Huli Huli Chicken

Huli Huli chicken is a delicious Hawaiian BBQ recipe. You start by marinating the chicken in huli huli sauce and then slowly roast your chicken by turning it over your grill.  

In Hawaiian, huli huli means turn turn.  The chicken is aptly named because you turn it on the grill!  Or you can bake it in the oven if you don’t have a grill available or if the weather ins’t cooperating.

Hawaiian BBQ

Huli huli chicken is marinaded in a Hawaiian BBQ sauce.  It is a wonderful combination of pineapple juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger and a few other lovely flavors! I recommend boneless, skinless chicken thighs for flavor and moisture, but you can use your favorite cut of chicken.

You start by making the marinade.  Once finished, you set a cup aside for basting later and pour the rest over the chicken.  You want the chicken to marinate for at least 3 hours, but overnight is best.

Huli Huli Sauce

When you are ready to grill the chicken, add a tablespoon of cornstarch to the reserved marinade, heat it up, and stir until thickened.  This is your huli huli sauce that you will baste the chicken with while you are grilling.

Once the sauce has thickened, remove the chicken from the marinade and discard the marinade.  Put the chicken on the grill and turn, turn, turn.  After each turn, use the huli huli sauce (thickened marinade) to baste the chicken.

Once the chicken is cooked through and a nice glaze has formed on the chicken, it is ready to serve.  I garnished it with some sliced green onion which looks pretty and adds some nice color.

We had neighbors over for dinner who have four small children so I was hoping this huli huli chicken was a good choice.  I served it with some white sticky rice and it was a hit with everyone at the table.

Huli Huli Chicken Recipe

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4.5 from 4 votes

Huli Huli Chicken

Course Main Dish

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 6 -8 servings

Author Leigh Anne Wilkes

Ingredients

• 4 lbs. boneless skinless chicken thighs (or breasts)
• 12 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 1 tsp minced fresh garlic
• 1 tsp minced fresh ginger
• 1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• green onion chopped for garnish

Instructions

• Mix together all ingredients but chicken, cornstarch and green onion.
• Set aside 1 cup of marinade.
• Pour remaining marinade over chicken in a bowl or zippered plastic bag and refrigerate for 3 hours to overnight.
• In a sauce pan combine 1 cup of reserved marinade and cornstarch, stir and heat until thickened.
• Discard marinade from chicken.
• Place chicken on grill over medium heat. Cook on each side, turning several times and brushing chicken with thickened marinade after each turn. Grill until cooked through and glaze has thickened.
• Garnish with green onions
• If doing in the oven bake at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Baste and turn as youl would on the grill.

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Looking for a fun activity to do with the kids this summer – check out my Bread in a Bag and Ice Cream in a Bag. (videos included)