I’ve gotten a little lax with my grocery spending lately, so during the month of June I’m making it my mission to use up as many things in my pantry and freezer as possible. First up: chicken thighs! I fell in love with chicken thighs when I made the Maple Dijon Chicken because they are just so easy to prepare and come out so wonderfully juicy. All you really need to do is slather on a sauce and bake.
So, that’s what I did. I whipped up a quick pineapple teriyaki sauce (again using pantry staples), poured it over the chicken and let it bake. I served it over some brown jasmine rice, topped it with some left over sliced green onions, and a side of some frozen broccoli florets (ALSO leftovers from the freezer). All I bought for this recipe was the pineapple. That makes me HAPPY. …and I’m sure I’ll be happy munching on this for lunch tomorrow at work!
P.S. I made four chicken thighs because that’s what I had in my freezer, but this amount of sauce could probably handle up to 6 smallish thighs without needing to make more.
Baked Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Thighs
Baked Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Thighs
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Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
35 mins
Total time
50 mins
Total Cost: $5.57
Cost Per Serving: $1.39
Serves: 4
Ingredients
1 (15 oz.) can pineapple chunks in juice $1.29
1 inch fresh ginger, grated $0.11
2 cloves garlic, minced $0.16
¼ cup soy sauce $0.40
1½ Tbsp rice vinegar $0.17
2 Tbsp brown sugar $0.03
1 Tbsp corn starch 0.04
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 1¼ lb.) $2.35
3 whole green onions, sliced $0.33
4 cups cooked rice $0.69
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Drain the pineapple juice from the can to use in the sauce (it should be about ¾ cup juice total). Save the pineapple chunks for later. Combine the pineapple juice, grated ginger, minced garlic, soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, and cornstarch in a small sauce pot. Stir until everything is well combined and the cornstarch is dissolved. Cook the mixture over medium heat until it begins to boil and becomes thick and glossy. Turn the burner off and add the pineapple chunks to the sauce.
Coat a small casserole dish with non-stick spray. Arrange the chicken thighs in the dish so that they are not overlapping. Pour the pineapple teriyaki sauce over the chicken, allowing some to get under the chicken pieces.
Bake the chicken in the preheated oven for 35 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Top the chicken with the sliced green onions. To serve, scoop one chicken thigh plus pineapple pieces and sauce over a bowl of cooked rice.
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Step by Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, then begin to make the sauce. Pour off the juice from one 15-oz. can of pineapple chunks in juice. You should have about 3/4 cup juice (if you have less, say 1/2 cup, you’ll still be okay).
Combine that pineapple juice in a small sauce pot with 1 inch of freshly grated ginger, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/4 cup soy sauce 1.5 Tbsp rice vinegar, 2 Tbsp brown sugar, and 1 Tbsp cornstarch. Stir until all of the corn starch is dissolved. it will look kind of cloudy, like this.
Cook the sauce over medium heat until it begins to boil, at which point it will become thick and glossy (that’s the magic of corn starch!). This only takes about five minutes. Turn the heat off and stir in the pineapple chunks.
Place the chicken thighs in a casserole dish so that they are not overlapping. You want them to have a little bit of space, so if you’re cooking more than just four, use a larger dish. I don’t bother trimming the fat because it mostly melts off and it tastes good. Yes, I said it. Chicken fat tastes good!
Pour the yummy sauce all over ‘em. I lifted up the chicken a bit to let some of the sauce get underneath…
Then just cook it in the preheated oven for about 35 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked all the way through and the sauce is nice and bubbly. DONE!
Sprinkle some sliced green onions on top and you’re ready to serve!
I served mine with some brown rice and leftover frozen broccoli florets. I had plenty of sauce to spoon over the rice and broccoli for a FANTASTIC meal. So easy!
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