Hawaiian burger made with BBQ grilled fresh pineapple rings and chicken breasts topped with creamy smashed avocado, crispy bacon and jalapeños doused in a homemade sweet and spicy pineapple jalapeños sticky sauce served in a toasted sesame bun. 

Kicking off grilling season with the ultimate chicken burger. Full of tropical flavours! This burger is sweet, spicy, and tangy all in one, from the brine to it’s tasty homemade sauce, it’s a must try!

HOW TO PREP

In order to infuse and tenderize the chicken, this recipe does require the chicken to sit in it’s brine for at least 2 hours.  This will guarantee that some of those fresh flavours pull through and you get juicy chicken breasts. It’s really simple- all it is is adding ingredients into a ziplock bag. If you don’t want to use tequila that’s fine. Simply leave it out and adjust with more pineapple and water so that the chicken is fully covered.

INGREDIENTS

Fresh is always best. Of course use what works for you and is available. All these ingredients pair perfectly together giving each bite a taste of fresh sweet, spicy, tangy notes in your mouth. By altering the combination it would no longer be a Hawaiian burger but just a chicken burger. 

Pineapple: not sure how to cut it? Couldn’t be easier. Of course you can prob watch a quick 1 minute YouTube video on this but all you’re doing is cutting off the top and bottom so that it can sit flat. “Peel” the exterior with a sharpe knife. Once all the outer layer is removed, slice into thin rings. TO cut out that core centre we used a jigger (for drink making) but you could use something the size of a shot glass to press down and push it out or cut around. 

FOR THE SAUCE

This is the exact sauce we used for our Crispy pineapple chicken bites  Its SOOOOO GOOD! we will definitely be repurposing it for multiple recipes. It’s so easy to make. It’s all done stovetop and simmers slowly into a thick, sticky sauce. As we previously mentioned in another post, the key/secret ingredient is the freshly blended pineapple rounds we used to make the pineapple juice. 

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

Hawaiian burger

BBQ grilled fresh pineapple rings and chicken breasts topped with creamy smashed avocado, crispy bacon and jalapenos doused in a homemade sweet and spicy pineapple jalapeno sticky sauce served in a toasted sesame bun.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Additional Time2 hours hrs

Total Time2 hours hrs 35 minutes mins

Course: Burgers & Sandwiches

Cuisine: American

Servings: 4

Author: the communal feast

Ingredients

• 1 fresh pineapple peeled, cored and cut into rings
• 4 boneless and skinless chicken breasts
• 1 large jalapeños cut into thin rounds
• bacon
• sesame burger buns toasted
• 2 large avocados ripe
• 2 limes juiced
• 1/4 cup tequila
• mayonaise
• water
• 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

• To a large freezer bag or plastic bag, add the chicken breasts. Pound chicken using a mallet or rolling pin into an even thickness. To a blender add lime juice, 3 pineapple rings and a splash of water. Blend a few seconds into a smooth consistency. Pour into the bag over the chicken and add the tequila. Ensure chicken is fully submerged in the brine mixture. Add water if needed. Refrigerate 2 hours.
• Heat BBQ to 375 degrees F. Once hot, spray grill with cooking oil and add chicken. Cook 6-8 minutes per side until fully cooked through. During the last 2 minutes of cooking, add pineapple rings to the grill spraying with oil before adding. Cook 1 minute per side to get nice grill marks.
• While the chicken is cooking, cook the bacon and make the sauce.
• To 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 jalapeños rounds and let that simmer for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally until the sauce begins to thicken and turn an amber colour. 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.
• Once the chicken is ready, dip into the sauce to coat. You can do this directly into the sauce pot or transfer the mixture to a separate bowl. With the remaining sauce mixture, stir in a bit of mayo and use this as the sauce for the burgers.
• Smash the avocados by placing into a bowl and using a fork to press down and smash. This should come together very easily if the avocados are ripe.
• To assemble: place 1 tsp of sauce on each bun half. Add 2 grilled pineapple rings on the bottom half of the toasted bun. Layer with bacon, smashed avocado. Place chicken breast and a few jalapenos on top.
• Serve immediately.