Chicken or Pork Teriyaki Pineapple Kebabs

Teriyaki is a cooking technique used in Japanese cuisine in which foods are broiled or grilled with a glaze of soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. You can make your own teriyaki sauce or purchase it prepared in a bottle at most every grocer in the USA.

Today I'm making chicken teriyaki with pineapple. Ideally boneless skinless thighs should be used, as they are more tender and moist, but you can use chicken breast if it's what you have on hand, as I'm doing today. Pork (loin or tenderloin) works well too in this classic combination with pineapple. 

I serve it over any type of rice and it can be grilled or roasted in your oven. Today I'm doing the oven version but the grilled version works just the same.

The meat is marinated in the teriyaki sauce for 4-8 hours and reserved sauce is combined with juice from the pineapple and cooked into a glaze applied near the end of serving. It is then placed on a skewer (kebab) with pineapple pieces and roasted with glaze added near the end of cooking. For some reason food on a skewer is always popular. If you'd like to try another skewered chicken recipe, check out my Peruvian Grilled Chicken. 

While fresh pineapple is preferred for this dish, you can also use canned slices as I'm doing today. Fresh pineapple works best as the flesh is much more firm than canned pineapple. As you are cutting the fresh pineapple yourself you can make a nice thick single chunk. With canned pineapple, which comes pre-sliced, I cut them into piece and put two slices together before adding them to the skewer.

Ingredients (2-4 servings)

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken (thighs or breasts)

        cut into 1 inch pieces (substitute pork loin or tenderloin)

1 pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch pieces

       substitute canned sliced pineapple - see note above

       reserve juice

1/2 red onion (optional), cut into 1-inch pieces

1 bottle teriyaki sauce

1 tablespoon corn starch

Instructions

Four to eight hours before the meal, place the cubed meat into a zippered bag with half the teriyaki sauce. Close the bag tightly removing any air. Make sure at least half of each piece is submerged in the sauce. Place the bag into a pie plate to catch any leakage and let marinate in refrigerator for 4-8 hours turning the bag halfway through to marinate the other side of the meat.

Prepare the glaze by placing the remaining teriyaki sauce and all but 1/4 cup of the reserve pineapple juice into a small sauce pan. Heat over medium high heat until mixture comes to a boil and then reduce heat to medium. Continue cooking stirring occasionally until mixture is reduced to 1/3 cup. Mix the corn starch with the 1/4 cup of reserved pineapple juice. Add to reduced teriyaki mixture and whisk in and cook until the sauce thickens into a glaze. Set aside to cool. 

Approximately 45 minutes before serving time, thread 1 chicken/pork piece, then 1 pineapple piece, then the optional onion piece onto each of your metal skewers. Repeat until skewers are full. 

Preheat oven to 400F (use convention roast setting if available) or pre-heat your grill. In an oven, place the skewers over an oven-safe dish so they are suspended. If using grill, place directly on cleaned and oiled grill grates. Cook for approximately 15 minute turning once during cooking. Brush on the glaze and continue cooking for 10 minutes more or until meat is done and reaches 160F degrees and the meat is lightly charred. 

Take care in removing metal skewers as they will remain very hot.