Sticky Chili Chicken with Hot-and-Sour Pineapple

Name: Sticky Chili Chicken with Hot-and-Sour Pineapple
Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients: 4 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken (legs, thighs, breasts, and/or wings all work); Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper; ½ cup light brown sugar; ½ cup unseasoned rice wine vinegar; ½ cup sambal or other chili paste; 4 tbsp fish sauce; 4 tbsp fresh lime juice; 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes; 2 garlic cloves, finely grated; ½ pineapple, peeled and cored, cut into 1½-inch spears or wedges; ½ shallot or 4 scallions, thinly sliced; 1 cup fresh cilantro, tender leaves and stems, coarsely chopped; 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

7 steps

serves 6 to 8 I don’t love sweet with my savory food, but this dish is an exception. The sticky, caramelized bits of pineapple that get basted with spicy chicken fat as they roast together are a match made in sheet-pan dinner heaven. While the oven treatment here is fantastic, I’d be lying if I said this wouldn’t also be spectacular on the grill either in pieces (as it is here) using 100 percent wings, or assembled into everyone’s favorite six-letter word: kebabs (!!!), using boneless, skinless parts cut into 1½-inch pieces and skewered. Fr Nothing Fancy Cookbook

Updated at: Fri, 05 Jan 2024 17:26:23 GMT

Nutrition balance score

Unbalanced

Glycemic Index

Moderate

Glycemic Load

Low

Nutrition per serving

Calories365.4 kcal (18%)

Total Fat22.5 g (32%)

Carbs17.4 g (7%)

Sugars14.5 g (16%)

Protein23.1 g (46%)

Sodium1266.8 mg (63%)

Fiber1 g (3%)

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Ingredients

8 servings

4 poundschicken

bone-in, skin-on, legs, thighs, breasts, and/or wings all work

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

½ cuplight brown sugar

½ cuprice wine vinegar

unseasoned

½ cupsambal

or other chili paste

4 Tbspfish sauce

4 Tbspfresh lime juice

2 teaspoonscrushed red pepper flakes

2garlic cloves

finely grated

0.5pineapple

peeled and cored, cut into 1 1/2-inch spears or wedges

0.5shallot

thinly sliced

1 cupfresh cilantro

tender leaves and stems, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoonstoasted sesame seeds

Instructions

Step 1

1 Season the chicken with salt and pepper and place in a large resealable plastic bag or large baking dish.

Step 2

2 Combine the brown sugar, vinegar, sambal, fish sauce, lime juice, crushed red pepper flakes, and garlic in a medium bowl, whisking to dissolve the sugar. Pour over the chicken, massaging to make sure everything gets equal love. Seal the plastic bag or wrap the baking dish and let sit at least 30 minutes, refrigerated.

Step 3

3 Preheat the oven to 425°F. Place the chicken and pineapple on a rimmed baking sheet (for easier clean-up, line with foil or parchment). Drizzle the remaining marinade over everything and place in oven.

Step 4

Roast until the chicken is deeply browned, caramelized, and cooked through (if you have a pastry or BBQ brush, feel free to baste the chicken and pineapple periodically with the rendered chicken fat juices), 50 to 60 minutes. By this time, the pineapple will also be impossibly golden and juicy, giving up all the goods, which makes for a delicious, sticky sauce.

Step 5

Remove from the oven and transfer to a serving platter, carving up the chicken and slicing the pineapple for easier serving, if you like. Scatter with the shallot, cilantro, and sesame before serving.

Step 6

DO AHEAD Chicken can be marinated 24 hours in advance

Step 7

EAT WIT HCelery Salad with Cilantro and Sesame (this page)+A pot of rice