Ooooh, I ate good for lunch today! 🤤 I whipped up this really easy Skillet Pineapple BBQ Chicken, spooned it over some rice, and fixed a little broccoli for the side. I absolutely love skillet chicken dishes because the browning action that you get in a skillet makes super flavorful pan sauces without the need for a million ingredients. This sauce combines sweet pineapple, tangy BBQ sauce, and the savory chicken drippings for a to-die-for sauce. So easy and delicious, so little needed. This is the perfect easy weeknight dinner!
See this recipe used in my weekly meal prep.
This post contains some affiliate links, which means that we make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.
Make it Spicy or Mild
I’ve had a thing lately for super thinly sliced fresh jalapeños, so I added those to the dish at the end, but they are entirely optional if you don’t want a spicy dish.
Can I use Chicken Breast?
Also, you can totally do this with chicken breasts instead of thighs. I do suggest pounding the chicken breast to an even thickness first to help them cook evenly (You don’t want the tip to get tough and rubbery before the thick part cooks through).
Try Other BBQ Sauce Flavors!
P.S. I used regular BBQ sauce in effort to make a “base” recipe but as I was standing in the sauce aisle at the grocery store my mind was spinning with all the fun BBQ sauce flavors that would go great with this. Or maybe it was spinning because I had just gotten out of a really hard circuit training class. Either way, there are a lot of options!
Skillet Pineapple BBQ Chicken
Servings 6Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.02)
- 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs* (about 2.3 lbs.) ($6.85)
- Pinch Salt and pepper ($0.05)
- 20 oz. can Pineapple slices in juice ($1.19)
- 1/2 cup BBQ sauce ($0.68)
- 1 jalapeño (optional), sliced thinly ($0.08)
- 2 green onions, sliced ($0.25)
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium. Once hot add the cooking oil and swirl to coat the surface. While waiting for the skillet to heat, season both sides of the chicken thighs with a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Once the skillet is hot and the oil is shimmering, add the chicken thighs and cook until golden brown on each side and cooked through. Remove the cooked chicken to a clean plate.
- While the chicken is cooking, drain and reserve the juice from the canned pineapple slices.
- After removing the chicken from the skillet, turn the heat down to low and add about 1/2 cup of the reserved pineapple juice. Stir to dissolve and loosen the browned chicken bits from the bottom of the skillet. Once everything has been loosened from the skillet, add the BBQ sauce and stir until a thick sauce forms. Taste the sauce and add salt if needed. If your sauce gets too thick, simply add another splash of the reserved pineapple juice.
- Add the cooked chicken thighs and pineapple slices to the skillet, dredging both sides in the pineapple BBQ sauce. Spoon any excess sauce over the chicken.
- Adjust your oven’s rack so that the skillet will be about 6 inches from the broiler unit and turn the broiler on to high. Transfer the skillet to the oven and broil for about 5 minutes, or just until the BBQ sauce caramelizes on the edges of the chicken and pineapple. If you don’t have an oven safe skillet** you can transfer the chicken, pineapple, and ALL of the sauce to a casserole dish for broiling, or skip the broiling step and enjoy as is.
- After broiling, sprinkle the sliced jalapeño and green onion over top, and then serve.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Video
Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Pineapple BBQ Chicken – Step by Step Photos
Heat a large skillet over medium, then add a tablespoon of cooking oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the skillet. While waiting for the skillet to heat, season both sides of six boneless, skinless chicken thighs with a pinch of salt and pepper.
One the oil is hot and shimmering, add the chicken thighs and cook until golden brown on each side and cooked through. Remove the cooked chicken thighs to a clean plate.
While the chicken is cooking, drain and reserve the juice from a 20 oz. can of pineapple slices (packed in juice, NOT heavy syrup).
After removing the chicken from the skillet, turn the head down to low and add about 1/2 cup of the pineapple juice. Stir to dissolve the browned bits off the bottom of the skillet. You want to stir and gently scrape until it all comes off the skillet and is floating around in the liquid.
See how the appearance of the pineapple juice has changed after all the chicken bits are dissolved into it? Add 1/2 cup BBQ sauce and stir until a thick sauce forms.
If the sauce is too thick (say, if the skillet was too hot and the juice reduced too much), you can add a splash more of the reserved pineapple juice. Taste the sauce and add salt if needed. The chicken I used was heavily brined, so that seemed to season the sauce well enough with salt. And when I say brined, that’s like when you look at the package and it says “contains up to 15% broth” or “sodium chloride solution”. That’s basically a brine that makes the meat super tender and juicy.
Add the cooked chicken back to the skillet along with the pineapple slices, dredging both sides of both in the pineapple bbq pan sauce. Adjust your oven’s rack so that the skillet will be about 6 inches from the broiler unit, then turn the broiler on to high. If your skillet is not oven safe, you can put everything in a casserole dish or just skip the broiling part (it’s still quite delicious at this point!).
Broil the chicken and pineapple for about five minutes, or until it’s caramelized on top and the edges. Sprinkle thinly sliced jalapeño and green onion over top, then serve!
Seriously though, that pan sauce… And I can’t lie. If you sprinkled some Monterey jack cheese over the skillet pineapple BBQ chicken before broiling, it would be like a BBQ chicken pizza minus the crust.
I love the combo of pineapple and BBQ Sauce. This is definitely going on the list to make!
I made this last week for dinner one night and it was PERFECT! I didn’t have any rice in the house so we ate it with mashed potatoes and broccoli, strange combination maybe, but it was so good. And very, very easy to make.
I love this. But is there a method for doing it in the oven as a sheet pan dinner, rather than a skillet?
I think that would take some testing to get right. Unfortunately I can’t guess with that one. :)
used chicken breasts, didnt broil and was STILL AMAZING! cant wait to cook it again. it was literally so easy that it just might become a staple for me :)
Tried this tonight and it was exactly as I thought it would be … simple, tasty, and the whole family gobbled it down! Even my 2-year old, who is currently in the pickiest phase ever! I had to bribe him to eat the pineapple but once he did he couldn’t stop devouring! Thanks for the recipe that will surely be a family fave for years!
This is AWESOME! The kids loved it too. So delicious!
Pineapple Barbecue Chicken is so freaking delicious, and very simple to make. I had some left overs for breakfast this morning. I can’t wait to make this recipe again soon. Thanks, Beth!! :-)
We loved this! Very sweet and tangy. I don’t know if I did something wrong but it took at least 20 minutes for the sauce to thicken. So this took more like an hour to make.
I used teriyaki instead of BBQ sauce for a bit of asian flare (and cause thats what I had in my pantry) and it was wonderful! Great recipe and super simple. Thank you!
That sounds delicious, and will definitely have to try teriyaki sauce next time!!! :-)
We made this last night and LOVED it!! So easy and fresh and delicious- and the leftovers were just as good for lunch today. I think this would be such a good meal to take to friends that need a meal after a sickness, new baby, etc…just seems universally appealing and yummy!
Can I use drumsticks .?
Yes, but you’ll probably need to cook the drumsticks longer to make sure they’re cooked through because of the bone.
This was so good. I wanted to save it in the app but I can’t find it.
This is my first time using your recipe after much stalking lol. It was super yummy and so easy to make. It was a hit with my teenage son and husband. Can’t wait to try another one . I used chicken breast and a sweet and spicy BBQ sauce
My boyfriend and I made this, and it was great! Thanks for the recipe.
AbSolutely incredible- I used bone in skin on chicken thighs because that’s what I could find at the store. Due to the skin and bone I did finish baking them in the oven at 350 after searing them on the cooktop, baked them for 10-15 min until they reached a food safe temperature.
So quick and so easy! Even my SO loved, he just didn’t eat the pineapple rings because he doesn’t like pineapple but he loved the sauce!!!