A sweet and spicy Pineapple Firecracker Chicken. This 30 minute meal offers a perfect mid-week solution with a sauce that embodies sweet heat with a tantalizing flavor punch. It is easy enough for a weeknight, but tasty enough for a dinner party! Your guests are sure to be pleased with the tender chicken, sweet mini peppers, fragrant onions, and sweet pineapple chunks. The chicken thighs stay nice and tender and the whole thing is slathered in intoxicatingly delicious sauce. You won’t be able to get enough!
Pineapple Firecracker Chicken
This recipe is so easy, so flavorful, and so amazing you seriously don’t want to miss it. Don’t believe me? Check out this video highlighting just how easy it is to make:
One of my favorite things to get at a local restaurant is their firecracker chicken, seconded by sweet and sour. I started thinking about it, and thought how yummy it would be to make a cross over of sweet and sour and firecracker, and so I came up with Pineapple Firecracker Chicken. It has that heat you expect from firecracker chicken, with the sweetness of sweet and sour. And some acidity to boot!
With frozen fruit in the freezer, and some quick thinking, disaster was averted, and instead of take-out, I served my guests a hearty, delicious, flavorful meal that I pulled together in minutes. Â I just grabbed a bag of frozen pineapple chunks out of the freezer, a few peppers out of the garden, and in under 30 minutes, I had a wok full of tantalizing pineapple firecracker chicken just begging to be eaten. I usually keep frozen fruit on hand for things like smoothies, but loved how versatile frozen pineapple chunks are, and how easily and perfectly they worked for this savory wok dish! Honestly they could be used for anything from appetizers to drinks to main dishes, and of course dessert!
This dish made me super happy because it was so delicious and came together very quickly. I used Rice Vinegar, which you can find at almost any grocery store in the Asian Food section. But if you can’t find it feel free to sub in extra Apple Cider Vinegar. I also used sesame oil to add extra flavor to the chicken. This can be optional, though I recommend using it. Additionally, there is a whole cup of brown sugar in this recipe. While you can cut down on the sugar if you want, keep in mind, this dish does have a kick to it, and the sugar helps soften that a bit. Adjust according to personal preference. And adjust the amount of hot sauce as well. I found that as I have the recipe listed, it has enough heat to make me happy, while not being too hot for my kids to eat.
I am so glad I had a dinner challenge, and had to think outside my normal flavor box. And I am so glad I had frozen pineapple chunks in my freezer, not only was I prepared for anything, I got to create an absolutely mouthwatering meal.
Don’t you just want to dig in?
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Pineapple Firecracker Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 Tbs Olive Oil
- 2 lbs Chicken Thighs
- 1/4 tsp Sesame oil
- 3 Tbs Garlic minced
- Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 cups Sweet mini peppers chopped
- 1/2 cup Chopped white onion
- 16 ounces Frozen pineapple chunks
- 2 Tbs Sriracha
- 1 cup Brown sugar packed
- 1 Tbs Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 Tbs Rice Vinegar
- 1 Tbs Cornstarch
Garnish
- Green onions
- Red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Cut chicken into even sized pieces.
- Chop up onion and peppers into nickle sized pieces
- Heat 3 Tbs olive oil in a wok over medium-high heat
- Add minced garlic, chicken, sesame oil, salt and pepper, and cook until just browned about 1-2 minutes
- Remove from wok, leave some of the juices/oil behind.
- Add onions and peppers to pan and saute for 30 seconds, add in pineapple chunks,
- Add sriracha, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, and rice vinegar.
- Bring to a low boil, add chicken back in, and corn starch, stir well and immediately so corn starch doesn't form lumps. it will help the sauce thicken.
- Let simmer for 6-8 minutes until chicken is cooked through, and sauce is thickened.
- Remove and serve over rice! Garnish with green onion and red pepper flakes if desired
Notes
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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What to serve with it
- Easy Rice Pilaf
A simple rice side - Garlic Green Beans
A quick green side - Cucumber Lemonade
A cool, refreshing drink - Eclair Ice Box Cake
A no-bake dessert
Don’t forget to PIN to your CHICKEN DINNER board:
Kimberly says
Made this tonight; SO good!
Bob says
Is this 900 kcal PER serving??
Rachael says
I think the calculations are wrong. I will check.
Kelly says
I Wonder if all those can be thrown in a crockpot?
Rachael says
My guess is yes! But I can’t say for sure because I haven’t tried it.
Karly says
This looks SO good. Like, so so good. And so much better than takeout! My whole fam is going to looove this!
Jennifer says
Wow! Thanks a lot. Few days I tried this out but the result was horrible. I tried again with your guide last night, the result was so amazing. This was really helpful. I will print this out to use it when I want. I can’t wait to do this again. Fantastic!
Rachael says
So glad you liked it! Thanks for sharing.
Michelle says
This was delicious. It called for too much sugar for my taste so I cut that in half. Added lots of extra veggies and served over rice. Yumm! Thanks for sharing.
Rachael says
So glad you were able to alter it to fit your preference. Sounds delicious.