Hawaiian Chicken is a bright and delicious weeknight dinner option! This easy Hawaiian chicken recipe is made with the most delicious sauce, seared on the stove top and then finished in the oven. Serve with grilled pineapple, coconut cauliflower rice or regular coconut rice!
Best Ever Hawaiian Chicken
Table of Contents
This is one of my go-to recipes when I don’t know what else to make. It always hits the spot, my kids love it and it is just so easy! I like to prep the sauce the night before so it’s ready to go then I pop the chicken into the marinade while I prep some other things – the chicken is so easy to cook and the mixture of the sauce, chicken and some rice … so good!
We love serving this with grilled pineapple, but this smoked pineapple is also amazing!
Why This Recipe Works
- The Sauce + Marinade: the first thing we do here is make a sauce/marinade. Then we use about 1/3 of it as a marinade and put the rest in a saucepan to reduce down into a sauce!
- Sear + Oven Method: I love a good sear on my chicken thighs, but then I pop them in the oven to let them finish cooking – easy and no mess!
- Accompaniments: you gotta go all the way and throw in some grilled pineapple and coconut rice to finish out the meal!
What You Will Need
- pineapple juice: this adds brightness, sweetness and that quintessential Hawaiian flavor!
- soy sauce or coconut aminos: use coconut aminos here if you are paleo/Whole30.
- Primal Kitchen Hawaiian BBQ Sauce: so. so. good!!! You have got to try this sauce!
- garlic: love how garlic rounds out any flavor profile!
- sesame oil: just a little to add a bit of umami.
- skin-on chicken thighs: you could most likely substitute a boneless chicken thigh or boneless chicken breast, just adjust your cooking time.
- kosher salt and ground black pepper: we use this to lightly season the chicken before marinating.
- olive or avocado oil: just a bit to coat the pan before searing the chicken.
How to Make Hawaiian Chicken
Place your bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs in a deep baking dish or large silicone bag.
Combine your sauce ingredients.
Pour approx. 1/3 of the sauce over the chicken to use as a marinade. Reserve the rest.
Sear your chicken thighs in a cast iron skillet and then move them to the oven to finish cooking.
Meanwhile, place the remaining sauce in a small saucepan and let simmer so it reduces and thickens.
Let your chicken thighs rest 5-10 minutes after cooking.
Serve chicken with the reduced sauce, grilled pineapple and either coconut cauliflower rice (for a paleo/Whole30 option) or with regular coconut rice!
Love serving this with some delicious coconut rice!
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Made this recipe and loved it?! We would love it if you would take a minute and leave a star rating and review – it is also helpful if you made any substitutions or changes to the recipe to share that as well. THANK YOU!
Other Recipes You Might Like
One Pot Baked Chicken and Rice
Cilantro Lime Chicken
Smoked Chicken Thighs
Grilled Spatchcock Chicken
Hawaiian Chicken Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Marinate Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner/Entree
- Method: Stove Top + Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
Hawaiian Chicken – an absolutely delicious and easy Hawaiian Chicken recipe that is perfect for any weeknight dinner!
Ingredients
Hawaiian Marinade/Sauce:
- 1/2 cup pineapple juice
- 1/2 cup soy sauce or coconut aminos*
- 1/2 cup Primal Kitchen Hawaiian BBQ Sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
Chicken:
- 6–8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- kosher salt and ground black pepper
- olive or avocado oil
Instructions
- Combine Hawaiian Marinade/Sauce ingredients in small mixing bowl; Stir and set aside.
- Place chicken thighs in a deep baking dish. Pat dry with clean paper towel. Sprinkle with a little kosher salt and ground black pepper.
- Pour about 1/3 of the marinade over the chicken thighs, just enough to be able to coat them. Place the remaining sauce in a small saucepan and set aside. Let chicken thighs marinate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Place a large, deep cast iron skillet (12 inches) on the stove-top and bring to medium-high heat. Add a tiny bit of oil to the pan, just enough to lightly coat the bottom.
- Once the pan is hot (it should sizzle if you flick some water on it) place the chicken thighs skin-side down into the pan and let sear 3-4 minutes or until the skin is nice and brown.
- Flip the chicken thighs over and then move the skillet to the oven (middle rack and uncovered). Let cook 15-20 minutes or until fully cooked (165 degree internal temperature).
- Meanwhile, place the saucepan with the leftover sauce in it on the stove top. Let simmer, uncovered, while the chicken is in the oven and allow it to reduce until thickened – it should be able to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and let cool (it will thicken more as it cools). Serve thickened sauce over the chicken, once done.
- Let chicken rest 5-10 minutes after coming out of the oven.
- Serve with Grilled Pineapple, Grilled Broccolini, Coconut Cauliflower Rice (Paleo/Whole30), Coconut Rice or Jasmine Rice.
Notes
- * use coconut aminos if Whole30/Paleo.
- Grilled: you can also grill your chicken thighs instead of using the cast iron skillet – simply marinate and prep them just as directed in the recipe card and then follow this tutorial on how to grill chicken thighs for grilling instructions.
- Paleo/Whole30: to make this paleo/Whole30 serve with coconut caulilfower rice.
Meg says
Made this for dinner tonight and it 10 out of 10. So good and so moist! This will become a staple in our house now!
Erin says
That’s awesome to hear, Meg! Thank you so much for coming back and leaving a rating and review – I so appreciate it!
Michele says
Divine! This is a high demand recipe over here and there are no leftovers- ok, maybe a little balsamic reduction that we use til the bitter end. I will say that this recipe takes a long time for me to make- there is a marinade and then sear/bake (or grill!) factor and I also use Erin’s coconut rice recipe alongside the chicken and grilled pineapple. I can’t go halfway as the combo of the marinated chicken, pineapple, coconut rice (use extra coconut milk!) and glaze is insane. I often pinch hit for pineapple juice with a citrus blend with what I have- orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit, tangerine. This is a must make- though try it on the weekend to allow extra time. You won’t regret it!
Kristen Maggitti says
I really loved the sweet and sour flavor here! I’m going to try marinating the chicken overnight to give it an extra flavor punch next time! Yep, I’m making it again. I bet this would be easy to grill in the summertime.
Kelly says
I had to sub the bbq sauce (used Sweet Baby Ray’s Hawaiian) but it came out great and my fiance and I loved it! So easy too!
Erin says
So glad you enjoyed it, Kelly!! Thanks for taking the time to come back and leave a review – I appreciate it!