Hawaiian Chicken Skewers with Cilantro Coconut Rice
on Jul 15, 2020, Updated Jul 08, 2024
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Hawaiian Chicken Skewers with Cilantro Coconut Rice are perfect for an easy and healthy grilled dinner! Made with delicious marinated chicken, fresh pineapple, bell peppers and red onions. Super flavorful and a must make this summer!
If you love chicken skewers with pineapple, be sure to try these Sweet and Spicy Grilled Chicken and Pineapple Skewers.
This recipe and photos have been updated since the original post on 7/8/2015
Summer is in full force and I’m loving it! I could do without the never ending 90+ degree days we’ve been having all month, but at least it still cools off at night.
With the heat still coming on strong, I’ve been doing as much cooking on the grill as I can. Chicken skewers are always a favorite of mine and these Hawaiian Chicken Skewers with Cilantro Coconut Rice are especially delicious during the summer months.
Table of Contents
- Ingredients Needed to Make Hawaiian Chicken Skewers
- How to make Hawaiian chicken skewers
- Why doesn’t the chicken marinade use fresh pineapple juice?
- Can I use canned pineapple instead of fresh?
- Can chicken skewers be made in the oven?
- More Chicken Skewer Recipes
- Hawaiian Chicken Skewers with Cilantro Coconut Rice Recipe
Ingredients Needed to Make Hawaiian Chicken Skewers
- Chicken breasts – Chicken thighs can also be used.
- Canned pineapple juice – Be sure to use 100% pineapple juice.
- Low sodium soy sauce or tamari – Gives the marinade a salty, savory, umami flavor.
- Ketchup – Sweet, rich, tomato flavor.
- Honey – Can be swapped with maple syrup.
- Fresh ginger and garlic – They give the marinade a fresh flavor.
- Bell peppers – Any color of bell peppers may be used.
- Red onion – White onion or a Vidalia onion could also be used.
- Fresh pineapple
- Rice – I love using Jasmine or basmati rice, but long grain white or brown rice works too.
- Canned coconut milk – Light or full fat coconut can be used.
- Cilantro – Omit if you don’t like cilantro.
How to make Hawaiian chicken skewers
Making these chicken skewers is easy and unlike some marinated chicken, this one only needs an hour to get infused with all the flavor.
- Cut the chicken, vegetables and pineapple into bite sized piece. Place the chicken into a large resealable freezer bag. Place the vegetables and pineapple into a large bowl. Drizzle the vegetables with a little olive, salt and pepper, toss together and then set aside.
- Whisk together the soy sauce, canned pineapple juice, ketchup, honey, garlic, ginger, olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour half the marinade in with the chicken, vegetables and pineapple. Reserve the remaining marinade to brush onto the skewers while they are grilling. Seal the bag, pressing out the air as you do. Massage the marinade into the meat, then refrigerate it for an hour.
- Thread the chicken, vegetables and pineapple onto metal or wooden skewers. Preheat your grill to about 400° F. While the grill heats, start the rice. Add all of the ingredients except the cilantro to a saucepan. Bring it to a boil then lower the heat, cover with a lid and simmer until the rice is cooked. Remove from the heat, stir in the cilantro, then cover with the lid again and let it rest for 10 minutes.
- While the rice is cooking, grill the skewers. Grill for 5 minutes then flip them over with metal tongs and grill another 4-5 minutes or until the chicken registers 165° F. in the center. During the last few minutes of grilling, brush the remaining marinade all over the skewers. Serve the skewers with the cilantro coconut rice.
Why doesn’t the chicken marinade use fresh pineapple juice?
You might be wondering why the marinade calls for canned pineapple juice when you could just squeeze the juice from the fresh pineapple.
Well lucky for you, the first time I made these I made the mistake use doing just that. Turns out, the enzyme bromelain found in fresh pineapple ruins the texture of the chicken.
It breaks it down and almost cooks it in the marinade. The end result is mushy and pretty disgusting.
In canned pineapple the bromelain is extracted so you’ll get that wonderful flavor without the gross texture.
Can I use canned pineapple instead of fresh?
I don’t recommend using canned pineapple for the skewers. It doesn’t hold up well on the grill and the flavor doesn’t come close to that of fresh.
I know it might seem like a pain to be buying both a fresh pineapple and a can of pineapple for this recipe, but it’s a must for these skewers to be successful. Don’t waste the canned pineapple, use it and make this pineapple chicken.
Can chicken skewers be made in the oven?
Yes. If you don’t have a grill set your oven to broil. Thread the skewers as you would if you were grilling them. Line a sheet pan with foil and spray it with cooking spray.
Place the skewers on the pan in a single layer being careful not to over crowd them. lined with foil. Broil for 5 minutes, then flip them and broil another 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
More Chicken Skewer Recipes
Hawaiian Chicken Skewers with Cilantro Coconut Rice
Ingredients
Hawaiian Chicken Skewers
- 1 1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1/4 cup canned pineapple juice
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce or tamari
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
- 1 clove of garlic
- Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
- 2 red, yellow, or orange bell peppers, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 red onion, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 2 cups cubed fresh pineapple
Cilantro Coconut Rice
- 1 cup uncooked rice
- 1 cup canned light coconut milk
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
Hawaiian Chicken Skewers
- In a small bowl whisk together the pineapple juice, ketchup, soy sauce, ginger, honey, garlic, salt and pepper.
- In a large freezer bag add the cubed chicken and half of the marinade, seal the bag removing all of the air, and massage the marinade into the chicken. Refrigerate the chicken in the marinade for an hour.
- In a separate bowl toss together the peppers, onion and pineapple with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Preheat the grill to 400° F. Skewer the marinated chicken, pineapple, peppers, and red onion, alternating between the ingredients until you have used them all.
- Spray or oil the grill grates then place the skewers on the grill and cook for 5 minutes. Flip them over and grill another 4-5 minutes or until the center of the chicken is 165° F. During the last couple minutes of cooking, brush the reserved marinade over all sides the skewers.
Cilantro Coconut Rice
- In a medium sized saucepan bring the rice, coconut milk, water, and salt to a boil. Once boiling cover the saucepan with a lid and reduce the heat to low simmering the rice for 15-20 minutes.
- Once the rice is cooked add in the chopped cilantro. Remove the pan from the heat, place the lid back on and let it rest for 10 minutes. Serve with the chicken skewers.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made the skewers, but not the rice. The skewers were delicious. Will definitely make again.
Hi! Is there something you could sub for the honey? Maybe brown sugar? My daughter can’t have honey, unfortunately.
Maple syrup would work well.
Hi, I don’t see proportions for the coconut milk/water/rice. Did I miss them somewhere?
Thanks!
Hi Jennifer. I just checked the recipe to make sure I didn’t forget the rice ingredients and instructions and they are there. They are listed right under the ingredients and instructions for the chicken.
Oh man. I keep hearing about this cold weather you guys are having out there. Wish I could send you some of our heat – it’s been oppressive here! I just love these skewers and especially the coconut rice. Yum!
Thanks Liz! It was a bit ridiculous wearing a sweatshirt twice last week, luckily the sun and warm weather is back this weekend! I better soak it up while I can, next thing you know it will be snowing in August!