Straight From Our Kitchen: Pineapple Chicken Skewers

With the summer weather in Chicago winding down, we’ve been taking every chance we can to fire up our grill to take advantage before it gets too cold. While we usually just stick with staples like BBQ chicken, skirt steak, burgers of all kinds, and fish, we gave these pineapple chicken skewers a try this past week while in Tennessee with Christine’s family, and they were easily the highlight of the week’s meals. Give them a shot if you’re looking for something that fits almost any nutrition plan while still packing tons of flavor!

Pineapple Chicken Skewers

What you’ll need:

2lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast
2lbs pineapple
Wooden skewers (around 15-20 of them)

Seasoning blend:
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp dried parsley
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tbsp onion powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sea salt
3/4 tsp dill
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp oregano

If you aren’t into spicy seasoning, take out the red pepper flakes and cut the black pepper to just 1/4 tsp, or take it out completely.

Cooking Instructions

Cut the chicken breast into 1-2″ chunks – thicker breasts work well here so they won’t cook too quickly and dry out on you. Then add 1tbsp of seasoning per pound of chicken and mix it in until everything is covered well.

You can cut a whole pineapple, or go the lazy route (we did!) and just buy pre-cut pineapple.

Preheat your grill – we use a propane grill set on medium heat. Before you turn it on, dab a paper towel in a little bit of olive oil and use that to coat the grill racks – it’ll keep the chicken from sticking to it later on. While the grill is heating up, start making your skewers – we alternated one piece of pineapple with one piece of chicken and used 3-4 pieces of each per skewer.

By the time you get all of the skewers ready, the grill should be hot enough. You’ll only need 3-4 minutes per side at the most – we did 3 minutes per side and they came out perfectly. Use a food thermometer to check temperature if you aren’t sure – recommended temp is 165 degrees, but remember that the temperature is going to continue to rise for a minute or two after you take them off of the grill, so don’t overdo it or you’ll end up with dry chicken.

Use an oven mitt when you flip them and take them off of the grill – the skewers are going to get hot! Let them rest for 5 minutes and then dig in.

Let us know what you think – comment below!