Best Instant Pot Hawaiian Chicken

Instant Pot Hawaiian chicken is pineapple sweet with a bit of a kick. Served on top of rice or by itself it’s one of our favorite pressure cooker dinners! 

Most people don’t know this about me but I was born and raised for the first 6 years of my life in Hawaii! Crazy right?? It is true and I guess that is where my love of all of these bold flavors came from.

You can make this as a Ninja Foodi recipe, in a Crockpot Express, Mealthy or any other brand. All these pressure cookers work very similarly so no worries.

Instant Pot Hawaiian Chicken

Because of this I not only LOVE rice with everything, but remember the unique flavors of that area. Everything had pineapple in it, and soy sauce was always a must.

Still to this day I can have a snack or almost dinner with just brown rice and soy. I’m in heaven.

Of course adding protein is a plus. Once I made this I had my girls ask for it over and over again.

If you’ve never tried easy pineapple chicken before it is great! Not only do you get the sweetness of this delicious fruit, but it’s countered by a bit of heat from the Sriracha you’ll add.

• It is up to you just how spicy you make this pressure cooker pineapple chicken. The below recipe is very mild, so adjust as you wish.

It only takes 6 minutes to cook on high pressure, so about 15 minutes total including the time it takes to reach pressure.

Meaning…quick dinner for sure! If you want a bit of heat red pepper flakes could be added. We like it sweet sweet though so we didn’t do that. 

What do you serve with Hawaiian chicken?

• I serve it on top of Instant Pot white rice. I make it in my Instant Pot mini so it’s all done at the same time.

You could alternatively serve it alone with a side of vegetables for a more low carb meal.

Pineapple chicken marinade

• Mix together:
  • brown sugar
  • minced ginger
  • minged garlic
  • ketchup
  • soy sauce
  • rice vinegar
  • pineapple juice

There’s no need to marinade it overnight though, you just dump it in and go!

Main ingredients for this sweet style Hawaiian bbq chicken:

1. Chicken
2. Pineapple chunks or tidbits
3. Onion

You could add bell pepper diced too if you chose to.

Hawaiian pineapple chicken

There are many choices as to what you could use. If I buy meat in bulk I use what I have on hand that needs to be cooked soon. Meat on sale at your store? Use what is less expensive y’all and you might find a new favorite.

• Use boneless skinless chicken breasts for the leanest cut
• Or you could use boneless skinless chicken thighs which is what I prefer because it is the most tender. It does have a bit higher fat content but so worth it in the end friends.
• Either type you choose I would definitely remove the fat and trim each piece before cubing it.
• Then dice into bite size pieces. Remember that the smaller they are the faster it will cook. Too small though and it may dry out.

You do not precook your chicken, it’s put in raw with the sauce and it all cooks together. That is why I love making it this way, I mean you can’t get any easier right? Really very little prep and no sauteeing at the beginning.

This is how it looks once it’s done!

Instant Pot pineapple chicken

Once you’ve enjoyed this, here are a few more Instant Pot chicken recipes I know you’ll love things like our 3 ingredient bbq sauce chicken and these:

1. Pressure cooker chicken and rice is a family favorite cooked in just a few minutes. You can add 1 1/2 cups or more protein and it’s great if you have leftovers to use up.
2. Instant Pot sesame chicken has a similar feel to this one but different.
3. Spicy honey Instant Pot chicken has been pinned over 100K times and gets rave reviews.
   1. This ramen is next on our list of tries.

Need directions for Slow cooker Hawaiian chicken? We have that for you too! It has a longer cooking time but I like to pass along as many variations as possible for all of you. 

Instant Pot Hawaiian pulled pork is a recipe I made with my childhood in mind too and is a hit made into sliders. Visit all our Instant Pot recipes for even more ideas too.

If you’re still looking for more this Hawaiian pork roast with pineapple recipe is on our list to try. You can eat this with rice or shred it and throw it inside some tortillas to make tacos. Any way you slice it it’s delish.

Let us know what your family thinks of this one. We have heard so many success stories of families making this a weekly meal so they can eat together more often and enjoy every bite. 😉