This sweet & sour stir fried chicken with an unusual combination of chicken with pineapple glazed with a flavorful Oriental sauce is our new favorite for the frequent Chinese cravings! Skip the take-out and cook this chicken with pineapple at home!
Days have become quite hectic lately and I am always hunting quick yet tasty recipes to do away with weeknight dinners. I make a little extra quantity so that we can shoot it next day.
This recipe of stir fried chicken with pineapple is a perfect example of one such weeknight meal which is so good that I can’t afford to miss sharing it with you!
Chicken with pineapple is a simple chicken stir fry recipe made special by the addition of sweet and sour pineapple chunks which complements the overall flavors seamlessly.
Like any other stir fry recipes, you can whiz up this stir fried chicken with pineapple under 30 minutes. Trust me on this and you won’t regret!
If you are already a pineapple lover then this chicken with pineapple stir fry is definitely for you. If you are not, even then it is for you as I am sure being a pineapple-lover or not won’t matter much in this case since the pineapple gets an entire makeover while being stir fried in the mixture of a flavorful sauce.
I agree that chicken with pineapple sounds an unusual combination and even I was a bit skeptical in the beginning, but then I convinced myself – what’s the harm in trying?
If we don’t like it, we won’t make it again – that’s a fair deal, right? Until and unless we keep trying such new and unusual combinations, we won’t discover new possibilities! Don’t you agree?
Like any other stir fry recipe, this chicken with pineapple too has two parts. First is to complete all the prep work, chopping veggies, mixing sauce etc, so that you don’t have to run in between once you start with stir frying.
Keep everything ready at hand and then fire up the wok! Now let’s talk about this ‘wok’ for a while, shall we? Woks are specially designed cookware to aid the stir frying process so that the heat is retained & distributed evenly so that food gets cooked very quickly on high heat without burning it.
I love to cook my stir fry dishes in the carbon steel wok which I have got recently since I make stir fries quite frequently; but if you don’t have one, don’t worry.
You can absolutely use a large frying pan; but not a stock pot / Dutch Oven as the high sides of stock pots will not let the steam escape eventually ruining the entire smoky stir fry flavor.
Once you are happy with your cookware, there is nothing to stop you from making this flavorful stir fried chicken with pineapple. In my recipe, I have added some long strips of red bell pepper too to create a balance of colors as well as to add a kick of peppery favor without making it too overpowering.
You can add bell pepper of any color of your choice. You won’t need too many stuffs to make this stir fried chicken with pineapple & peppers. You just need some chicken breast, some pineapple chunks and some veggies like pepper, onions etc.
If you want to make your life easier, you can use the canned pineapple and save yourself from the torturous process of peeling, coring and cubing of a fresh pineapple which is the hardest part of this recipe.
If you can get hold of someone who can do it for you, then nothing can be better than that! What’s say? So, get the ingredients and start cooking, or shall I say start stir-frying?
- Soy sauce – ¼ cup [If possible, use the low-sodium soy sauce]
- White wine vinegar – 2 tbsp [Feel free to replace with regular vinegar]
- Grated ginger – 1 tsp
- Garlic – 2 cloves, crushed
- Cornflour/cornstarch – 1 tbsp
- Sugar – 1 tsp
- Oil – 2 tbsp, preferably sesame oil
- Chicken breast – 500 gms, boneless & skinless, cut into 1-inch cubes
- Garlic Chives – 6, cut in 1-inch pieces
- Red bell pepper – 1, cut into long strips
- Onion – 1, large, cut into strips
- Green chilli – 2, chopped
- Fresh pineapple – 1, medium
- Salt to taste
- Peel and core the pineapple. Then cut the pineapple flesh into ½ inch chunks. Retain any juice of the pineapple along with the pineapple chunks. Set aside.
- Combine soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, garlic, cornstarch/cornflour and sugar in a bowl and whisk well. This is the sauce for the stir fry chicken and pineapple.
- Heat oil in a large wok and stir-fry the chicken on medium-high heat until brown on both sides and cooked through. This will take 5 minutes for each side. Take the chicken out in a bowl and set aside.
- Add little more oil to the wok if it’s too dry. Tip in the onion & pepper strips, chopped green chilli and the pineapple chunks. Season with salt and stir fry them on high heat until somewhat soft but still retain some crunch, for about 2 to 3 minutes. [If you are not using low sodium soy sauce then add very little salt. You can check and adjust the seasoning if needed after adding the sauce in next step.]
- Pour in the prepared sauce and stir until thickened. Return the sautéed chicken the work and give few quick toss. Check and adjust seasoning if necessary.
- Once the sauce is thick enough and clinging to the chicken and veggies, you are done. Serve your stir fried chicken with pineapple & pepper with rice topped with some freshly chopped cilantro. Enjoy!
I went to a friend’s for dinner the other night he served this dish. I absolutely loved it and he told me where to find the recipe. I tried to make it once and I am still trying to work out the kinks, but I liked it. I have been trying to find some good Chinese food recipes so thanks for sharing!
Thanks for your feedback! It’s really encouraging! 🙂