If you want to give your chicken a tropical flare, you need to make this Air Fryer Huli Huli Chicken. Make the sauce and the chicken at the same time, and get a sweet and slightly spicy, family-friendly dinner on the table fast. If this isn't the best Air Fryer Huli Huli Chicken, then please send me your recipe because we loved this one, and I can't imagine how it gets better than this!
Why You'll Love This Huli Huli Chicken Recipe
- Fast. Not counting the time it takes to marinate the chicken, this dish is ready in under 30 minutes.
- Easy. Prepare the marinade, air fry, and serve with sauce.
- Low Carb. Only 12 net carbs per serving.
- Flavorful. Packed with flavor that will leave you wanting to make this Huli Huli Chicken over and over again. It's one of our best air fryer chicken recipes!
Why Is It Called Huli Huli Chicken?
"Huli" means, "turn" in Hawaiian. Traditional Hawaiian barbecue is made over a fire pit where it's turned constantly over the heat to get an even cook. Huli Huli Chicken is marinated chicken that tastes great cooked in your Air Fryer.
The Huli Huli sauce has all the amazing tropical flavors you'd expect from a Hawaiian dish. You get a nice tang from the pineapple, and rich and savory contrast from the soy sauce making a beautiful combination of flavors.
What Is Hawaiian Chicken Made Of?
For the sauce:
- Canned pineapple chunks- Use the kind in juice, not heavy syrup.
- Soy Sauce- Adds a salty, umami flavor to the sauce/marinade.
- Splenda- You can use any variety of sugar or sugar substitute for this, just keep in mind it will change the nutritional values per serving.
- Ketchup- Yes, ketchup. It adds a unique flavor to the sauce while keeping the ingredients to a minimum.
- Minced Garlic- You can mince your own, or use one of my favorite hacks--a tube of garlic paste. It keeps prep time down and comes in handy if you have mobility issues.
- Minced Ginger- This adds a small amount of spice to the dish without being overly hot. You can also find minced ginger in a squeeze tube.
- Chopped Green Scallions- These add a fresh note to the recipe to help break up the heaviness of the sauce.
Why Do I Need To Double The Sauce?
Here's a tip about air frying. Unless you want to fill your house with a lot of smoke, you really need the meats relatively dry before they go in. So what I do is that I marinate the meats to tenderize and provide flavor--but then I put them in relatively dry. After they are cooked, I pour some sauce on top.
It is EXTREMELY important that you don't use the marinade for the sauce. You really don't want to risk getting sick with raw chicken marinade.
Instead, just do what I tell you to, which is make twice the sauce needed, use half the marinade, and pour the other half over the cooked meat.
What Do You Serve With Huli Huli Chicken?
This dish is incredibly versatile, so the possibilities of sides to serve with it are virtually limitless. Here are some of my favorite things to serve alongside Huli Huli Chicken:
How Long Does It Last?
Huli Huli Chicken can be kept for up to 4 days in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. Feel free to double the entire recipe, as it's just as tasty reheated as it is fresh. Get more detailed cooking times in my air fryer cooking times chart.
Want More Air Fryer Recipes?
- Air Fryer Zucchini
- Air Fryer Corn on the Cob
- French Toast
- Keto Shrimp Scampi
- Air Fryer Mushrooms
- Fish Nuggets
If you love this air fryer Huli Huli Chicken as much as we do, make sure you share it on Facebook and Instagram so your friends can try it too! Don't forget to Pin it so you can make it again soon.
Ingredients
For the sauce:
- 8 ounces (226.8 g) canned pineapple chunks, n juice, drained with juice reserved
- ¼ cup (58 ml) Soy Sauce
- ¼ cup (50 g) Splenda, or sugar
- 2 tablespoon (2 tablespoon) Ketchup
- 1 tablespoon (1 tablespoon) Minced Garlic
- 1 tablespoon (1 tablespoon) Minced Ginger
- ¼ cup (25 g) Chopped Green Scallions, chopped
Instructions
- Use a fork to poke holes into the chicken and place the chicken in a large bowl or in a Ziploc bag.
- Make the sauce.
- Remove ¼ cup of juice from the canned pineapple and drink the rest as your reward. Set aside the pineapple chunks.
- In a small microwave safe bowl, mix together ¼ cup of pineapple juice, soy sauce, sugar, ketchup, ginger and garlic.
- Pour half the sauce over the chicken Mix until the thighs are well-coated with the marinade. Reserve the rest of the sauce to cook as a dipping sauce (below).
- Set aside the chicken to marinate for 30 minutes or up to 24 hours in the refrigerator.
- Place the marinated chicken in the airfryer at 360F for 15 minutes, turning half way through.
- Meanwhile, place the reserved sauce in the microwave and cook on high for 45-60 seconds, stirring every 15 seconds. You are going to cook this until you get a thick glaze or pouring sauce that you can use with the cooked chicken
- Using a meat thermometer, ensure your chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165F.
- Remove chicken to a serving tray, garnish with pineapples and green onions and serve with the thickened sauce poured over all of it.
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Nutrition
And don't forget to check out my air fryer cookbooks! Every day easy air fryer, and Air Fryer Revolution.
Hey there! I know this is kinda off topic however I'd figured I'd ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog article or vice-versa? My blog goes over a lot of the same topics as yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other. If you are interested feel free to send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you! Terrific blog by the way!
This recipe was a hit at my house! So good I am making it again tonight! I did go heavy on the ginger and garlic but followed the recipe otherwise.
This is a family favorite.
Fantastic recipe...we all loved the flavor! Just bought your cookbook after buying my Cosori 5.8 and am having fun trying some new flavors...our taste buds are traveling the world 🙂
Supposed to be a 5 star...posted in error as 4... definitely 5 star!
Could I use breasts instead ? Not fond of dark meat 😬
The entire family loved it!
Yay! Always nice when everyone eats the same thing
forgot to mention that I used 2 tsps of Arrowroot Flour to thicken the sauce. It was taking forever in the microwave. It needed this little bit of help... perfect with it.
Love the sauce. The chicken was sooooo good. Will definitely be adding this to my regular line up of chicken dinners.
forgot to mention that I used 2 tsps of Arrowroot Flour to thicken the sauce. It was taking forever in the microwave. It needed this little bit of help... perfect with it.
This is my current favorite recipe, it is always well recieved and so easy.
We really enjoyed it. I would thicken the sauce on the stovetop next time as it too several minutes in the microwave.