Firecracker Pineapple Chicken
Do you ever crave take-out Chinese but you don’t want to fight the evening traffic? Or, is it simply becoming too expensive to dine out anymore? Perhaps you feel guilty about eating so much junk – and goodness knows those tasty sauces slathered all over our favorite Chinese dishes are high in sodium and often full of refined sugar as well. The breaded meats are fried in copious amounts of oil. And then we pile all that deliciousness on a big mound of high glycemic-index, calorie-laden white rice!
For the record, when I make this recipe at home I still pile it on white rice. So much for me saving myself the calories. However, I use basmati rice which has a lower glycemic index than other white rice varieties such as jasmine rice – for those who are diabetic or who are watching their blood sugar. You can also serve it over cauliflower rice which would knock those calories WAY DOWN!
But type of rice aside, the firecracker pineapple chicken itself is surprisingly free of all the other unhealthy stuff. It’s also gluten free as long as you make sure to use a gluten-free tamari or soy sauce or coconut aminos.
I admit when I first was introduced to the recipe, it looked like a lot of work. Really, once you cube the raw chicken breast (my least favorite part of the prep) everything else comes together fairly quickly. You can easily cook the rice in an Instant Pot while prepping everything else (rice recipe included below). I purchased this non-stick liner from Amazon which makes clean up a breeze. (As an Amazon affiliate, I may earn a small commission if you purchase directly from this link.)
And it is SO YUMMY!
It’s one of my husband’s favorites from my list of dinner recipes (along with my Bang Bang Chicken Tacos). I’m probably a little biased, but I enjoy this recipe even more than most take-out Chinese.
Also, I keep many of the ingredients on hand so as long as we have thawed chicken breast available I’m good to go.
A couple handy hints:
- When you purchase fresh ginger, mince it all and freeze it in a sandwich bag (rather than mincing only what you need and sticking the rest back in the fridge where you’ll forget it exists until you later discover its shriveled, moldy self). When you’re craving something like Firecracker Pineapple Chicken (or another recipe that calls for fresh ginger), you can just whip out that sandwich bag and you’re good to go. Much better than buying the jars or tubes of refrigerated “fresh ginger”, too!
- Pineapple juice – buy a 6-pack of the 6-ounce cans. They’re the exact size (3/4 cup juice) that the recipe calls for. Yes, it’s less economical than purchasing a large bottle of pineapple juice, but unless you use the juice for other things (we don’t), buying the individual cans prevents waste. And, they don’t take up valuable refrigerator real estate like an opened bottle of pineapple juice does.
So without further delay, here it is – Firecracker Pineapple Chicken. Enjoy!
Firecracker Pineapple Chicken
Equipment
- 1 Nonstick frying pan – 10"-12"
- 1 Stainless steel or other non-coated frying pan (Optional – better for crisping the chicken)
- Pressure cooker (i.e., Instant Pot) (Optional – for quick and easy rice)
Ingredients
For the sauce:
- 1½ tbsp avocado oil (canola oil will also work)
- 1½ tsp fresh ginger, minced
- 3/4 cup pineapple juice, all natural (or 1 can from a small 6-pack of juice)
- 1 tbsp Frank's Red Hot sauce
- ½ tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or coconut aminos)
- 1 tsp corn starch (or tapioca starch)
For the chicken:
- 3 tbsp corn starch (or tapioca starch)
- salt & pepper (a few dashes of each)
- 8 oz. fresh chicken breast, cubed
- 2 tbsp avocado oil (or canola oil)
- ¼ cup pineapple tidbits in their own juice
- cooked Basmati (or other white) rice, or cauliflower rice (See easy Instant Pot rice recipe below)
- sliced green onions with tops
- sesame seeds (either white or black will work)
Instructions
For the sauce:
- Heat avocado oil on medium heat in nonstick frying pan. Add fresh ginger and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add pineapple juice (reserving a couple tablespoons), hot sauce and soy sauce or coconut aminos. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil.
- Stir 1 tsp of corn starch into reserved pineapple juice, then add to the sauce mixture, whisking until combined.
- Boil, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens slightly, about 2-3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium/low and cook additional 1-2 minutes, until sauce begins to appear shiny. Transfer to medium bowl and cover to keep warm while preparing the chicken (or leave sauce in the non-stick pan if using two pans like I do).
For the chicken:
- Place corn starch, salt & pepper in a large Ziploc bag and shake to combine. Add chicken and shake again until chicken is evenly coated.
- Heat oil on medium high heat in large frying pan. Add cubed chicken (you may need to do batches depending on the size of your frying pan). Cook until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes. If using a non-coated skillet, the chicken will release when it's ready to turn. Don't force it. Flip and cook the other side until golden brown. Transfer to paper towel lined plate to absorb any excess oil.
- Return cooked chicken to frying pan on low heat. Add pineapple tidbits. Pour sauce over and stir to coat evenly. Cook until heated through, 1-2 minutes.
- Serve over rice. Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds.
Easy Instant Pot White Rice (set this to cook while prepping the chicken):
- Add 1 cup of rinsed white rice to instant pot along with 1 cup of cold water. Select pressure cook function (high pressure) and set timer for 3 minutes. Once cooking is finished, turn off instant pot and do a 10-minute natural release. Release any pressure that remains, remove lid, and fluff the rice. Let sit uncovered for 1-2 minutes to allow excess moisture to evaporate.
