Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken
This sweet and savory Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken is infused with the flavors of the islands. You can taste the pineapple juice, garlic, and ginger in this amazing dish that gets its flavor from marinating and grilling meaty chicken thighs. Serve with a stir fry or sticky white rice!
I love teriyaki chicken, and sure, you can take a shortcut and use the bottled sauce, but making your own teriyaki sauce is so easy and much more flavorful. Plus, you can control the garlic and ginger, adding more if you like it a bit punchier. Serve it on white sticky rice or stir fry for an amazing, simple meal.
What is Hawaiian Teriyaki chicken?
There’s something so delicious about teriyaki chicken. Not only is the meat flavored from the marinade and super tender and juicy, but when you grill the chicken, the sugars in the sauce caramelize, creating even more flavor. The result is sticky, sweet and savory, and oh-so-delicious.
The base of Teriyaki Sauce is just shoyu (soy sauce) and sugar. You can leave it at that but I like to add in a little bit more to give it that “oomph!”
Why this is the best easy Hawaiian chicken recipe
- This recipe puts a Hawaiian spin on traditional teriyaki, and it’s so good!
- You can marinate the meat the night before so it’s ready to grill.
- It’s easy to double if you need to feed a crowd.
- This OXO Good Grips Easy-Clean Bladed Meat Tenderizer is a game changer for tender meat.
What is the difference between teriyaki chicken and huli huli chicken?
Teriyaki chicken and Huli huli (Hawaiian) chicken are similar in their savory, sweet, and salty flavor profiles, but Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken (huli huli) includes a sweeter pineapple juice and brown sugar combo, with other ingredients like soy sauce, sesami oil, garlic and ginger.
How do you make the best Hawaiian Teriyaki chicken?
The best part about making this family-friendly dish is how easy it is to make! I love getting the chicken marinating the night before, and then as soon as the grill is heated up, we’re ready to cook. Start with these ingredients:
- Chicken thighs – Boneless and skinless.
- Soy sauce
- Brown sugar – Packed – you can use light or dark.
- Pineapple juice
- Sesame oil
- Garlic – Fresh garlic cloves; chopped.
- Ginger – Fresh ginger; minced.
- Green onions – White and green parts; sliced.
What is teriyaki sauce?
Teriyaki is a Japanese sauce that’s rich, bold, and both sweet and savory. The base of Teriyaki Sauce is just shoyu (soy sauce) and sugar. You can leave it at that but I like to add in a little bit more to give it that “oomph!” It’s commonly served with stir fry! While stir-frying is a fundamental technique in Chinese cuisine, it’s also very common used in Japanese cooking, especially in the home.
Teriyaki chicken, salmon, and beef are all common proteins to get the teriyaki treatment, which involves marinating the meat or fish and then grilling it so the glaze becomes glossy and caramelized.
How to make Hawaiian chicken marinade
This grilled teriyaki chicken involves ingredients where the brown sugar dissolves (from pineapple juice and brown sugar) into the most delicious marinade. Here’s how:
- Tenderize the chicken thighs with your favorite meat tenderizer. Be sure to get both sides.
- Add the tenderized chicken thighs to a gallon-sized zipper-top bag.
- Combine the soy sauce, brown sugar, pineapple juice, sesame oil, chopped garlic, and minced ginger in a bowl.
- Sugar dissolves: The brown sugar will dissolve into the marinade making it thick and rich as you whisk it together. Transfer the marinade to the bag with the chicken, mix the chicken around, press the air out of the bag and seal it. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- When ready to cook, preheat your grill to medium and remove the chicken from the marinade and set it aside.
- Transfer the marinade to a medium saucepan and bring it to a simmer over low heat. Simmer the marinade for 5-10 minutes or until thick and glossy.
- Place the chicken on the grill and brush some of the reduced marinade over the top of the chicken and grill the chicken until it is cooked to 165-F. Do not put the brush back into the marinade if it has touched the raw chicken.
- Place the cooked chicken into a baking dish and drizzle the teriyaki sauce over the chicken. Sprinkle with green onions and serve.
Sandy’s tips and substitutions:
- If you don’t have a grill: You can cook this chicken under the broiler for a similar taste or even just pan-fry it until it is cooked.
- Watch the salt: You shouldn’t need to add extra salt to this recipe because the soy sauce is plenty salty.
- Add a kick: For a bit of a spicy kick, sprinkle some red chili flakes over the top of the chicken before serving.
- Garlic: Don’t be shy with the garlic! It seems like a lot, but the flavor mellows when it cooks.
- Ginger: Use fresh ginger, now powdered ginger. If you are in a bind, you can use the powdered but know the flavor won’t pop as much.
- To speed things up, add the ginger and garlic to a food processor and pulse it until it is finely chopped.
- Meat tenderizer: This OXO Good Grips Easy-Clean Bladed Meat Tenderizer makes all the difference with tender chicken!
- Storage: Store any leftover Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Pack any leftover marinade in a separate container.
Is stir fry Japenese or Chinese?
We get asked this all the time. Having a Chinese daughter in law, we dove into this question. Stir-frying is a cooking technique that originated in China, but other Eastern Asian cultures have adapted and used this technique for years, including Japan.
What do you serve with Hawaiian chicken?
This Hawaiian chicken recipe is super flavorful, so make sure that the side dishes you pair with it don’t compete with it in terms of flavor. I love serving this dish with simple sticky rice, or you could pair it with brown rice or stir fry. Or, keep the vegetables simpler, too, with picks like oven-roasted broccoli and cauliflower or a quick carrot salad on the side.
More Hawaiian-inspired dishes to try:
Get the Recipe:
Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken
Ingredients
- 3 pounds chicken thighs boneless, skinless
- Green onions, finely chopped
- 5 cups cooked white sticky rice
Make the teriyaki sauce:
- 1 ½ cup soy sauce
- 1 ½ cup brown sugar packed
- 1 ½ cup pineapple juice
- 2 Tbsp sesame oil
- 8 cloves garlic chopped
- 2 Tablespoon ginger fresh, minced
Equipment
- 1 Ziplock gallon bag
Instructions
- Tenderize the chicken thighs with your favorite meat tenderizer (see mine in the post), on both sides.
- Place chicken thighs in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag, set aside.
- Combine marinade ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl and whisk together until sugar dissolves.
- Pour marinade over chicken, press air out of the bag, and seal tightly. Refrigerate overnight (or at least 4 hours).
- Remove the chicken from the bag and place in a bowl; set aside.
- Pour the marinade into a medium saucepan, bring marinade to a simmer and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
- Place chicken on a medium-high grill and brush some of the hot marinade over the top (do not place brush back in marinade after brushing the chicken).
- Continue to grill chicken until done (165 degrees internal temp) on both sides. TIP: If the chicken is really thick, you will want to grill it on medium heat.
- Place cooked chicken in a baking dish and pour some (or all) of the hot teriyaki marinade over the top. Sprinkle with finely chopped green onions. Serve immediately on white sticky rice or with stir fy!
Notes
Hello and welcome to my home and table!
I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
Love this! SO GOOD! The next time we used it, we used the marinade on pork chops and grilled them. Again, SO GOOD!