Do you ever get tired of the same old chicken recipes? I know I do. I’m always looking for new ways to jazz it up, since my family loves variety in our meals. I’ve been playing around for a while with a chicken with pineapple and bacon casserole to mimic one of my daughter’s favorite pizzas, the Hawaiian pizza.
My first attempt at creating the sauce for this dish was with soy sauce, but then my daughter was diagnosed with a soy allergy so I switched to my trusty coconut aminos as a soy sauce alternative. Sadly she’s been having issues with coconut as well, so off to Google I went looking for an alternative. I found this one that looked promising so I adapted it in this chicken dish to create a mildly salty, sweet and tangy sauce that compliments the chicken and pineapple perfectly.
Boneless, skinless thighs are what I used in this dish, but I’m sure you could also substitute breasts if you like them better. I find that thighs have better flavor and are more difficult to dry out for beginner cooks, which is why I prefer to cook with them in this chicken with pineapple and bacon casserole.
I like to serve this with rice or quinoa and some sort of green vegetable. Green beans, broccoli, zucchini, or salad would all be yummy options.
- 1/4 cup water or broth
- 3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 2 T. balsamic vinegar
- 1 T. Blackstrap molasses
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 T. fish sauce
- 4 slices of bacon, cut into pieces
- 2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 6)
- 1 bell pepper, red or green, cut in bite sized pieces
- 1 heaping cup pineapple, chopped in bite sized pieces (fresh or canned)
- olive oil for greasing pan
- Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
- Place chicken in the bottom in an even layer.
- Add your pineapple and peppers in an even layer over the chicken.
- In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix together water, garlic, vinegar, molasses, salt, and fish sauce. Pour over chicken.
- Sprinkle the top with raw pieces of bacon, taking care to separate the pieces of bacon so they cook evenly.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Then at 500 degrees for 5 minutes to crisp the bacon. Make sure the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
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