Hawaiian Chicken

You can use any type of chicken that you prefer, but if you choose chicken without a bone, you’ll need to reduce the the cooking time.  I loved this recipe the first time that I made it, but I made it with boneless, skinless breasts since that is all my husband will eat. The taste was amazing, but the chicken was dry, so I recommend chicken with the bone and skin still on. You can also make this recipe in the cast iron skillet used in the first step if that works better for you.  Preheat the oven to 350°F, and after searing the chicken, combine ALL ingredients, pour over chicken, then bake for 30 minutes. In the pictures that I took for the recipe, I used three bone-in and skin-on chicken breasts and I added 1/2 of the reserved pineapple juice.

Ingredients

• 4 chicken thighs (any bone-in and skin on chicken is fine)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 can pineapple chunks, reserve juice
• 1 yellow onion, cut into 1″ chunks
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1″ chunks
• Cooked white or brown rice for serving with the chicken

Directions

1. Using a cast iron skillet, heat olive oil on high heat and sear chicken pieces for two minutes on each side.
2. Drain the pineapple, and reserving the juice, add with red pepper and onion to the bottom of the slow cooker.
3. Mix the honey, soy sauce, brown sugar, grated ginger and garlic and add to the crockpot. At this time, you can add the reserved pineapple juice to the crockpot, if you choose. It makes additional juice, but of course increases the pineapple taste as well.
4. Carefully add the chicken pieces to the crockpot.
5. Cook on low for 5 hours or on high for 3 hours.
6. Add the cornstarch to the tablespoon of water, mix, and add to the slow cooker with the bell peppers and let it cook an additional 30 minutes while you cook the rice to accompany your meal.