Baked Hawaiian Chicken
This Baked Hawaiian Chicken is the perfect weeknight dinner that tastes like you spent hours in the kitchen, but comes together in just 45 minutes! Juicy chicken baked with sweet pineapple, and a savory sticky sauce for a meal the whole family will love. It’s a one-pan wonder that delivers restaurant-quality flavor with minimal cleanup. I’ve been making this recipe for years, and it never fails to disappear from the dinner table in minutes.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Total Time: 3 Hours
- Serves: 6
We make chicken a ton in this house, yet our meals are never boring thanks to it being so versatile. Like this Baked Chicken Marinara. Or even these Crispy Baked Chicken Thighs, simple yet full of taste. yum!
One day I realized I hadn’t marinated chicken in a while. I came across a great Baked Sweet Hawaiian Chicken recipe that is beyond worthy of a feature here on the blog.
This sheet pan chicken dinner was a great weeknight meal and a very easy dinner to make. Our whole family decided it was our new favorite thanks to the tangy pineapple sauce.
This pineapple chicken is an easy recipe that can be made on busy weeknights. Yet, great for those special occasions too.
Since chicken is a favourite in our home, make sure to check out our other quick and easy chicken recipes from salads to wings, pot pies and soups.
Time Saving Tip!
Make-Ahead Shortcut: Marinate the chicken the night before and store chopped vegetables in separate containers. When you get home from work, just arrange everything on the pan and pop it in the oven. It’s the ideal meal prep chicken recipe.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
As always, the full ingredients and recipe is on the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
Recipe Variations
- Hawaiian Chicken Bowls: This one pan Hawaiian chicken can be served over cauliflower rice, white rice, brown rice, or quinoa with extra pineapple chunks and a sprinkle of sesame seeds for a complete bowl meal.
- Spicy Hawaiian Chicken: Add 1-2 teaspoons of sriracha or red pepper flakes to the sauce for a sweet and spicy kick. You can also use sweet chili sauce instead of plain teriyaki.
- Coconut Hawaiian Chicken: Add 1/4 cup of coconut milk to the sauce and sprinkle with toasted coconut flakes before serving for a tropical twist.
- BBQ Hawaiian Chicken: Swap the ketchup for your favorite BBQ sauce mixed with a bit of pineapple juice for a smokier version.
- Slow Cooker Method: Place all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on low for 4-5 hours or high for 2-3 hours. Shred the chicken and serve over rice.
- Extra Veggies: Add bell peppers, snap peas, broccoli florets, sliced onions, mushrooms, zucchini, or cherry tomatoes to boost the vegetable content.
Tips for Success
Tips for Hawaiian Chicken Meal Prep:
This recipe is perfect for meal prep. I make a double batch on Sundays and portion it into glass containers with rice and vegetables for easy weekday lunches. It actually tastes better the next day after the flavors have had time to meld together.
You can also prep everything in advance by marinating the chicken and chopping the vegetables up to 24 hours ahead. When you’re ready to cook, just arrange on the pan and bake.
How to Make Hawaiian Chicken
Combine and Marinate – This easy hawaiian chicken recipe starts with marinating chicken drumsticks and bone-in thighs in the hawaiian sauce ingredients.
The easiest way to do this is to add these ingredients to a ziplock bag and toss chicken pieces in, and placing in the refrigerator.
Bake – Once the mixture is infused, place chicken onto a foil lined cookie sheet or baking dish prepared with cooking spray.
Bake in a 400 degree oven for a cook time of 45 minutes. Save the marinade from the bag, and just set aside for later steps.
This recipe is often referred to as Huli Huli Chicken because it’s the Hawaiian term to turn and turn. So, when baking this recipe, you turn and glaze, turn and glaze with the remaining marinade.
Baste with leftover marinade – Some might frown at basting the chicken with mixture that was marinating in raw chicken. So I added the step of boiling the leftover marinade before using as the glaze, in a small saucepan on the stove.
During this time you can add a bit of brown sugar, to make the sweet tangy sauce a bit stickier and thicker sauce.
Yet if you’d like to avoid this step, feel free to make a whole new batch of the sweet sauce marinate used solely for basting.
Serve and enjoy – The final result is fall off the bone tender chicken which has a distinct and delicious flavour. Even the kids made a juicy chicken remark while eating.
If tropical flavors is where its at, try our Slow Cooker Hawaiian Chicken. It makes a shredded chicken recipe that is great on its own or in sandwiches or tacos!
What to Serve with Hawaiian Chicken
We served with a side salad with leafy greens with cucumber, green pepper, and red bell pepper. We also love this recipe with a side of white rice, or brown rice. You can also go with cauliflower rice.
You really can’t go wrong with any side, because this prepared dish will be the star of the show no matter what.
Just don’t forget to garnish with some leftover pineapple tidbits and chives on top of the chicken. This gives some extra taste and points for beautiful plating.
How to Store Hawaiian Chicken
Storing Leftovers:
Allow the baked Hawaiian chicken to cool completely before storing. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days. I like to store the chicken and sauce together so the flavors continue to develop.
Freezing Instructions:
This recipe freezes beautifully for up to 3 months. Let the chicken cool completely, then transfer to freezer-safe containers or heavy-duty freezer bags. Remove as much air as possible to prevent freezer burn. I portion it into individual servings for easy grab-and-go lunches.
Label the container with the date so you remember when you made it. For best quality, use within 3 months.
Thawing:
The safest way to thaw is in the refrigerator overnight. It usually takes 12-24 hours to fully thaw depending on the portion size.
If you’re short on time, you can use the defrost setting on your microwave, though the texture won’t be quite as good as refrigerator thawing.
How to Reheat Hawaiian Chicken
Microwave: Place chicken in a microwave-safe dish, cover with a damp paper towel to retain moisture, and heat in 1-minute intervals until warmed through (usually 2-3 minutes total). This is the quickest method but can sometimes dry out the chicken.
Oven: This is my preferred reheating method for maintaining texture. Preheat oven to 350°F, place chicken in an oven-safe dish, cover with foil, and heat for 15-20 minutes until warmed through. Add a splash of water or chicken broth if it seems dry.
Stovetop: Add chicken, pineapple, and peppers to a skillet over medium heat with a splash of water or broth. Cover and heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until heated through.
Air Fryer: For a crispier exterior, reheat in the air fryer at 350°F for 3-5 minutes. This works especially well if you want to revive any caramelization.
Recipe FAQ
I don’t recommend cooking frozen chicken for this recipe. The chicken needs to be fully thawed for even cooking and proper marination. Frozen chicken will release too much water during cooking, making the dish watery and preventing caramelization. Always thaw chicken completely in the refrigerator before using.
Yes! You can marinate the chicken up to 24 hours in advance and chop all the vegetables ahead of time. Store them separately in the refrigerator until ready to bake. You can also fully cook the dish and reheat it, though it’s best fresh from the oven. For parties, I often prep everything in the morning and bake right before guests arrive.
Use a meat thermometer and don’t cook past 165°F or else you’ll have overcooked and dry chicken.
More Dinner Recipes
If baking is your style and you love pasta, try this Baked Chicken Spaghetti! To combine your love for both chicken and bacon, this Bacon Wrapped Chicken recipe is simple and so impressive.
Yet don’t forget to try my newest chicken recipe, Honey Dijon Chicken!
If you do happen to have leftover chicken from one of these delicious chicken recipes, make sure to try our Pesto Chicken Quesadillas recipe. It’s one of our favourite recipes for leftovers!
If Hawaiian inspired recipes are your thing, then you must try our Slow Cooker Hawaiian Pork Chops.
More Easy Chicken Recipes You’ll Love
If you’ve tried this Baked Hawaiian Chicken Recipe or any other recipe on my blog please let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you. Finally, consider leaving a 🌟 star rating while you’re here. Thanks!
Baked Hawaiian Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 lbs bone-in chicken (we used drumsticks and thighs)
- 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tsp fresh ginger (grated)
- 1 can pineapple chunks in juice (separate juice from chunks and use juice in marinate)
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 2 tsp garlic (minced)
- green onions (for garnish)
Instructions
- In a bowl whisk together soy sauce, vinegar, honey, ginger, pineapple juice, ketchup, broth and garlic. Place mixture into a large ziplock bag. Add the chicken and toss gently to coat. Refrigerate and allow to marinate for a minimum of 2 hours, turning the bag once.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place the chicken onto a foil-lined cookie sheet. Set aside and save marinate left in the ziplock.
- Bake chicken in the oven for 35 minutes, or until juices run clear. While chicken is cooking do the step below.
- Empty the remaining marinate in a pot on the stove. Bring to a boil and then cook at medium heat for 10-15 minutes.
- Once chicken is cooked, turn each piece and baste with marinate. Broil for a few minutes, turn, baste and broil again.
- Remove from the oven, and garnish with pineapple chunks leftover from can, along with chopped green onions. Enjoy!
Do you leave the skin on the chicken legs/thighs or remove?
You can leave it on.
Thanks for this delicious looking recipe! If I’m using fresh pineapples instead of canned, how much juice would you recommend for the marinade?
As much as you’d like. I’d try for at least 1/4 cup personally
Can I use just regular vinegar?
I haven’t tried, but if you do, let me know how it goes! 🙂
Can I marinate over night
Yes I did
I made the Hawaiian chicken, it was easy to make . My husband loved it,
Downloaded this recipe for my 55th birthday party its a Hawaiian theme and this sounds perfect.
Oh my I am drooling over these photos. I love most chicken dishes and this one looks so good. It seems like an easy recipe and I will try it soon for sure.
This sounds so good. Question though, how much dried ginger would you recommend if I don’t have fresh?
I would suggest 1/2 tsp of dried, as I find it’s stronger than fresh.
I love pineapple and this recipe sounds awesome, I’m going to have to give it a try!!
Love the recipe. I will definitely try this on long weekend