Juicy pieces of chicken, fried up with peppers, onions and pineapple chunks in a simple, sweet and savoury stir-fry sauce.
This is my go-to recipe when I’ve got a hankering for a sweet and sour style dinner, but I haven’t got the time to coat and fry up chicken pieces.
Everything gets added to the wok in stages so it’s easy to prep as you go, without getting in a fluster.
It’s easy to get stuck in a rut with stir-fry type recipes. I most often go back to my simple chicken stir fry, because it’s the one that comes into my head first, but there are so many ways you can jazz up a stir fry:
- Add in heat with chilli flakes, chilli sauce or fresh chillies
- Swap out vegetables – mange tout, sugarsnap peas, extra fine green beans, tenderstem broccoli, carrots chopped into matchsticks, fine asparagus and chopped mushrooms are all good options that can be stir-fried quickly.
- Swap out the protein for pork tenderloin, thin strips of ribeye steak or go for vegetarian options such as quorn strips or marinated tofu.
- Change the flavour profile by adding in Cajun spice, peanut butter or sesame oil (plus a sprinkling of sesame seeds). I’d recommend adding on one, not all three at once! Although I do wonder how that would taste 😁
- Add fruit – such as chopped plums (see my chicken plum stir fry), strips of mango or like this recipe – chopped pineapple.
Coming back to this recipe…..
📋 What do we need?
📺 Watch how to make it
Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.
👩🍳PRO TIP You can use sliced boneless chicken thighs if you prefer. I find chicken breasts a little less fiddly to slice up, so it’s quicker for me to use them in this recipe. The dusting of cornflour on the chicken breast pieces will help to ensure the chicken stays juicy and moist when frying.
🍽️ What to serve it with
- Boiled Rice
- Egg Fried Rice
- Cauliflower Fried Rice
- Stir-fried noodles
⬇️ The recipe card with full instructions is just below these extra recipe suggestions.
🍲 More fantastic Chicken Stir-Fry recipes
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Sticky Pineapple Chicken
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breasts (approx 525 g/1.1 lbs altogether) chopped into bitesize chunks
- 2 tbsp cornflour cornstarch in USA
- pinch of salt and pepper
- 3 tbsp oil
- 435 g (15 oz) can of chopped pineapple in juice
- 2 tbsp soft brown sugar
- 3 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp tomato puree paste for US
- 1 onion peeled and chopped into wedges
- 1 red bell pepper chopped into chunks
- 2 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 1 tsp minced ginger
To Serve:
- coriander (cilantro)
- boiled Rice
- sriracha add some to give the dish a little kick of heat
Instructions
- Place the chicken breast chunks in a bowl and sprinkle on the cornflour, salt, and pepper. Mix with your hands to cover the chicken in the cornflour.3 chicken breasts, 2 tbsp cornflour, pinch of salt and pepper
- Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan over a high heat.3 tbsp oil
- When the oil is hot, add in the chicken. Cook on a high heat, moving the chicken around occasionally with a spatula, until the chicken is golden on all sides (about 5-6 minutes).
- While the chicken is cooking, make the stir-fry sauce by combining the pineapple juice from the tin of pineapple with the brown sugar, soy sauce, and tomato puree in a bowl. Mix together and put to one side.435 g (15 oz) can of chopped pineapple in juice, 2 tbsp soft brown sugar, 3 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp tomato puree
- Add in the onions and peppers to the wok, and fry with the chicken for 2 minutes.1 onion, 1 red bell pepper
- Add the pineapple chunks, from the tinned pineapple, into the wok and cook for a further two minutes.435 g (15 oz) can of chopped pineapple in juice
- Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook for a further minute.2 cloves garlic, 1 tsp minced ginger
- Add the stir-fry sauce you made earlier to the wok.
- Continue cooking on high, allowing the sauce to bubble and reduce down, whilst stirring occasionally. It should take about 5-6 minutes on a medium-high heat to reduce down and start making the chicken look darker and caramelized.
- Once cooked, turn off the heat and serve over boiled rice. Sprinkle with coriander and serve.coriander (cilantro), boiled Rice, sriracha
Video
Notes
Reheat by heating a tablespoon of oil in a wok, over a medium heat, then adding the pineapple chicken to the wok. Move it around the pan often, using a spatula, until piping hot throughout. It will take about 10 minutes to heat through.
You may need to add a splash of water to loosen it up a little when reheating. Can I freeze it? I don’t recommend freezing this recipe as the peppers and onions are likely to go a little soggy. Ingredient swaps
- Swap the chicken for chopped pork tenderloin pieces, or go vegetarian and swap for quorn pieces.
- Add in extra vegetables – mange tout (snow peas), roughly chopped spring onion, mushrooms, asparagus and tenderstem broccoli pieces all work well and have a similar cooking time to the peppers.
- Add 1 tsp chilli flakes or 1-2 chopped fresh chillies or 1-2 tsp sriracha for a spicy kick.
- Add ready-cooked egg noodles at the end and cook for a further 2 minutes (until piping hot) for a pineapple chicken noodle stir fry. Saves having to cook rice to go with it!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe was first posted July 2015. Updated May 2023 with new photos, video, extra detail in the instructions and a bit of housekeeping.
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Absolutely delicious….Followed recipe and added chilli flakes. PERFECT! Will defo be a staple going forwards. Thank you.
I tried this a couple of times and I confess I was tired after work so I “eyeballed” it. This time I measured the sauce ingredients for better ratios of salty/sweet. It was awesome. Perfectly sweet and savory with tender chicken. Thank you!
Great job! The whole family loves this! It has the Chinese feel but not heavy, thank you!!!
Followed the recipe it works. But would make the source before cooking the chicken next time
Just lovely! added red chili flakes because we love a kick.
I followed the recipe exactly and I don’t know what went wrong, not flavourful, it tasted odd for some reason. Maybe some orange juice would have given it the sweet tanginess that it needed or the sriracha that was recommended for a bit of heat.
Hi Ottavia, what do you mean by odd? Would like to understand what went wrong for you hear.
Just checking – you used pineapple in pineapple juice (not in syrup, as it sometimes comes in)?
Made this the other night day and it is delicious, thank you for this great recipe! It is so authentically Chinese yum yum!!
Needed something that would still taste good hopefully in 12 hrs for work. I had lots of chicken and needed something simple to cook. Thankfully I also had canned pineapple. Incredibly happy this did not disappoint. Cooking it was simple and thankfully was to my taste. Microwaved it 12 hrs later for work and still tasted amazing. Chicken stayed tender and was not dry. Only thing is I should have cooked it longer to make the sauce even thicker. If you like orange chicken you’ll probably like this.