Spicy Hawaiian Chicken Recipe

Friday night found Tye and I hungry and on a budget. Because we’re a little short on cash, I wanted to stay in and cook dinner, but then was faced with deciding what to cook.

I settled on my classic zucchini strips and put a twist on pineapple chicken. It’s fairly simple and cheap to make, and it’s perfect for dinner you need in about an hour.

1. Zuchini – I’ve already written my zucchini recipe for SQ once (linked above), but here’s a quick recap.

Grab a couple of medium-sized squash and cut them into strips. Cut up some tomatoes and throw them into a baking pan. Add generous amounts of shredded mozzarella cheese and pepper on top. You can also garnish with parsley flakes, a little salt, or any other seasoning you’d like. Just remember to spray the pan first!

1.  Chicken – This isn’t a marinating recipe because you’re baking the chicken. The juices will cook right in. I made four large chicken breasts with this recipe.

Use a can of pineapple, crushed or diced. I actually had a can of pineapple slices (rings) and just mushed them up a bit in a bowl. You should need around 16 ounces, so two small cans or one large can will do the trick.

Next, add in one cup of applesauce. You don’t need to use an actual measuring cup – just dump in a cup of applesauce that you buy in the packs with aluminum foil on top. Then add a ¼ cup of honey, ¼ cup of spicy brown mustard, and a little paprika. Mix together well.

If you’d rather, you can cut out the applesauce and substitute with butter and vegetable or chicken stock. However, I didn’t want to use all of that butter and decided to substitute both ingredients with the applesauce.

Put your chicken in a deep baking pan and add in the liquid and pineapple mixture you just created. It shouldn’t completely cover your chicken, but there should be standing liquid in the pan.

Cook for around 40 minutes on 400 degrees.

Voila! You’ve got a yummy meal with plenty of veggies and some protein. Eat up!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe; we certainly did! The spicy mustard and paprika keep the pineapple, applesauce, and honey from being too overwhelmingly sweet. The zucchini and tomato flavors also work well with the cheese to complement the chicken. You probably also won’t want dessert after this, because the pineapple chicken is so sweet.