Crockpot Pineapple Chicken
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Crockpot Pineapple chicken, also known as Aloha chicken or Hawaiian Chicken, is an amazingly easy and filling meal with a perfect balance of sweet and savory.
You cannot go wrong with a honey bbq sauce peppered with crushed pineapple, and once thrown into a slow cooker, it becomes a magic dinner recipe at the end of the day.
Why you will love making Hawaiian Chicken.
Crock-pot Hawaiian chicken is so incredibly easy to make and perfect for busy weeknights.
With only three ingredients, this pineapple chicken recipe is easy to dump in the slow cooker and go; It’s also one of the simplest recipes on your menu this month and one of my family’s favorite chicken recipes of the year.
Hawaiian Pineapple Chicken Ingredients
- Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
- Crushed pineapple, canned
- BBQ Sweet BBQ Sauce – Unlike other Pineapple chicken recipes, there is no need to pile up the sauce ingredients. A complete meal, full of great flavor profiles, comes right in your favorite BBQ sauce, and is perfect to season chicken.
How to make Hawaiian BBQ Chicken
This crockpot Hawaiian pineapple chicken recipe is truly easy.
If you can turn on your slow cooker, you are in!
Add boneless, skinless chicken breasts to the slow cooker/crock pot.
Empty a bottle of BBQ sauce over the chicken breasts, making sure they are totally covered. You can use a regular-sized bottle of BBQ sauce. I had half of a large one left and used that, and it was plenty. I also use a sweet honey BBQ sauce to bring out more of the sweet flavor in this barbecue chicken dish, but feel free to adjust to your taste.
Dump a can of crushed pineapple directly into the pot.
Slow cook canned pineapple and chicken for 8 hours on low or 4-6 hours on high for soft pull-apart chicken pieces. Tender Chicken should easily shred and be pulled apart with two forks.
Easy Chicken Recipe Variations
- Use fresh juicy pineapple; just cut it down into smaller fresh pineapple chunks to make the bites easier upon serving.
- Add more seasoning for extra flavor! Kosher Salt and Black Pepper to taste, ground or fresh ginger, brown sugar, garlic powder, and soy sauce are all complementary homestyle flavors for the Aloha chicken sauce mixture.
- You can also use chicken thighs but may adjust the slow cooking time as a result. Boneless chicken thighs tend to have a ton of flavor in a pineapple chicken recipe!
- Toppings that go well with this tangy sauce and juicy chicken are a spattering of green onions for color or pepper flakes for a little heat.
Do you have to remove pineapple juice?
Nope!! Do not remove or drain any excess juice in this pineapple chicken. However, if the chicken is cooked and you are ready to serve and feel like the pineapple juice mixture is too runny, you can take a tablespoon of cornstarch, add a little bit of hot water, and stir.
Add cornstarch slurry to the crockpot and stir. Set for 10 minutes, and the tangy pineapple sauce will thicken up nicely.
What side dish recipes go with Hawaiian Chicken?
Pineapple lovers rejoice! Easy to add related side dishes to serve with chicken: Southern Style Green Beans, Roasted Carrots, or make it a meal with a Hawaiian Coleslaw Recipe!
Pineapple Chicken | Crockpot Hawaiian BBQ Chicken
Ingredients
- 3-4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
- 1 can Crushed Pineapple
- 1 bottle BBQ Sweet BBQ Sauce
Instructions
- Add boneless, skinless chicken breasts to the crockpot in one layer.
- Empty bottle BBQ sauce directly on chicken breasts, making sure they are totally covered. I use a sweet BBQ sauce to bring out more of the sweet flavor in this barbecue chicken dish but any BBQ sauce flavor will work.
- Without draining any juice, dump a can of crushed pineapple directly into the pot over the chicken.
- Slow cook 8 hours on low or 4-6 hours on high for soft pull apart fork tender chicken.
Notes
How to combat runny sauce:
If your chicken is cooked and you are ready to serve and feel like it’s too runny, you can take a tablespoon of cornstarch, add a little bit of cold water, and stir. Then add your liquid into the crockpot and stir. Set for 10 minutes, and it will thicken up nicely. Easy Recipe Variations- Use fresh juicy pineapple; just cut it down into smaller fresh pineapple chunks to make the bites easier upon serving.
- Add more seasoning for extra flavor! Kosher Salt and Black Pepper to taste, ground or fresh ginger, brown sugar, garlic powder, and soy sauce are all complementary homestyle flavors for the Aloha chicken sauce mixture.
- You can also use chicken thighs but may adjust the slow cooking time as a result. Boneless chicken thighs tend to have a ton of flavor in a pineapple chicken recipe!
- Toppings that go well with this tangy sauce and juicy chicken are a spattering of green onions for color or pepper flakes for a little heat.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer: The nutritional data provided here is auto-calculated and intended for your convenience only. As it’s generated via automation, its accuracy may be compromised. For precise nutritional insight, please compute the values utilizing the actual ingredients in your recipe through your chosen nutrition calculator or application.
Did You Make This Recipe?
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Do you use pineapple in sweetened juice or nonsweetened
I use sweetened personally .
This is in my crockpot right now. I used crushed pineapple that was in 100% pineapple juice. I also used Sweet Baby Ray’s B-B-Q Sauce and 1 teaspoon of soy sauce (just because I saw that ingredient in another recipe. 😀 ) I can hardly wait to try it tonight. I’m going to serve it with rice. I still haven’t decided on a vegetable yet.
That sounds amazing! I like to add a green veggie when I serve up an orange food (like green beans which pair well with sweet)
Looks good. I’m going to try this in my instant pot.
Oooh! I dont have an instant pot yet! Let me know how it goes.
How long would you suggest the cooking time for chicken thighs be?
I have unfortunately never made this recipe with chicken thighs to let you know.
Are you suppose to take the chicken out and shred it??
You can if you want, but we just take chunks out for our rice.
I made this ladt night. Simple and delicious. This would be great as a sandwich or a slider as well. Put the meat on a delicious regular or Hawaiian roll and top with slaw and it’d be perfect for a large gathering.
Michael, thanks for the feedback on your Hawaiian Chicken! Yes, you are right, sliders would be great. The little Hawaiian sweet rolls!!
*last
YUMMY!! The chicken came out so tender and super flavorful. I will be adding this to my dinner rotation for sure. Thanks for the wonderful super easy recipe Trisha and Charlotte! I made your pineapple rice to go with. Super delicious as well!
Cindy, that is wonderful! It makes me so happy that you enjoyed this Hawaiian chicken recipe!
Trisha
Hi, how much BBQ sauce should we use for this recipe, please? I doubt the entire bottle.
Thank you!
Ari
Yes, you use the whole bottle.
I couldnt find sweet honey bbq so i got Hawaiian marinade
Ho, Trisha. I look forward to trying this soon. I meant what size (oz) for the BBQ sauce and crushed pineapples?
Could you please let me know? I hope to try this w/ your pineapple rice recipe.
I use a 40 oz bottle of BBQ sauce (as shown) and a 20 oz. crushed pineapple. If you use more or less chicken, you can add or take away depending on your taste and size of the meal. It wont alter the success of the recipe much, just give you more or less sauce.
8 oz or 15 oz can of pineapple?
I used a standard 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple. You can use more or less if you prefer.
I was very pleased with the way this dinner turned out. It’s such an easy recipe! Who doesn’t love throwing a mere three ingredients in a slow cooker and having the result be so tasty. I chose to cook on high for 4 hours, but the chicken wasn’t as “pull apart” as I had hoped. Next time, I’ll be more patient and cook on low.
How big is the can of crushed pineapple you use? 8oz or 16oz?
Made this dish tonight used a teriyaki bbque sauce turned out great! Only Question I have is what to do with the left over sauce?
Put in some rice and gobble up next day for lunch!
What size can of crushed pineapple do you use.
You can use as much or as little as you want – its an adjustable recipe based on how much of the pineapple taste you like – I personally use a 20 oz can of crushed pineapple. But feel free to add more!
Could peppers (red,yellow or green) be added to this
Yes! But if you want them crispy, you may want to make at the end and dump on vs cooking all day where they are likely to be soft.
Can you use pre cooked shredded chicken? I have Pre-cooked shredded chicken in my freezer. Can I thaw it out and use it?
It would change the timing as this recipe is for uncooked chicken, so its much longer. In your case, I would just warm up chicken and proceed w/ rest of ingredients.
Can you put it on bun like pulled pork or not? I’m trying it.
Absolutly!
I made this for supper and it was delicious…I did add some shredded coconut in the last 2 hours of cooking for that tropical twist…it was amazing…
Our family loved this! The sauce is fantastic! First night it was served over rice. With leftovers, I made sliders topped with a little slaw. Next time, I’d like to try adding sliced bell peppers and onions if I’m serving it with rice.
It was very good. I did cut the breast Into to bite size pieces.
Looks a great recipe.
Just wanted to clarify the cooking time it says total time 12 hours 5 minutes surely that should be 8 hours 5 minutes.
Thanks
Its because the recipe card is adding both ways to cook it (fast or slow) – Ill see if I can manually edit that.
How many servings does this recipe make?
This really just depends on how much chicken your family considers a serving. If you use 4 chicken breasts and each person receives one, then its 4 servings.