Ready in under an hour, pineapple teriyaki chicken is a quick dinner recipe for busy nights. The homemade teriyaki sauce adds tons of fresh, bold flavor—you control the ingredients, sodium, and spice. Serve with rice, quinoa, or roasted vegetables for a wholesome meal.
If you’ve ever made my honey garlic shrimp, you know that dinners can be quick, healthy, and flavorful. Today’s baked pineapple teriyaki chicken is bursting with flavor and makes delicious leftovers. I encourage you to add this easy meal to your weeknight recipe rotation!
Why You’ll Love This Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Recipe
- Simple to prepare
- Completely from scratch
- Healthy and wholesome
- Ready in under an hour
- Makes great leftovers
- Customizable to your taste preferences
- Packed with protein
Favorite Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
This is my very favorite homemade teriyaki sauce made with real, wholesome ingredients. It is similar to the sauce in this honey teriyaki chicken (we use more honey in that recipe). It’s incredibly versatile and delicious on cooked salmon or stir-fry veggies, too.
We’ll use brown sugar and honey to sweeten the sauce. Not much of either, just enough to balance the soy sauce and bring a sweet profile to the sauce as a whole. For flavor, use soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, garlic, ginger, and a little pepper for spice. It’s the perfect balance of sweet and salty, and you know exactly what’s in it.
If you enjoy trying homemade sauces, try the garlic pan sauce from this creamy garlic chicken and vegetables dish. (Unbelievable!)
Overview: How to Make Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken
- Make the sauce. Cook the sauce ingredients together on the stovetop.
- Pour the sauce over the chicken. Arrange the chicken and pineapple slices in a baking dish. I add a little pineapple into the mix because I love sweet and savory together. Feel free to leave it out, though. Pour all of the teriyaki sauce on top. Make sure every inch is coated in the sauce.
- Bake. Bake until the chicken is completely cooked through—about 30-32 minutes. During this time, prepare any sides you want to serve alongside.
- Serve. Sprinkle a little green onion and a dash of sesame seeds on top!
Baker’s Tip: I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts. You can use bone-in chicken thighs, drumsticks, wings or any cut of chicken you like best.
More Favorite Dinner Recipes
- Baked Chicken Meatballs
- Maple Sesame Salmon
- Honey Garlic Shrimp
- Citrus Chicken Quinoa Salad
- Cilantro Lime Chicken
- Lemon Thyme Chicken
And for dessert? Well, your options are pretty much endless. 😉
Print
Baked Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: serves 4
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Simply pour this homemade teriyaki sauce over chicken and bake!
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 Tablespoon room temperature water
- 1/4 cup (50g) brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (43g) honey
- 1/2 cup (120ml) soy sauce
- 1/4 cup (60ml) cider vinegar
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4 skinless boneless chicken breasts
- 1 cup fresh or canned pineapple chunks
- optional: chopped green onion and sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
- Whisk cornstarch and water together in a small bowl. It will be a milky liquid. This is for thickening the sauce. Combine the cornstarch mixture, brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger, and black pepper together in a small saucepan over low heat. Allow to simmer while whisking occasionally. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for 1 minute. Turn off the heat and set aside for at least 10 minutes, allowing it to cool and thicken.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400°F (204°C).
- Arrange chicken and pineapple slices in a bake pan (any size works—I used a 10-inch casserole dish. Use a 9-inch square pan, an 11×7-inch pan, an 8-inch square pan, etc). Pour sauce on top, then turn the chicken over to make sure every inch is coated in the sauce. Use a basting/pastry brush if needed.
- Bake uncovered for 30–32 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked through. This is optional: at the 25-minute mark, remove from the oven and carefully slice the chicken into chunks, then return to the oven. The smaller the chicken pieces, the more teriyaki they’ll soak up. You can also cut up the chicken when it is raw prior to cooking.
- Sprinkle green onion and sesame seeds on top and serve the chicken and pineapple with sauce from the pan poured on top. Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: The teriyaki sauce, prepared in step 1, can be made 1 day in advance and stored in the refrigerator. You can even prepare the dish through step 3, cover the pan with aluminum foil or plastic wrap, and keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 day. Then bake as directed.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Saucepan | Casserole Dish (any similar size will work) | Pastry Brush
- For a more rounded out meal, serve with broccoli, brown rice, quinoa, baked sweet potatoes, or anything to soak up the teriyaki sauce.
- Using SparkRecipes calculator: including all the extra teriyaki sauce you’ll pour over the chicken when serving, this dish comes out to about 260 calories, 34 grams of protein, and 2g fat per serving. This is based on using four 6-ounce chicken breasts.
Great recipe. Simple, quick and tasty! Works well with boneless chicken thighs. Thank you, Sally!
I’m making this chicken for the third time, we love it so much! The leftover chicken and pineapple make great chicken salad.
This was the ideal combination of delicious, fast to make, and with very little clean up. I saw a few reviews mentioned the sauce was thin-I did not have that experience. It came out the perfect consistency. I saw it thicken up in the sauce pan over low heat-so just don’t skip that step.
Your savory recipes are just as great as your sweet ones! Made this for dinner with sticky rice and green beans, and it was delicious. Already excited for leftovers tomorrow!
Hi Sally. I thought this would make an easy meal for an impromptu dinner with friends. The sauce was nice and thick when I made it, but it got very watery after baking the chicken, even though I drained the pineapple well before putting it in the baking dish. My husband still loved it, but me, not as much.
Hi Elaine, it should thicken as it slightly cools. Did you find that it thickened quickly after removing from the oven?
I had the same issue as Elaine. After baking, the sauce was very watery and I did not add the pineapple. I let it sit before serving and it did not thicken up. It was still tasty but did not turn out as expected.
Absolutely delicious! I added cut -up red pepper to the dish and served with Lundberg Wild Rice Blend and steamed broccoli. The broccoli was eaten enthusiastically by everyone ~ as they dipped it into the teriyaki sauce! Thank you Sally for another excellent recipe for the entire family!
Just made this recipe and loved it. I’d like to try the slow cooker version next time. Would I need to cook the sauce ahead or will it thicken in the slow cooker?
Hi Judy, Add everything to the slow cooker, including the sauce, and cook on low for about 5 hours.
I added a sliced carrot , celery, and gen pepper to the sauce. Then added some cherry tomatoes after cutting up the chicken. Delish!
Hi Sally! What size chicken breasts do you use?
Hi Elise! We used four 6-ounce chicken breasts in this recipe.
We loved this recipe! I made it in the crockpot and used fresh pineapple. Served with rice and steamed broccoli. A keeper! Thank you for the great recipe.
Look forward to making this recipe. I love the sweet/savory mix. Would this work well to bake and the freeze for later use? My daughter is about to deliver twins and I’m looking for meals to make ahead for her.
Hi Sally! Two options for you: 1) Prepare through step 3 then freeze. Have her thaw/bake or just bake frozen at 350 until chicken is safe to eat and heated through. 2) Prepare the entire meal, allow to cool, then freeze. Have her thaw then bake until warmed through. If it’s helpful, we also have this post on freezer-friendly meals. Let us know if you give any of them a try!
This looks yum so I’d like to try it soon. Can crushed ginger in a jar be used instead of fresh and if so how much?
Thank you in advance.
That should work just fine! We haven’t tested it, but I would guess you would need the same amount, possibly more if the flavor is less pronounced. Let us know if you try it!