Grilled Huli Huli Chicken

Huli-huli chicken is a grilled chicken dish in Hawaiian cuisine, prepared by barbecuing a chicken over mesquite wood, and basting it with a sweet huli-huli sauce.

Most recipes call for the sauce with ingredients including pineapple juice, ketchup, soy sauce, honey or brown sugar, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic. Some recipes may call for lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Sriracha or red pepper flakes, rice wine or sherry vinegar, chicken broth, white wine, or mustard. Some recipes call for brining the chicken in a solution with kosher salt, sugar, bay leaves, garlic, sesame oil, or thyme, before marinating it in the sauce.

The Huli Huli Chicken can be cooked on a grill or a rotisserie. While cooking, it is regularly basted with the sauce, and turned over ("huli-ed"). Mesquite (kiawe) wood chips are traditionally used to add a smoky flavor. Serves 4 Total Time: 30 minutes + marinating 8+ hours

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Huli Huli sauce
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 1/2 tablespoons chicken broth
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
1 teaspoon minced garlic

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix Huli Huli sauce ingredients. Reserve 1-1/3 cups for basting; cover and refrigerate. In a ziplock bag add chicken and the Huli Huli sauce, turn bag to coat. Refrigerate, covered, for 8 hours or overnight. Drain chicken, discarding marinade.

Grill chicken, covered, on an oiled rack over medium heat for 6-8 minutes on each side or until a thermometer reads 160°; baste occasionally with reserved marinade during the last 5 minutes. Easy Peasy!