Slow Cooker Hawaiian Pineapple Chicken with crispy chicken thighs, fresh pineapple chunks, onions and bell pepper takes 15 minutes of prep!
Slow Cooker Hawaiian Pineapple Chicken is a quick and easy meal that you can make on a weeknight that will transport you to the Hawaiian Islands.
The first time I make Slow Cooker Hawaiian Pineapple Chicken it was because we were looking for a healthier option to replace Sweet and Sour Chicken, which is one of our favorite takeout meals. As in the past this post is generously sponsored by Foster Farms, who I use exclusively for chicken and have since I was a kid growing up in California.
The tangy and sweet sauce with the pineapples, onions and bell peppers is a flavor we weren’t looking to lose, but the deep fried chunks of chicken had to go.
Foster Farms is a player in the “New Comfort Food” movement which looks to take recipes out of the box, use local, fresh and high quality products (which by the way are antibiotic free) and change the way you think of comfort food.
Gone is the old school Sweet and Sour Chicken takeout and here today is an amazing Slow Cooker Hawaiian Pineapple Chicken that helps you keep your time management in check after you get home from work or school.
With just fifteen minutes of prep time in the morning you can come home, put some rice on the stovetop and by the time it is done cooking you’ll have a fantastic home cooked meal with fresh ingredients instead of takeout!
Comfort Food is moving in a whole new direction these days. People are interested in knowing more about the quality of the products they’re using and where they’re coming from.
Fruits and vegetables are making their way onto the dinner plates with much more frequency and according to a Foster Farms national survey, more than 80 percent choose healthier recipes and more fruits and veggies in their comfort food meals.
Looking for more slow cooker Chicken Recipes?
- Crisp & Juicy Slow Cooker Chicken
- Slow Cooker Jerk Chicken
- Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken
- Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken
- Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Chicken
Tools Used in the making of this Slow Cooker Hawaiian Pineapple Chicken:
Low Sodium Soy Sauce – I find regular soy sauce much too salty, remember you can always add salt but you can’t subtract it. Starting with low sodium allows you to alter to your tastes if necessary.
Slow Cooker: Love this slow cooker and how programmable it is, it has been a workhorse for me… until…
My New Slow Cooker: This recipe was made in this slow cooker. For larger roasts I also brown the meat in the insert and not lose a bunch of the flavor by transferring the meat and leaving the browned bits behind. If you’re thinking of a new slow cooker, consider it if your budget is open.
Ingredients
- 4 Foster Farms Simply Raised Chicken Thighs (bone-in and skin on)
- 2 cups pineapple , cut into 1" chunks
- 1 yellow onion , cut into 1" chunks
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 2 teaspoons sesame seeds , optional
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 red bell pepper , cut into 1" chunks
- parsley , for garnish
Instructions
- Using a skillet or the cast aluminum slow cooker insert, brown your Foster Farms Simply Raised Chicken Thighs on both sides for 3-5 minutes over high heat then remove them from the slow cooker.
- Add the pineapple and onion to the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Mix the honey, soy sauce, brown sugar, grated ginger and garlic into the slow cooker.
- Carefully add the Foster Farms Simply Raised Chicken Thighs back into the slow cooker.
- Cook on low for 5 hours or on high for 3 hours
- Add the cornstarch to a tablespoon of water, mix, and add to the slow cooker with the bell peppers and let it cook an additional 30 minutes while you cook some rice to accompany your meal.
- Serve with parsley for a garnish if desired.
Video
Nutrition
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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Foster Farms Simply Raised Chicken.
Amazing! Made it for my daughter’s birthday dinner and she absolutely loved it. Made the pineapple coconut bread to go along with it and piña colada drink. It was all a hit. Thank you!!!
Sounds like a fun time. Thanks for the 5 stars, Jeanette.
Winner winner chicken dinner ? I made in my instant pot tonight and it was sooooo yummy!!!! Only changes was I doubled sauce because I like saucy ,added a tablespoon of sriracha because I like it a little spice and about a cup of chicken broth to avoid any chance of the burn indicator going off it was super good !!! Thanks for a awesome recipe ?
I’m glad to know it was a hit, Arlena!
I am using chicken breast will this work? I also have pineapple juice no pineapples should I just pour a cup of this in?
I am just seeing this tonight. I am sure the recipe has long been cooked/or not but I still want to try to help.
The chicken breast would dry out a lot. The juice would make the sauce a bit too thin. I would sear the chicken on the stovetop, cook the veggies and add the pineapple juice to reduce with the sauce. Different recipe but it wouldn’t be dry chicken breast meat and probably done in 30 minutes.
Chicken is our main protein I’m looking for recipes for dinner meals.
You can do a search for chicken in the search box and they will show up for you. Enjoy!
Made this tonight. Smelled wonderful cooking. The chicken was moist and fall off the bone, but took none of the sweet flavor of the sauce. The chicken was very bland
What did you season your chicken with? I seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder and it came out great!
Can you substitute pinapple juice for your water in the cornstarch mixture for 1 tablespoon of pinapple juice instead of water into 2 tablespoons of cornstarch
Of course 🙂
these are very big thighs, how long do you suggest?
Just use enough to create a single layer at the bottom of the slow cooker. You don’t want them to be overlapping too much.
This recipe looks marvelous but my husband only eats chicken breasts. To prevent them from drying out could I wrap each one with a slice of bacon?
Thank you
Sure 🙂
Such good recipes!!
Thank you!
Can I use chicken leg quarters
Sure 🙂
I want to slow cook all the recipes that aren’t spicey! They look delicious!
Enjoy!
love this one….
I have been making making and loving this recipe for years. I recently started a blog (gracefullybusy.com) and plan to link to this recipe in one of my posts because I love it so much. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Sabrina!
Can you clarify this for me. What is a cast aluminum slow cooker insert? It looks like the standard inserts are made of ceramic like mine. Also does that mean to put the insert directly over stove to brown the chicken or to brown it on high in the crockpot? Sorry this was the only part that was confusing for me.
The insert just allows you to cook everything inside of one dish using the slow cooker vs having to use a skillet to brown. Hope this helps to clear things up.
PLEASE DO NOT put your ceramic slow cooker insert directly on the stove to brown the chicken… it will EXPLODE!!!
It also WON’T brown AT ALL, on high in the crock-pot.
Just brown it WELL, in a cast-iron or an non-coated stainless-steel skillet.
Then, just put it in the crock-pot & continue.
Made this recipe today with a few tweaks. Used canned, drained pineapple, garlic powder & freeze dried onion. It was delish & now written in my recipe book.
Made this last night, I cooked it on high for 3 and a half hours. It was awesome with a side of yellow rice. Make sure you drain your canned pineapple really well and get rid of all the syrup otherwise it will be too sweet.
Thanks for your sharing!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Selina. Thanks for the 5 stars.
Your pineapple chicken recipe looks delicious. My question is this, my family will not eat dark meat poultry (and yes, they consider thighs dark meat). Can I substitute chicken breast or boneless breast and if so, is the cooking time the same? Thank you in advance for your response.
Lower the cooking time to 5 hours on low. Hope this helps 🙂 You also may need to thicken the leftover sauce in a saucepan with 1 tbsp of cornstarch mixed in a bit of cool water, simmer until thickened on medium heat.
Made this last night, I cooked it on high for 3 and a half hours. It was awesome with a side of yellow rice. Make sure you drain your canned pineapple really well and get rid of all the syrup otherwise it will be too sweet.
How can the calories be 193 per serving when just one Foster Farm Bone in skin on is 240 calories? I put the ingredients through a recipe calculator, minus the onion, and using 16 ounces boneless skinless chicken thighs and got 404.
It’s an automatic calculation once I enter the ingredients. I’ll have to take a look at how it imported the ingredients. Thanks for letting me know.
hi. this sounds delicious! wondering about making it in my dutch oven instead of the crock pot. if you have a suggestion of how long and what temp, i would appreciate it.
Sorry, it looks like your comment got stuck in my spam filter. If you want to make this in a dutch oven, you can cook it for 2-3 hours at 325 degrees. Enjoy!
Can this be made in an instant pot? Can I leave out the soy sauce?
I haven’t tested it yet but I’m sure you can use an IP. Leaving out the soy sauce will change the flavor so as long as you’re ok with that, go ahead. Enjoy!
I seared the thighs in sesame oil, and then made it exactly to recipe and it came out amazing! I wanted to make something simple for a guest but also something that would impress… This dish delivered! It had just the right amount of sweetness and the veggies were perfectly crunchy without being raw. Great recipe! Will make again and again!
Yay!! So glad you all loved it.
This looked delicious and I definitely want to make it.
I only gave it one star because I didn’t notice this site was connected with Pinterest. I HATE PINTEREST. There is no way to print anything from that stupid site. I printed 14 pages of pictures. Their site was a mess when they started and it’s still a mess.
Unfortunately, I will not be back to this site, or any site connect with Pinterest, and I will block it;
So sorry to hear that! I created a recipe box on this site so that people didn’t have to go to Pinterest. You are able to save and print the recipes from this site without ever having to go to Pinterest again 🙂 Hope this helps!
I’m going to make this for the first time this week and am super excited! I normally make one to eat and at the same time make one to freeze and pull out and dump in the crockpot for another time – has anyone tried freezing the ingredients and doing a freezer crockpot meal out of this? I realize I wouldn’t be able to brown it in the skillet from freeze meal but it appears several people have had success not browning the chicken first…
Thanks!
You can definitely prep this ahead and freeze. Just leave out the cornstarch until you prepare. Keep in mind that more liquid will release from the ingredients being frozen, but it will still be delicious 🙂
Do you use canned pineapple, if not can I used canned pineapple
Yes, you can use canned pineapple just drain the juice before adding. Enjoy!
But instead of adding water to the cornstarch you could add the 2 tablespoons of pineapple juice, can’t you?
I add cornstarch to thicken the sauce a bit.
i think she meant adding the juice to the cornstarch
Delicious dinner. I loved how sweet the sauce was. I doubled it but forgot to put more cornstarch so it was a bit liquidy, but it was still good. I also didnt have any ginger but the flavors were still there. The doubled recipe served 4 in my house. 10/10
So glad you all still enjoyed it! Thanks for the 5 stars.
Can you replace thighs with breasts? I don’t like dark meat. If the replacement works, do you leave the bone in the breasts or do you use boneless?
Breast tend to dry out a bit in a slow cooker. If you’re going to use them, I would suggest bone in as that will help to keep them moist. Enjoy!
SLOW COOKER HAWAIIAN PINEAPPLE CHICKEN: I have a question. Since I don’t own the special crockpot that you used to make this dish, it says to fry the chicken thighs in a skillet first. I would presume you would use some olive oil or vegetable oil to fry them in??? Nothing was stated.
Yes, you can put some oil in your skillet to brown the chicken. I hope you enjoy!
It looks divine. Can I substitute ground ginger for fresh? I will make it this week-end. Thanks for the recipe.
Yes, but you’ll need to less as it’s more potent. Maybe about half as much. Enjoy!
I believe that when you are substituting dry for fresh herbs, the measure is 1/3. So if it calls for 1 TBSP of fresh ginger, use 1 tsp of ground. That has been recommended in most cookbooks that I have read over the last 35+ years.
Hi, I’m confused about the amount of liquid in this recipe. Am I missing something? The few teaspoons of liquid won’t even cover the meat half way, correct? Where is all the sauce in the pictures coming from? I want to make this recipe, just confused about this..
The chicken will cook down and release liquid so as long as you follow the recipe card, it’ll be perfect. Enjoy!
Totally understand what your saying.!
Just about to cook this recipe and I’m not convinced about how much liquid is going into this…?
Do you take the chicken out when you add the cornstarch before cooking an extra 30 minutes ?
You leave everything in the slow cooker. 🙂 Enjoy!
I made this for dinner tonight. My husband had a bad day at work. So, we went out to eat instead. We will eat this tomorrow. I hope it’s great!!
Delicious! Doubled the recipe.
This recipe looked so delicious that I decided to make it this morning. I have always found
(as has been mentioned) that thighs are a better bet for the slow cooker, especially for
flavor. One might be able to prevent the drying out of chicken breasts by adding chicken
broth etc, but they don’t seem to provide the same flavor in most recipes that I have tried.
I also added a few extra vegetables to this recipe. We as a family like them in this type of a recipe.
As a new member, I will look forward to tying some other recipes. All of the chicken ones look excellent. MANY THANKS !
So glad you enjoyed it! I look forward to seeing you around the site.
Would recommend using skinless chicken thighs…found the sauce to be a bit greasy…I even browned the chicken before adding to the crockpot but still found the skin came off in the sauce. Otherwise super delicious and the whole family liked it! Definitely making it again!
I made this with boneless chicken thighs, trimmed most of the fat. It was really good! I only did 3/4 of the sugar and served with some jasmine rice.
I will try next time with skin on thighs to see if they’re more crispy. I really liked how this came out but it wasn’t that crisp. I did brown each piece on both sides for 3 mins each side. I shortened the cooking time to 2 hours with slow cooker on high.
Sabrina
Made this recipe with chicken and loved it. I have decided to try same recipe using country style pork ribs. Should I also sear the ribs before adding to the crock pot? Do you think this change will work? Thanks.
Rich
I think this sounds amazing!!
My house if full of picky eaters! EXTREAMLY PICKY! Everyone loves this dinner. So do I! my non-veggie..only dry chicken child said “that really good I would est that again” 🙂 I make extra for lunch leftovers with rice. I put both thighs and white meat and the white was definitely drier but no one complained, but I prefer the thighs. Thank you so much for sharing -?????
My house if full of picky eaters! EXTREAMLY PICKY! Everyone loves this dinner. So do I! my non-veggie..only dry chicken child said “that really good I would est that again” 🙂 I make extra for lunch leftovers with rice. I put both thighs and white meat and the white was definitely drier but no one complained, but I prefer the thighs. Thank you so much for sharing -?????
Your comment just made my day!! I love when we win over the pickiest of eaters!!
Made it in skillet using chicken breasts….added shrimp too!. Turned out great!!! Served over basmati rice.
Sounds delicious!
Too sweet, for us and missing something. But it is easy to make ahead, so I might make it again with half the amount of sugar and honey.
Made this for my hubby and I. We had two meals from it. It was extremely easy to make and yummy to eat!
Can you use breasts instead of thighs? Would like to try the recipe but do not eat dark meat. Thank you.
I’m always hesitant to use breasts for fear that they’ll dry out while in the slow cooker though I have seen other commenters state that they’ve used them with no issue. As long as you know that going in, I’d say give it a try.
I want to make but bought thighs and legs not cut. Can I use them. Don’t have much time so have to make it on high
Will let u know how it is.
Made this for dinner today. Instead of thighs I used breasts and just didn’t brown them because I was afraid of them drying out. It was soo delicious. My husband said it was best chicken he has ever had! Thanks for the share!
Can we just add the cornstarch to the sauce when we make it up? That way we don’t have to try to mix it in later?
I’m not sure it would work but you can try it. The reason I add at the end is becuase the sauce will thicken a bit while cooking so you you’ll get it to the right consistency.
I have a 6 quart crock pot, but only 4 will lay flat on the bottom. I want to cook 6, will it hurt uf I add 2 on top of the others?
You really don’t want to overcrowd your slow cooker. My suggestion would be to try and position them to maybe prop up a bit more on the side vs laying them on top of each other.
I didnt use a slow cooker but did it in a convenional oven. I also added some chilli just enough to give a background heat. Gorgeous.
So glad you like it with the oven method! Love that you added some heat too!
Sounds delicious. How many calories are in this dish?
Sorry I don’t have the nutritional facts for recipes on the site but I know there are a lot of free resources on the internet from when I’ve cooked for clients with low calorie diets.
If I want to substitute chicken breasts for party wings how would that work?
I haven’t tested it but I’m not sure it would work. My concern is that wings are smaller and have less meat on them than thighs. I’m not sure there would be enough fat to render down in the slow cooker. Sorry.
Is it possible to make this in A cast iron dutch oven?
I would recommend cooking it 3-4 hours at 325 degrees. Enjoy!
I have never been accused of being a good cook, not even a poor cook. However, this looks wonderful! My biggest problem with the crock pot is that everything comes out watery. I think you may have solved this problem for me as adding the cornstarch will thicken the sauce, correct? I’m going to give the crockpot a second chance and see if adding cornstarch to some of the recipes so they won’t be so watery. Ya think?
That will help. Also, make sure that your chicken is fully thawed before putting it into the crock pot (I even pat my dry with paper towels a bit) that will help eliminate any excess water being added while cooking.
Making this recipe tonight but trying to understand the purpose of browning the chicken?
It adds a lot more flavor to the chicken. Especially the parts of the chicken not covered by skin.
Do you think I would be able to use broccoli as well?
Certainly!