I’ve gotten a little lax with my grocery spending lately, so during the month of June I’m making it my mission to use up as many things in my pantry and freezer as possible. First up: chicken thighs! I fell in love with chicken thighs when I made the Maple Dijon Chicken because they are just so easy to prepare and come out so wonderfully juicy. All you really need to do is slather on a sauce and bake.
So, that’s what I did. I whipped up a quick pineapple teriyaki sauce (again using pantry staples), poured it over the chicken and let it bake. I served it over some brown jasmine rice, topped it with some left over sliced green onions, and a side of some frozen broccoli florets (ALSO leftovers from the freezer). All I bought for this recipe was the pineapple. That makes me HAPPY. …and I’m sure I’ll be happy munching on this for lunch tomorrow at work!
P.S. I made four chicken thighs because that’s what I had in my freezer, but this amount of sauce could probably handle up to 6 smallish thighs without needing to make more.
Baked Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Thighs
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Baked Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Thighs
Servings 4Ingredients
- 15 oz can pineapple chunks in juice ($1.29)
- 1 inch fresh ginger, grated ($0.11)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce ($0.40)
- 1 1/2 Tbsp rice vinegar ($0.17)
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.03)
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch ($0.04)
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 1 1/4 lbs) ($2.35)
- 3 whole green onions, sliced ($0.33)
- 4 cups cooked rice ($0.69)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Drain the pineapple juice from the can to use in the sauce (it should be about 3/4 cup juice total). Save the pineapple chunks for later. Combine the pineapple juice, grated ginger, minced garlic, soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, and cornstarch in a small sauce pot. Stir until everything is well combined and the cornstarch is dissolved. Cook the mixture over medium heat until it begins to boil and becomes thick and glossy. Turn the burner off and add the pineapple chunks to the sauce.
- Coat a small casserole dish with non-stick spray. Arrange the chicken thighs in the dish so that they are not overlapping. Pour the pineapple teriyaki sauce over the chicken, allowing some to get under the chicken pieces.
- Bake the chicken in the preheated oven for 35 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Top the chicken with the sliced green onions. To serve, scoop one chicken thigh plus pineapple pieces and sauce over a bowl of cooked rice.
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Nutrition
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Step by Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, then begin to make the sauce. Pour off the juice from one 15-oz. can of pineapple chunks in juice. You should have about 3/4 cup juice (if you have less, say 1/2 cup, you’ll still be okay).
Combine that pineapple juice in a small sauce pot with 1 inch of freshly grated ginger, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/4 cup soy sauce 1.5 Tbsp rice vinegar, 2 Tbsp brown sugar, and 1 Tbsp cornstarch. Stir until all of the corn starch is dissolved. it will look kind of cloudy, like this.
Cook the sauce over medium heat until it begins to boil, at which point it will become thick and glossy (that’s the magic of corn starch!). This only takes about five minutes. Turn the heat off and stir in the pineapple chunks.
Place the chicken thighs in a casserole dish so that they are not overlapping. You want them to have a little bit of space, so if you’re cooking more than just four, use a larger dish. I don’t bother trimming the fat because it mostly melts off and it tastes good. Yes, I said it. Chicken fat tastes good!
Pour the yummy sauce all over ’em. I lifted up the chicken a bit to let some of the sauce get underneath…
Then just cook it in the preheated oven for about 35 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked all the way through and the sauce is nice and bubbly. DONE!
Sprinkle some sliced green onions on top and you’re ready to serve!
I served mine with some brown rice and leftover frozen broccoli florets. I had plenty of sauce to spoon over the rice and broccoli for a FANTASTIC meal. So easy!
Could you marinate this (and in what mixture) so it’s not just being baked with a sauce on top?
You can split the sauce before simmering it on the stove and use half as a marinade, then pour the other half over the chicken before baking. :)
I realized while we were eating that I forgot to add the soy sauce. It was not great, so I don’t recommend doing that. LOL! I’m definitely going to try again! Such an easy recipe, and I love that you just pop it in the oven. I’m going to try adding some red bell pepper next time.
I accidentally used my pineapple juice to make piña coladas before reading the entire recipe….
hahahahahah!! XOXO -Monti
Right as I was about to put the chicken in the dish we caught the “shouldn’t eat this” smell. Ended up grilling burgers and putting the sauce on those so it wouldn’t get wasted. Drool worthy!
I have also made this recipe for years and when I don’t have boneless chicken thighs and just the bone in, I cook them a bit without the sauce before adding it later. This is just so sauce doesn’t turn so thin.
I have made this over and over for several years and it is always delicious for me and pleases others. One time I had to use powdered ginger ( the horror!) But it was still great.
Do you have any nutritional info for this?
No, I’m sorry, I do not have nutritional information.
For this one, I got inspired by your recent stir-fry chicken recipe, which used storebought sweet chilli sauce. My chilli sauce has been sitting in the fridge for ages and I was very pleased to find a creative way to use it :)
So I made my sauce by mixing 1 cup sweet chilli sauce, 1 inch of minced fresh ginger, 1 garlic clove and a few tablespoons of soy sauce (I just kept tasting it until I thought the flavour was good). I also used fresh pineapple, because that’s what I had :)
Tasty and very straightforward to prepare :) Just enough time to cook rice and some green beans (+ do some vacuuming hehe).
Covered or uncovered?
Uncovered
I made this tonight with a few modifications. I didn’t want to use the oven, so I simmered the sauce (minus the cornstarch) in a high side pan until bubbly and then added my chicken thighs. I put the lid on it and simmered on med-low for 15 minutes. I added the cornstarch slurry and gave that a couple minutes to thicken while I dished up my sides. A fast weeknight dinner and one that works well in warmer months too. Oh, I also added a little fish sauce for some umami flavor and a small pinch of red chili flakes for some warmth to counter the sweetness.
Love the addition of the fish sauce!
Will this work without the rice vinegar/cornstarch? It’s too cold to go out to the supermarket today haha.
Nope, unfortunately those two ingredients are pretty critical. :) I feel ya, though!
Planning on making this tomorrow. Interested to know if you have ever tried it in cjunks rather than whole pieces (using breasts because I have that).
I haven’t, but it’s a great idea! It will likely cook much faster and the sauce will touch more of the meat. :)
This is on our menu this week and I’m so excited! It is so tasty and I just want to drink the sauce haha!
Used on about 12. Not as slathered but just as good. Love thus recipe!
Would this meal freeze well?
Sometimes sauces thickened with cornstarch separate after they freeze and thaw, so that might be the only problem.
Could I let the chicken marinate in the sauce overnight? Anything I candy to cut down on prep time before cooking during the school week is always helpful! If I can just throw this in the oven when I get home tomorrow that would be AWESOME!
-*can do not candy lol
That would probably work. :)
This looks amazing! I’m so excited to try it, but I do have a question. If I don’t have fresh ginger, will ground ginger work? If so, how much would you use? Thanks!
Surprisingly, fresh ginger and dried/ground ginger have very different flavors, so there’s no hard rule for substituting the two. That being said, the dried ginger will probably also be delicious and I’d probably go with about a 1/2 teaspoon.
Blast! I made this tonight. Everything would’ve been perfect, except that a chunk of brown sugar fell into the sauce. Fearful that it would be too sweet, I did 1/2 cup juice and 1/4 cup water. I totally watered it down. It was really good – all the elements were there. My husband says it was good enough that we’ll try it again, sans water!
I made this with the new way to bake frozen broccoli you taught us (cooks at the same temp.) and tonight was one of the best meals, easiest I have made in a long time. This recipe will be in our normal rotation. Easily a 5 star meal.
I’m definitely going to try the Sesame Chicken recipe tomorrow. I have some chicken thighs and was planning to just bake them with seasonings but this recipe looks easy enough and I’m sure, judging by the reviews, that it will taste delicious.
Delicious. Made this for dinner last night. I had crushed not chunk pineapple. The crushed was perfect, but it didn’t have the 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of juice so I added what it did have plus some water to equal that amount when making the sauce. I cooked mine about 10 more minutes as one of the thighs in the pkg was large. Also toward the end of cooking, I flipped the thighs over for 5 minutes so they could cook upside down for 5 mins. Then back right side up at the end. Delicious. Next time I might add a fine dice of jalapeno or red pepper flakes for some kick. Perfect just as it is. I also served w/Rice & I had leftover carrots on the side. Thank you!
just made this for supper, was really good but my sauce and pineapple chunks were really dark in color due to the soya sauce I guess. But tasted delicious.
This website is PERFECT for college students on a budget. My room mate and I made this tonight and it was absolutely amazing! We used chicken breasts instead, but still turned out great. The sauce was a little salty but not overdone. Great instructions and flavor was awesome. 10/10!
OMG-just found your site ! Lots of good ideas for the budget minded and broke retirees. I have several recipes lined up to make over the next few days ! Thank you so much for sharing, and will let you know how this one works- I am also going to try the mandarin oranges as I have lots of those to use.
This is amazing. Sooo tender, so easy, so cheap. You are my current blog hero. I love the concept and the execution. Thanks a million.
Made these tonight & they were good! Used chicken breasts & added a bit of red pepper flakes. Tender & tasty!
Thank you for this post.. I usually have pineapple and oranges on hand so I planned this for supper…Well the pantry had neither …I am going to use pears and maybe add apples….Will let you know how this turns out….Serve with onions and peppers .. either in the sauce or stir fried on the side….yummy….
This dish is excellent! Even my one year old thought so! It’s a keeper for sure.
This dish is absolutely delicious!!!!!! Super easy to make too!! I added white sushi rice and brussel sprouts instead for the sides and then garnished it with the green onions, my fiance was so amazed! He was like “this looks delicious and professional!!” I think he was impressed! Thank you for this recipe! <3
Number one, I have been on your blog all afternoon looking at recipes. Everything looks so delicious and I’m so glad to have found your site! I adapted the sauce in this recipe tonight to drizzle over rice, broccoli, and baked chicken. Because I didn’t have any pineapple on hand, I substituted it with mandarin oranges and it turned out absolutely incredible. Thank you!!
Made this tonight, was bloody lovely! I used the same quantity as the recipe and used it on 5 chicken thighs and a separate dish for some over Quorn fillets. It was just so yummy and I love the fact that it looked like the photos! Well, mine was darker and think perhaps because I used dark soy sauce, and I had no green onions to top it with so chopped some fresh mint (mint and pineapple is delish).
LOVE your site :-)
I made this for my omnivore boyfriend last night. He thought it needed some spice, and that thought did cross my mind as I was making it before he mentioned it. I would add red pepper flakes to the sauce next time. He said it was “good”, which is great since he’s notoriously picky. The simplicity of this was awesome.
Made this with chicken breasts and Followed this recipe exactly. Came out watery so disappointing!
Then you didn’t follow the recipe exactly ;)
This was a HUGE hit with my family. I used bone-in thighs, and the meat just fell right off the bones.
Hey, Beth!
I tried this recipe, and YUM! I also did a review of Budget Bytes, and it’s up now!
http://notastepfordlife.blogspot.ca/2014/06/budget-bytes-nom-nom-nom.html
Thanks for the great write up!
Thank you so much for this recipe! I had all the ingredients on hand (except for the chicken) and it was SO good that I made it twice in a row. Now I’m on my own and have enough leftovers for a few days. Thanks for such a tasty and easy recipe.
So could I make up the pineapple teriyaki sauce in the morning and leave it refrigerated for the husband to assemble in the evening? Or would it just coagulate too soon?
I would suggest assembling the sauce, but not cooking it. If you cook it and then refrigerate, it will get very thick and might not be pourable over the chicken. It only takes a few minutes on the heat to cook and thicken, so hopefully your husband can handle that step as well. :)
Hey Beth,
First off, let me say that I’m a big fan of your website! I tried this recipe just today and followed your instructions to a tee with only one exception (I used chicken breasts instead of thighs). I’m eating it now and it’s tasty but I feel like all I can taste is the rice vinegar for some reason. Do you think if I omitted the rice vinegar entirely for next time that would totally ruin the sauce?
If you’re sensitive to that flavor, you might not have a problem omitting it. :) Personally, I feel like it needs that acid to balance out the sweet and salty. You could even try reducing it by half to see if that helps.
WOW!! I made these with chicken breast tenders and I usually hate baking breast because they always end up dry. My breasts in this recipe were SO MOIST. Love, love love. Also, who doesn’t like pineapple?! This meal was so perfect. Thank you!
This was totally worth turning on the oven for–thanks, Beth!
Hi… I like almost all ur recipes.each one of them looks like a million bucks.r u on you tube?? If u r not u should be.trust me ur preparations r really nice&delicious.
Also is there a vegetarian (non meat) version to this?? M vegetarian!! Thanks
Hi Beth, I like your teriyaki sauce recipe and I love pineapples so this recipe seems perfect to me. Thank you!
I’ve got one question. I see you used canned pineapple juice to add in the sauce instead of water as usual. Now where I’m living, it’s cheaper to buy fresh pineapples than canned ones and that’s what I intend to do. So if I use fresh pineapple, should I sauté the chunks to get some juice out? (I’m aware that I won’t get much juice this way though.) Or should I juice some chunks? Thanks.
You know, I’ll be honest, I don’t think the pineapple juice added that much to the sauce, so if I were you, I’d just add some fresh pineapple to the dish like I did with the canned, but use water for the sauce and add a little extra brown sugar to make up for the loss from the juice. I think I might even like my regular non-juice teriyaki a little better. I loved the pineapple chunks in the dish, though.
Dear god, that was good! The only change is I sauteed some chopped onion in coconut oil and then made the sauce into the onion. Amazing good eats! Thanks!!
You are a freakin’ visionary. I have not had one meal from your website that has been anything but amazing — and that’s with me cooking!
This recipe came out awesome! My family loved it! In the spirit of “using what you have”, I made it with jasmine rice and roasted asparagus. I would not change a single thing about the chicken dish. Thank you for the post!
yum this is going to be a staple in our house except I wont add the pineapple because the boys wouldnt eat it. or maybe just add a bit on my breasts because cooked is the only way I can enjoy pineapple.
I used 6 thighs and 2 huge chicken breasts and it was more than enough sauce and everything was yummy tender!!
Hi there!
I found your blog a cpl of wks ago. Overhauling my household budget, including meal planning. I’ve used several of your recipes, and mentioned you in today’s blog post. (if you’re interested, that’s here: http://notastepfordlife.blogspot.ca/2014/06/budgeting-meal-planning-housework.html )
Anyways, I *love* your site and your recipes! And, what’s even better, is that EVERYONE in my family does too! Considering that includes a hubby and five kids, that’s saying a lot!
This is definitely heading into the meal planning! Thanks again, and look forward to trying more recipes!
Thank YOU! :D
You are so very welcome!
We had your easy sesame chicken tonight. My meal plan is about, oh…95% your stuff….LOL
I have been following this blog for quite some time and made this dish last night! It was SO good!! I think I overdid it on the Ginger though…
Thank you for the easy chicken recipe!!
I’m not a huge dark meat fan – how would breasts work?
It would, but baking time might be different depending on the size and it won’t be quite as tender. :)
I used breasts and it turned out great! I did cut them into smaller chunks though.
Beth, If I made this with drumsticks would you still cook them for the same amount of time and at the same temperature? I would say they are probably medium sized drumsticks, not overly big or small, I think my package has 5 in it. Thanks!!
Yes, probably. Check them at 30 minutes and kind of pull apart the thickest part of the largest drumstick to see if it’s still pink inside. If so, add another ten minutes and check again. Typically chicken with the bone in takes longer, but drumsticks are fairly small, so it might even out to be about the same.
This looks delish! I love the frugality of chicken thighs. All I need is the pineapple. Thanks for another great recipe!
Our local Costco sells a frozen teriyaki pineapple chicken that I am borderline obsessed with… But chicken thighs are such a great value and so easy to cook with, I think I should just whip up a batch of this when I’m eating carbs again!
YUM. This looks fabulous…it is breakfast time, but this sounds pretty delicious right about now!!
Could you crock pot this recipe as well? Seems very adaptable to that!
Yes, you could, but the chicken will get very tender that way and it will most likely be more liquidy that way (because there is no evaporation like there is in the oven).
Sounds delish! Definitely going to do this with tofu.
Hi Beth,
I love your blog and have made several of your recipes. I wondered what you think about the risks of eating chicken now, with so many reports that it is contaminated (thinking of the Consumer Reports piece)? I think they may have said that even organic chicken may not be safe.
I hate to give up so many yummy dishes made with chicken :(
I haven’t read that piece, or heard anything about it yet. :P
This recipe just reminded me that I have some frozen chicken thighs that I need to use. Pineapple Teriyaki…here I come! I think I actually have everything for this in my pantry.