This easy Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken is a delicious weeknight meal. Chicken is marinated in a homemade teriyaki sauce full of pineapple flavor (store bought sauce will work fine if you’re in a rush). Grill or bake them to perfection and serve them over white rice for an easy and delicious dinner option!
We love making teriyaki chicken pineapple bowls with our favorite fried rice!
Did you know that teriyaki is actually a technique of cooking? It’s a Japanese method of grilling or broiling with a combination of sugar and soy sauce (and often mirin). This recipe is great baked in the oven (and then broiled) and perfect in the summer when you’re craving Grilled Chicken!
Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Ingredients
I love teriyaki, it has great flavor and is perfect for Teriyaki Chicken stir fry, great for teriyaki pork and of course wonderful for chicken! This recipe has fairly basic ingredients, most of which you’ have on hand!
- Chicken: I love to juiciness of chicken thighs in this recipe. You can use chicken breasts if you’d prefer, adjust the cook time so the chicken reaches 165°F.
- Pineapple: Adding a bit of pineapple juice to the teriyaki sauce adds great flavor! You can swap out the pineapple for orange juice to make an orange teriyaki chicken. The sweetness of teriyaki lends itself well to various fruits (like fresh mango). I use canned pineapple rings in this recipe since it’s easy but you can use tidbits (if you’re making this recipe in the oven) or fresh or frozen pineapple.
- Teriyaki Sauce: This recipe uses homemade sauce but any store bought sauce will work too. You’ll want a thicker sauce (more the consistency of barbecue sauce). If your store bought sauce is thin, you can add a splash of pineapple juice and thicken it with a bit of cornstarch as directed below.
This is a slight variation from a traditional teriyaki sauce, but it has SO much flavor. I like to baste (or brush) the sauce onto the chicken as soon as I put them on the grill or bake them to ensure that it has a chance to caramelize to the chicken!
How To Make Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken
To make this easy pineapple teriyaki chicken recipe:
- MIX: Mix the teriyaki sauce ingredients together. Reserve half of the sauce to thicken for basting.
- MARINADE: Marinate the chicken breasts for about 4 hours or overnight in the teriyaki sauce. I like to do this in a freezer bag. If you’re short on time, try to marinate for at least 30 minutes if possible, the longer you do, the better the flavor!
- GRILL OR BAKE: Grill chicken for about 7 minutes on each side or until they reach an internal temperature of 165°F with a meat thermometer. Alternatively (in the winter), bake in the oven.
What To Serve With Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken
Pineapple teriyaki chicken is sweet but has a lot of flavor and is best paired with sides that are light and fresh. I like to serve pineapple teriyaki chicken with rice, but it’s also great with Sesame Ginger Snap Peas, bok choy, or Steamed Broccoli.
More Weeknight Favorites
- Shrimp Stir Fry – Quick and full of fresh veggies!
- Easy Mongolian Beef – Reader favorite!
- Beef and Broccoli – Classic combo!
- Chicken Lo Mein – Better than store bought!
- Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry – Super fast!
- Cashew Chicken Stir Fry – Easy take out at home!
Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken
Ingredients
- 6 chicken thighs boneless, skinless
- 6 Pineapple Rings
- 3 green onions cut into 1/2" pieces
- 1 cup teriyaki sauce store bought or homemade below
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch optional
- sesame seeds and green onion for garnish optional
Teriyaki Sauce (or use store bought)
- ⅓ cup Soy Sauce
- ¼ cup Fresh Lime Juice
- ¼ cup Pineapple juice
- ⅓ cup Honey
- ⅓ cup Ketchup
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 clove garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger root grated
- 1 green onion minced
Instructions
- Combine all sauce ingredients. Set half of the sauce aside and refrigerate.
- Combine chicken with remaining sauce. Marinate 4 hours or overnight if possible.
- Thicken Remaining Teriyaki Sauce: Place reserved sauce in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Combine cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water. Add cornstarch a little at a time to reach desired consistency, you may not use all of it.
To Bake
- Remove chicken from marinade and discard marinade. Place chicken, pineapple rings and green onions in a 9x13 pan. Top with thickened teriyaki sauce.
- Bake at 425˚F oven for 25 minutes or until chicken reaches 165°F. Broil 3-5 minutes or until brown.
To Grill
- Preheat grill to medium.
- Grill chicken basting with thickened sauce for about 6-8 minutes per side or until no pink remains. Grill pineapple slices for 5 minutes.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Chicken, Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
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Can I replace your teriyaki chicken with breasts?
If so, how would I just this recipe and how many pounds of chicken when I use and how would the recipe change? Thank you for your assistance
Hi Michelle, You can use chicken breasts if you’d prefer. Depending on the size of your chicken breasts you will use 3-4 and adjust the cook time so the chicken reaches 165°F.
Can you use lemon juice in place of lime juice?
I haven’t tried it but I think it’ll work just fine.
Your recipe ‘s look delicious
looks good and easy gonna have to try it.
Could b/s chicken breasts be substituted? I really like thighs, but my husband says the meat is “slimy”, which makes no sense to me because he eats chicken legs with no problem.
Hi Vicki, You can use chicken breasts if you’d prefer, adjust the cook time so the chicken reaches 165°F.
This didn’t taste like teriyaki. Maybe sweet and sour. But none of the family liked it. It also didn’t brown well in the oven so I had to transfer to a skillet to brown it. That at least made it edible. I’m not sure where all the five stars are coming from. I guess cause you can use easy ingredients that everyone has in their fridge. I’ll spend the extra pennies on the authentic ingredients next time.
To brown the chicken, we broil it for a few minutes at the end which definitely helps. Sorry to hear it wasn’t a hit with your family though. Mrs. S.
Hi Holly.. love your recipes I’ve tried some & they we’re very delicious…in this recipe can I use chicken legs ( that’s what I have thawed out)? If so will you tell me how long to bake in oven & what temperature please? Ty for sharing your recipes..have a blessed day!!
Hello Rosa, I haven’t tried this with drumsticks but I’m confident it will work just fine. The cooking time would be about 35-40 minutes. You’ll want to make sure they reach an internal temperature of 165°F. Enjoy and let us know how it goes!
I made this the other night and while we generally enjoyed it I feel like there’s a few things that I would do different next time. First, the chicken took about 10 minutes longer to cook but that’s no big deal. The teriyaki sauce was very good, and I followed the instructions of placing the reserved sauce on top of the chicken to bake it. The problem is that the juices that were released from the chicken during baking mixed with all of the teriyaki sauce which resulted in a runny, watery mixture that only vaguely resembled teriyaki sauce. Needless to say it was kind of pointless trying to put it on the chicken and rice because of the lack of flavor. Very disappointing. Next time I will probably either leave the reserved teriyaki sauce off and then add it after the chicken is cooked, or I will grill the chicken and add the teriyaki sauce afterwards.
Way too much ketchup in the sauce, we could barely eat it
So sorry to hear that Sugarkai. You can definitely reduce the ketchup in this recipe, let us know how it turns out.
What sides do you suggest with this recipe
We love serving this recipe with rice and a side of steamed broccoli or sesame ginger snap peas. Enjoy Doreen!
can i used ground ginger?
Hi Summer, we have only made this recipe with fresh but you can definitely give it a try! Just remember ground spices are more concentrated than fresh so you won’t want to use as much. Let us know how it turns out!
This is the second time for me to make this. My husband who usually doesn’t like oven baked chicken said I could make this anytime. So easy to make and so very delicious. Thanks for the recipe. I make a lot of your recipes.
Thanks Etta! Glad it was hit with you and your husband!