Pineapple for Dinner

I could always go for Chinese take-out. I love dishes that combine spicy and sweet, served with delicious chewy rice or satisfying noodles. When I found a recipe for Pineapple Chicken from www.delish.com, I knew we had to try it.

This recipe is a relatively easy weeknight dinner, which makes it an automatic winner for me. I usually have chicken on hand, and we are huge pineapple fans, so this seemed like a great option for us. I decided to make it one evening when our youngest daughter had her boyfriend over for dinner. This was potentially risky, but I went for it anyway.

Delish uses chicken thighs for their meat, but I substituted breast tenderloins. Thigh meat is supposed to be more flavorful, but I lean more toward white meat in general and I always have tenderloins on hand. I also doubled the recipe, as it says it makes 4 servings normally and we had 5 people to feed. I also love leftover Chinese take-out, so I was fairly certain this dish would be a great leftover as well.

There are quite a few prep steps for this recipe, and I admit I didn’t start those early enough, so my cooking process got a little rushed. This can be prevented with better planning. You need to prep your chicken by cleaning and cutting the meat into 1 inch pieces. Then there is some fruit and veggie prep, cutting up peppers and pineapple, along with mincing a jalapeño and garlic. I also started rice in my Instant Pot to cook while the rest of the dish was being made.

Once you start the cooking process, you need a couple extra hands, so I had help from my oldest daughter for a bit and that really helped. She started to cook our flavor-packed sauce while I finished chopping and started to brown the chicken. The sauce combines soy sauce, pineapple juice, brown sugar, minced jalapeño and garlic, and hoisin sauce. To thicken it, you add a slurry of water and cornstarch. When you double a recipe like this, it tends to take a little longer. The skillet is a little more full, so the chicken takes longer to brown and the sauce takes longer to thicken.

Once your chicken is evenly browned and the sauce has thickened, you add the sauce to the skillet full of chicken and stir well. Allow this to cook for about 3-5 more minutes, then add diced pineapple and some crunchy cashews. Serve over rice and top with some sliced green onions and a squeeze of lime juice.

I have to admit that I rushed the sauce a bit, and it wasn’t really thickened enough before I added it to the chicken. I let it do a slow simmer for a bit while I prepped the green onion and lime toppings. It still didn’t thicken as much as I would have liked, but I didn’t want to overcook the chicken either.

The verdict is the extra prep is worth it and the finished dish is delicious. I would definitely make it again, with some better planning. I am not sure Allison’s boyfriend really loved it, but his manners are impeccable and he ate every last bite anyway. Bless his heart. Next time I will make him mac and cheese.

If this flavorful recipe sounds good to you, you can find the complete recipe here.