Teriyaki Chicken Skewers with Pineapple and Peppers

Hello! Welcome to Sunday Supper on Djalali Cooks. We are one week away from the unofficial start to summer, grilling season and all the hot weather we can handle. Starting today, and all this week leading up to Memorial Day weekend, we will have recipes perfect for your Memorial Day cookout and summer get togethers. This is a simple recipe; the homemade teriyaki sauce will be our chicken marinade and we will use a portion of it to make a glaze for basting the chicken on the grill. Are you ready? Let’s kick off grilling season with Teriyaki Chicken Skewers with Pineapple and Peppers!

Teriyaki Marinade

A few simple ingredients: we have soy sauce, Mirin for sweetness, pineapple juice for a little sweetness and tang, rice vinegar, sesame oil, fresh ginger and garlic. You can substitute orange juice for the pineapple juice if you like, but since we are grilling pineapple to go along with our veggies and chicken, it’s a nice flavor marriage.

Whisk together 1 cup soy sauce, 1 cup pineapple juice, 3 tablespoons sesame oil and 1/4 cup Mirin. If you don’t have Mirin, you can substitute 1/4 cup brown sugar. Add to this 1 tablespoon each of grated ginger and fresh garlic. Give this a taste and add any more of anything you think it needs. We will reserve one half cup of this marinade in a separate container for the glaze, which we will make a little sweeter.

Add the bite-size chicken thigh pieces to the marinade, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour, or up to overnight.

Teriyaki Glaze

Take the reserved 1/2 cup of the marinade and add it to a small saucepan and add 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. Whisk together and bring to a simmer. Make a cornstarch slurry with 1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch and 1/4 cup of water. Add the cornstarch slurry to the simmering sauce and whisk until the sauce is thickened a bit and will coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and give it a taste. Add more sugar if you like. Transfer glaze to a bowl and set aside until we’re ready to grill.

Veggies

Since this whole meal is going on the grill, peppers are a natural choice; their colors are gorgeous, they hold up so well to the hot coals, and their flavor gets smoky and sweet. And pineapple because grilled pineapple is amazingly good. I like to keep the veggies on their own skewers, separate from the chicken because they cook at a different rate than the chicken. We are just chopping everything into large chunks so they will stay on the skewers. I also have a bunch of whole scallions to throw on the grill.

Chicken Skewers

After at least an hour in the marinade, thread the chicken pieces on skewers and discard the marinade. We are using skinless boneless chicken thighs, but you can use breasts if you prefer.

Our skewers are long enough to span the width of of our PK (Portable Kitchen) charcoal grill, so we are going grill grate-less, with the skewers right over the coals. You can put the skewers right on your grill grates. Charcoal grilling imparts the most flavor when grilling but these will still be amazing over a gas grill too.

Set the skewers on the grill and keep them moving; turn them every one to three minutes to get an even charring on all sides. Once the chicken skewers have made a complete turn, begin glazing them with the teriyaki glaze. We want to build up the layers of glaze so that each layer has time to caramelize for the most teriyaki flavor. Turn chicken skewers every 1-2 minutes. Glaze the chicken after every turn.

Pull the veggie skewers off and set on a rimmed sheet tray when the peppers have softened and gained a lot of great char and browning. Once you have pulled off a few of the veggies skewers, lay the scallions directly on the grill grates and use tongs to turn them as they begin to char. They will only take a minute or two. The chicken is ready when it’s firm to the touch, and an instant read thermometer reads 165 degrees.

Because we cooked the veggies separate from the chicken, we will serve it all together, on a platter. Pull all of the veggies off the skewers and pile them up on a platter. Lay the scallions along one side. Then pull all the chicken of the skewers and pile the chicken pieces on top of the veggies. If there’s any remaining glaze, drizzle it over the top of the platter.

Teriyaki Chicken Skewers with Pineapple and Peppers!

A beautiful, colorful presentation. So tempting; the red, yellow, green and orange peppers, edges tinged with caramelized char; the salty-sweet, umami-rich chicken pieces – so tender and juicy. And that gilled, caramelized pineapple! This is a winning combination for any cookout or summer get together. Serve with a bowl of rice or lay out this platter alongside other cookout sides like Mexican Shrimp Cocktail, or Carrot and Feta Salad.

Definitely Pin this recipe to save for your Memorial Day cookout, or anytime you want to enjoy a colorful, flavorful teriyaki grilled chicken spread. Thank you all so much for spending some of your day with me! Stay tuned to the blog all week, as I will share recipes for putting together your holiday cookout meal. Take care and be well, xo Kelly

Print Recipe

Teriyaki Chicken Skewers with Pineapple and Peppers

(4 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

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Dinner, Main Course – American/Japanese-inspired

By Kelly Djalali – Serves: 4-6

Prep Time: 45 Minutes, plus 1 hour marinating time – Cooking Time: 15 minutes – Total Time: ~2 hours

A beautiful, colorful presentation. So tempting; the red, yellow, green and orange peppers, edges tinged with caramelized char; the salty-sweet, umami-rich chicken pieces – so tender and juicy. And that gilled, caramelized pineapple!

Ingredients

• 1 cup Soy Sauce
• 1 cup Pineapple Juice
• 3 tbsp. Sesame Oil
• 1/4 cup Mirin, you can substitute 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. Fresh Ginger, grated
• 1 tbsp. Fresh Garlic, grated
• 2 lbs. Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs, sliced into 2-inch pieces
• Teriyaki Glaze
• 1/2 cup Reserved Marinade
• 2 tbsp. Brown Sugar
• 1/2 tbsp. Cornstarch
• 1/4 cup Water
• Skewers
• 1 Large Red Bell Pepper, sliced into 2-inch pieces
• 1 Large Yellow Bell Pepper, sliced into 2-inch pieces
• 1 Large Orange Bell Pepper, sliced into 2-inch pieces
• 1 Large Green Bell Pepper, sliced into 2-inch pieces
• 1 Small Pineapple, skinned and sliced into 2-inch pieces
• 1 Bunch Scallions, washed and trimmed

Instructions

1

Whisk together the soy sauce, pineapple juice, sesame oil, Mirin, ginger and garlic.

2

Pour off 1/2 cup to reserve for glaze and set aside.

3

Add cut chicken pieces to the remaining marinade, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour, or overnight.

Teriyaki Glaze

4

Pour the reserved 1/2 cup of the marinade into a small saucepan and add 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. Whisk together and bring to a simmer.

5

Make a cornstarch slurry with 1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch and 1/4 cup of water. Add the cornstarch slurry to the simmering sauce and whisk until the sauce is thickened and will coat the back of a spoon.

6

Remove from heat and give it a taste. Add more sugar if you like. Transfer glaze to a bowl and set aside until ready to grill.

Skewers

7

Thread cut pepper pieces and pineapple pieces onto skewers, alternating peppers and pineapple.

8

Thread marinated chicken pieces onto skewers. Discard marinade.

9

Place skewers on a hot grill and turn skewers every 1-2 minutes. Brush the chicken skewers with the glaze after every turn.

10

Remove veggie skewers from grill when the peppers are softened and develop some browning.

11

Lay scallions directly on grill grates and turn every minute, with tongs until browned.

12

Remove chicken skewers from grill when chicken is is firm to the touch and reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

13

Pull veggies and pineapple off skewers and pile on to a large platter.

14

Remove chicken pieces from skewers and lay pieces on top of veggies and pineapple. Drizzle with any remaining glaze.