Before grilling season is over this year, I had to share an awesome recipe for tender, sweet pineapple thighs that my family loves. They are sticky and so delicious! It’s a great way to make a meal out on your grill when the weather is this dang hot outside. If, however, you don’t have a grill, no worries--these chicken thighs cook up perfectly on a cast iron grill pan on your stovetop as well.

The secret for these beauties is in the marinade. It is a combination of teriyaki sauce, fresh minced garlic, freshly grated ginger (so yum!), and sesame oil. You’ll marinade it between two and four hours--anymore than four hours and it gets too salty and the texture of the chicken can get weird. After you’ve let them marinade a couple hours, fire up that grill and you will add sliced pineapple to the grill for the last couple minutes of cooking for the chicken to get that charred sweet pineapple that is perfect with this sticky chicken.

If you happen to have any leftovers of the chicken (which is highly unlikely! ;) ), I have a word of advice--make fried pineapple rice with the leftovers. It is the best!

Many people used the leftover chicken to make pineapple fried rice with the leftovers. There were many great ideas in the comments section on what to add to the fried rice that I wanted to share.

• To 3 cups of white or brown rice, add in 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, ½ teaspoon ginger powder, ¼ teaspoon white pepper, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, minced, 1 diced onion, 2 peeled and grated carrots and any of the below ideas:
• Make it with leftover ham you have instead of chicken
• Toss in frozen shrimp instead of using chicken
• Use any leftover veggies you might have in the freezer like chopped red bell pepper, frozen snap peas, chopped broccoli florets, frozen or canned corn, chopped green onion etc.
• Add fresh chopped pineapple, or if using canned, saute canned pineapple tidbits with the onion to give it a caramelized “wok” sweetness to it.
• Add a couple of chopped scrambled eggs
• Top it with sprinkled toasted coconut and pine nuts on top to really make it pop

When my husband and I were in Hawaii, our favorite breakfast restaurant that was so famous for their macadamia pancakes was also known for their delicious ham fried rice they served for breakfast. I had never had fried rice with breakfast before but it was the perfect combination of sweet/savory that we all love when eating a big, elaborate breakfast. The sweetness of our banana macadamia white chocolate chip pancakes topped with whipped cream and coconut syrup were perfectly balanced by the savory soy sauce fried rice. You will have to try whipping up this fried rice with either chicken or any leftover ham you have and possibly try it for breakfast. You will not be disappointed!

Now, without further ado, let’s get to the recipe for these perfect, sweet pineapple chicken thighs. Hopefully you will make them on your grill before grilling season is over this year. You’ll be glad you did!



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