Wednesday, March 2, 2016

What We Are Eating - Baked Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Thighs

Baked Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Thighs
Adapted from Budget Bytes

I've been playing around with some different recipes lately and came across this recipe for chicken thighs.  We love chicken thighs plus they are CHEAP so that's a great thing!  This was an easy recipe to put together and it was super tasty. A few notes: 1) I seldom if ever use fresh ginger in any recipe and did not use it in this one 2) White vinegar can be substituted for Rice vinegar - which is what I do almost every single time!

 
Ingredients
  • 1 (15 oz.) can pineapple chunks in juice
  • 1 inch fresh ginger, grated
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • ¼ cup soy sauce
  • 1½ Tbsp rice vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 Tbsp corn starch
  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 1¼ lb.)
  • 3 whole green onions, slice
  • 4 cups cooked rice
Instructions
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.