Slow Cooker Hawaiian Chicken

This Hawaiian-style chicken is slow cooked with pineapple and peppers all in a sweet and tangy sauce. Add some rice and you have a luau!

Taste Of The Tropics

Chicken goes Hawaiian in this easy crock pot recipe.

Hawaiian chicken gets it’s exotic flavor from every-day ingredients you probably already have in your pantry and freezer.

All you need is some chicken, a can of pineapple chunks, some bell peppers and common condiments.

Chicken Parts Or Chicken Breast

I have tons of chicken thighs and drumsticks on hand since I took advantage of a fantastic sale one of my local stores had going, so I used those parts to make this.

You could also use boneless skinless breasts in this, but I’d advise cutting them up into chunks rather than cooking them whole. That way they’d cook faster and there’d be no “work” involved in eating them. Also rather than serve the rice and the resultant sauce as a side, you could serve the chicken over rice, almost like a stir fry. And speaking of stir fry, this recipe is easily converted to a stovetop skillet dinner!

Browning Is Optional

When I use whole chicken parts with skin on, I tend to always brown them first.

The caramelization adds a lot of flavor not to mention color. To me, it looks better and tastes better, but if you don’t want to bother with this step, then it can be eliminated. If you are using the cut up breasts, then definitely skip the browning.

The Recipe

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Slow Cooker Hawaiian Chicken

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time6 hrs

Total Time6 hrs 10 mins

Servings: 4 -6

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

• 20 oz can pineapple chunks drain but reserve juice
• 1 tbs olive oil use only if browning first
• 2 lbs bone-in chicken parts see NOTES
• 1 green bell pepper cut in 1-inch chunks
• 1 red bell pepper cut in 1-inch chunks
• Sauce:
• Reserved pineapple juice
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1-2 tsp salt
• Thickening:
• 2 tbs cornstarch
• 1/4 cup water

Instructions

• If you choose to brown the chicken parts, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken on all sides. Place in crock pot. If not browning the parts or you are using cut up chicken breast (see NOTES) place the raw chicken in the slow cooker.
• Mix sauce ingredients in a small bowl and pour over chicken. Cover and cook on low 3-5 hours or high 2-4 hours.
• Add the pineapple chunks and the bell peppers and cook an additional 2 hours on low, 1 hour on high, or until chicken is cooked through.
• To thicken sauce, remove chicken parts (if you used the cut-up breasts it’s not necessary to remove it). Mix he cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Turn the cooker to HIGH and stir in the cornstarch/water mixture. Stir until juice begins to thicken. Add the chicken parts back to the pot and cook for 15 additional minutes.
• Serve over rice.

Notes

You can use cut up boneless skinless breasts. Reduce total cooking time to 2-3 hours on high or 3-5 hours low--COOKING TIMES ARE APPROXIMATE. SOME COOKERS COOK HOTTER AND FASTER. LET YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE WITH YOUR COOKER BE YOUR GUIDE.