipe exactly, (using canned pineapple chunks). It came out perfect! We just devoured the leftovers tonight.
One quick tip: most of this can be made ahead of time. I made the sauce in the morning and put it in a jar in the fridge, (it probably could even be made the day before). Then, in the afternoon, I did the part that was the most work – coating the chicken in cornstarch, dipping it in egg, frying it in batches, and draining it on paper towels. I then put all the chicken in a casserole dish, covered it and left it on my counter for a few hours (you could do this in the morning and refrigerate it until later). Then, I cleaned the pan and my kitchen so I was all ready to go when dinner time rolled around. At dinner time, it was so easy. All I had to do was toss the pineapple into the baking dish with the chicken, pour the sauce over it, and throw it in the oven. I made the rice while the chicken was in the oven.
Thanks again for a GREAT recipe!! I will definitely be making this again and often!
Thanks so much for your response Chungah! I will try again–I used fresh pineapple and perhaps that was the problem. Love your recipes–you have great ideas, such as not deep frying the chicken. I’m looking forward to trying some others!
Hello! This looks like a great recipe and I’m definitely going to try it tonight – I have the majority of the ingredients in my kitchen minus the corn starch and since I’m unable to get to the grocery store ( broken ankle lol) I was thinking of using flour… would that still work or should I figure out how to get some cornstarch ?
Thanks in advance 🙂
Sonia
Yes, flour will work!
I had the same result as Lynne, the sauce wasn’t thickening up and mine was very dark. I ended up taking it out of the oven and throwing everything back in the pan, reduced the sauce and added honey to thicken it up. Taste great but looks very different. I will continue to try more recipes as I LOVE your blog! Thanks Chungah! xoxo
Hi Chungha!
I am so fond of your sweet and sour baked chicken recipe, so I was really looking forward to trying this one. Pretty disappointed– the chicken had no crispness (it was almost mushy) and I found it a little too sweet. Also, it is very dark looking, not like your picture at all! I am wondering if it would have made a difference if I had used canned pineapple instead of fresh?
PS: I did follow the recipe faithfully!
Thanks.
Lynne, I’m sorry that this recipe did not turn out the way you had imagined. I only post recipes that have been successfully tested in my own kitchen, and as you can see from the comments here, many of these readers have had great outcomes in the final dish as well.
But with a little bit more information, we can troubleshoot what went wrong to have a successful turnaround next time.
Sometimes the ripeness of the fresh pineapple can play a crucial role. I’ve had great results using both canned and fresh so it’s really up to you which variation you’d like to use. Hope that helps!
There are two ways to thicken the sauce. You can dip the chicken in flour after the egg (I used flour instead of cornstarch) before you sear it in both sides. This will thicken the sauce as it bakes. You can also slightly reduce your sauce before you put it on your chicken to thicken the sauce.
I made this tonight and it was SO SO yummy! I did use the Siracha in the sauce and I can’t imagine it any other way. Some comments said their sauce didn’t thicken, and I had the same problem. I just turned up my oven a bit and it came out perfect. All ovens are different, as we all know. I really love this recipe, and all other recipes of yours I have made. Thank you thank you thank you!
I tried this recipe for dinner and it was delicious! I used a food processor to make the sauce which made it easier with less clean up.
Great taste! I think if I made it again I’d just fry the chicken pieces, and cook the sauce separately. Mine never got thick, and instead all my chicken was soggy. Again, great taste, but I followed the directions to a “tee” and never got a thickened sauce. Fixed it with a corn starch slurry in a sauce pan. Thanks for sharing!
Absolutely delicious; and so easy too
When does the rice come into the picture?
You can serve this over rice.
I couldn’t agree with you more! Sriracha makes everything better and much more delicious!
Harry Bowden
YUM!!! This looks delicious! I love pineapple too. Double win!!!
Does the chicken go right from the beaten eggs into the pan? Not back into the cornstarch first?
Thanks!!
Yes, that’s exactly right!
Thanks! Can’t wait to try!
Really nice recipe, reminds me of my holidays in Australia for the pinapple and thai/vietnamese for the cooking and the rice dish. Keep going on this amazing blog !
Usually too sweet for me, but I want to give yours a whirl! The ginger and soy should help balance the sweet! Looking forward to trying it soon.
Made this last night! Definitely adding this to the rotation! I doubled the chicken and next time will double the sauce. Oh and I also added a whole chopped green pepper and onion along with the pineapple.