Crispy chicken bites doused in a sweet and spicy pineapple jalapeno sauce served with extra pineapple chunks and jalapenos topped with sesame seeds. Crunchy sticky fried chicken tossed in a tropical sweet heat homemade sauce that’s made from freshly juiced pineapple and jalapenos. 

DROOL WORTHY SAUCE

That sauce literally has us drooling. The sauce is insanely delicious and is what makes this recipe. Elevate your next plain old chicken dinner by making this sticky pineapple jalapeno sauce. It’s sweet, tangy, and a touch of spicy. The sauce comes together quickly, by adding the ingredients into a sauce pot and letting that all simmer together. As it cooks, it begins to thicken and you’ll see that fresh pineapple juice start to blend with the other ingredients and turn a beautiful shade of amber and begin to stick. We added a touch of a cornstarch slurry which is a little bit of cornstarch with cold water to help achieve a perfect thickness. The longer the sauce simmers, the more it will thicken. This is something to watch out for while you’re cooking the chicken. Just continuously stir and keep it on low. If it gets too thick, it can be thinned out with a touch of water. 

The main thing here is the fresh pineapple juice. Because we’re using freshly cut pineapple, there is no need to use store bought pineapple juice. We don’t need the whole pineapple to serve the chicken with. Only about half is needed. So what to do with the other half? well as much as it’s tasty to save for the next day’s breakfast fruit, we added the other half to a blender and let that come to a smooth consistency and used it for our sauce. I really think this is the secret ingredient that makes this sauce so damn good.

PREP, BRINE, AND DONE 

Prep & Brine: we chose to do a buttermilk brine to help tenderize the chicken. The main takeaway is that we’re tenderizing the chicken so that when its all cooked and done it taste moist and falls perfectly apart. What happens when you don’t brine? Well you risk ending up with dry, tasteless and overcooked chicken. By pounding the chicken a little bit, this also helps to tenderize and gives you pieces that are more equally alike in thickness which will help guide you better when cooking. Pineapple juice is also great for tenderizing as well as pickle juice which we’ve used in the past for crispy chicken sandwiches. Check out-> Crispy Chicken Caesar , Crispy Chicken BLT, Spicy Chicken with Slaw. 

Fry: There are a few options you could use for frying when it comes to selecting your oil. Mainly, we are looking for something that can tolerate high heat and has an ideal smoke point. Our go-tos are Canola, Sunflower, and Peanut. When it comes to frying and getting that crispy, crunchy, golden texture you need an oil that won’t be absorbed into the food creating a greasy soggy mess. These 3 listed are also the most affordable and neutral. So what about olive oil and avocado oil? Well, they are best kept for sautéing foods where you want to introduce a bit of flavour and healthy fats into the dish. They are also more expensive making them not economical for pouring out a large amount into a pan for frying. *Note that the ideal temperature of oil for frying is around 350 degrees F. use a kitchen thermometer to measure the temperature before adding food to the fryer. If you don’t have one, add a small piece of food or some batter. It should start to bubble immediately.  

DON’T FEEL LIKE FRYING? 

No worries! save the frying for another time. Prepare the chicken and the sauce as per directed. Once the chicken is cooked, toss it in the sauce.        Bake: coat a baking tray with cooking oil or line with parchment, spread the cubed chicken pieces and bake for 20 minutes at 450 flipping halfway.  Air-fryer: set the temperature to 400 degrees and cook for 18-20 minutes flipping halfway.

Be sure to check the doneness on a test piece to ensure the chicken is fully cooked. 

We hope you enjoy this recipe! If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it on Instagram! We love to see what you come up with. #thecommunalfeast Follow along our social media account on instagram for quick videos on how our recipes come together!

Print Recipe

crispy pineapple chicken bites

Crispy golden chicken bites doused in a sticky sweet and spicy homemade pineapple jalapeno sauce

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Additional Time30 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course: Mains

Servings: 4

Author: the communal feast

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into cubes
• 1 pineapple peeled and cored
• 1 jalapeños cut into thin rounds
• buttermilk
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 TBS baking powder
• pinch salt and pepper
• vegetable oil for frying used here is canola
• sesame seeds for garnish
• Sauce:
• 2 TBS honey
• 1 TBS brown sugar
• 2 TBS soy sauce
• 2 TBS apple cider vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1 cup pineapple juice we blended half the fresh pineapple listed above into a smooth consistency
• 4 jalapeños rounds
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• water

Instructions

• Place cubed chicken in ziplock or container, cover with buttermilk and refrigerate for a minimum 30 minutes. Longer if possible.
• Line two bowls for dredging: 1 combine eggs with a splash of water and beat with fork. Second bowl, combine cornstarch, flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until just combined.
• Remove the buttermilk from the chicken. Coat chicken pieces in the egg, then into the flour mixture ensuring the entire surface is covered. Place to the side and repeat until all chicken has been coated.
• Heat vegetable oil in a large cast iron skillet or wok. We filled the pot only 1/3 of the way, just enough to shallow fry each piece of chicken on one side. It is not necessary to fill oil enough to cover entirely. Allow to reach 350 degrees F. Fry chicken in batches until golden on both sides. About 5 minutes per side. The edges should appear to turn golden underneath. Once you spot that, flip the chicken and cook until the other side is nice and golden. If you are unsure, simply remove 1 piece and cut in half to check the doneness of the chicken. Repeat until all the chicken has been fried.
• While the chicken is frying, make the sauce. Use a medium sized sauce pan and set it to low. Add the honey, brown sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, and garlic. Mix to combine. Add the fresh pineapple juice and a few jalapeno rounds and let that simmer for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. Make a slurry with the tsp of cornstarch and a splash of water. Add that to the sauce to help thicken it. Continue to simmer and stir until thickened. Add a bit of water if too thick.
• Transfer chicken to a large shallow bowl, cover in sauce and toss to coat.
• Serve with pineapple pieces, and top with sesame seeds. Serve with rice or noodles as a more filling meal.

Notes

Oil: new oil will fry chicken lighter and depending on the brand canola vs. peanut the colour will vary. Keep this in mind when cooking.