Grilled Teriyaki Chicken and Pineapple

Juicy chicken thighs are marinated in homemade teriyaki sauce and grilled to perfection with sweet pineapple. This grilled teriyaki chicken will quickly become a summer staple!

Jumping the gun a bit on grilling season this year, but I promise you’re not going to mind one bit when you see what’s in store for today.

Teriyaki chicken is on the menu only we’re taking things up a notch and making a homemade teriyaki sauce, cooking it to smoky perfection on the grill, AND inviting fresh pineapple to this wild party.

Soooo yeah, this is officially a staple on our grilling agenda for the summer. Soon to be yours too.

You won’t need any fancy ingredients to pull off this chicken and that’s the best part about it! You can also prep it hours in advance because this is one of those recipes where the longer you can marinate the chicken, the better it’ll taste in the end.

Not sure if you’re aware, but your grilling life just got a major level-up.

This Teriyaki Chicken features…

• A flavorful homemade teriyaki marinade
• Juicy grilled chicken thighs
• Sweet and smoky grilled pineapple

Making the Teriyaki Chicken

(scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe)

Ingredients You Will Need

• Soy sauce
• Rice wine vinegar
• Ginger
• Garlic
• Honey
• Brown sugar
• Cornstarch
• Chicken thighs
• Pineapple
• Green onions
• Rice

Choosing Your Chicken

I recommend using boneless skinless chicken thighs for this recipe. This cut of chicken is fast to cook up on the grill and turns out super tender and juicy every time.

If you don’t have thighs on hand, boneless skinless chicken breasts will work great instead, however, you may need to adjust the cook time slightly if they are thicker breasts. Always use a kitchen thermometer to test the internal temperature of meat.

Tips for Perfect Teriyaki Chicken

1. Use fresh garlic and ginger in marinade – this gives the marinade unmatchable flavor!
2. Marinate chicken at least 2 hours – a good rule of thumb with marinating is 2 hours if you’re in a hurry and up to 12 if you’ve got some extra time.
3. Marinate chicken on bottom shelf of fridge – it’s always a good idea to keep raw meats away from fresh produce and on the bottom shelf of your fridge to reduce risk of cross contamination.
4. Save the marinade – don’t throw out the marinade after removing the chicken. Simmer marinade on the stove several minutes to cook it through and save it for drizzling over chicken after grilling.
5. Cut pineapple into planks – we prefer 1/2-inch thick planks for the pineapple as this thickness will hold its shape during grilling.
6. Don’t overcook pineapple – grill the pineapple just until you have grill marks on both sides. This should only take about 5 minutes of cook time.

Recipe Variations

Try these ideas for a different twist on this chicken.

• Use a bottled teriyaki sauce – you can’t beat homemade teriyaki, but if you want to speed prep along for this recipe feel free to use 3/4 cup bottled teriyaki sauce in place of the homemade.
• Make it spicy – this chicken is very mild, but you can bump up the heat by adding cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, or your favorite hot sauce.
• Serve chicken with a different side dish – try serving chicken alongside fried rice, cauliflower rice, or quinoa.
• Repurpose leftovers – chop up any leftovers of this chicken and put it on a salad or in a wrap.

Stovetop and Oven Instructions

Don’t have a grill? You can make this recipe on the stovetop or in the oven instead!

Stovetop: Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large skillet (or brush over a large cast iron grill pan) Once pan is hot, add chicken and sear on both sides until chicken registers 165F. Repeat cooking with pineapple until slightly charred. Note: if you are using a thicker cut of chicken, such as a chicken breast, we recommend searing chicken on both sides, then finish cooking in a 400F oven 5-10 minutes.

Oven: Arrange chicken and pineapple in a single layer on a greased sheet pan. Bake chicken at 400F 20-25 minutes until chicken registers 165F. Optionally, broil chicken 1 inch from heat 2-3 minutes to crisp up the outside.

This chicken is going to quickly become a staple meal in your house! The chicken cooks up so juicy thanks to the marinade and is incredible paired alongside the sweet pineapple with all that extra sticky teriyaki sauce drizzled on top.

Let grilling season commence!

Save this recipe using the ‘save to recipe box’ button below. If you make it, please let us know! Leave a comment + star rating below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram with #wholeandheavenlyoven.

Watch this chicken made step-by-step on Google web stories.

More incredible grilling recipes to try next!

• Grilled Chili Lime Chicken
• Greek Grilled Salmon Kabobs
• Grilled Chicken Pesto Sandwich