Summer Fresh Recipe Series: Thai Chicken Skewers with Grilled Pineapple

Grilled chicken skewers doused with the most delectable sweet and spicy sauce is accompanied by luscious grilled pineapple.  The perfect meal for Father's Day or any summertime meal.

Thai Chicken Skewers with Grilled Pineapple

Time for my Summer Fresh Recipe Series!  This is where I bring you recipes filled with fresh summer produce that are easy, light, and oh soooo tasty! Today is my first recipe of the 2021 series and it's a real winner.  Moist and juicy chicken chunks frilled on skewers are basted with a sinful Thai based sweet and spicy sauce.  The perfect accompaniment is the grilled pineapple.  This will transport you to the tropics in no time!

Great for Father's Day and something the whole family will enjoy.  Be sure to make this soon as you may want this as your summer "go-to" recipe.  Enjoy!

What Ingredients do I need?

• sweet and sour sauce
• boneless skinless chicken breasts
• basil
• Thai seasoning
• butter 
• garlic
• fresh whole pineapple
• canola oil
• optional: hot cooked rice

Substitutions and Variations

• add chili sauce or sriracha for additional heat
• use Chinese 5 spice powder instead of Thai seasoning
• use chicken thighs instead of breasts
• serve with grilled corn and green onion
• add bell peppers to the skewers for more veggies

Kitchen Tips and Notes

• If using bamboo skewers soak for 30 minutes in water to avoid burning while cooking

• Cut your chicken pieces on the large size to avoid the chicken from drying out

• Use a fresh ripe pineapple for best flavor

• Buy long pineapple skewers already cut

HUNGRY FOR MORE? Subscribe to emails at the top of this page and follow along on Facebook,  and Pinterest for all of the latest updates.

Other Summer Fresh Recipe Series dish you may like:

Grilled Sirloin Steak with Garlic Herb Vinaigrette

Italian Layered Picnic Sandwich

Spicy Grilled Eggplant

Refreshing Melon Salad

Thai Chicken Skewers with Grilled Pineapple

⅔ cup sweet-and-sour sauce
2 tablespoons fresh basil
1 teaspoon Thai seasoning
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 small fresh pineapple
Vegetable oil
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1- 1 1/2 inch pieces
Optional: hot cooked rice

For Thai sauce, in a small bowl combine sweet-and-sour sauce, snipped basil, Thai seasoning, and garlic. Reserve 1/4 cup of the sauce to use for basting. Stir melted butter into the remaining sauce; cover and set aside.

Cut ends off pineapple, exposing the flesh. Cut pineapple in half lengthwise; cut each half crosswise into four slices. Lightly coat pineapple slices with oil. Set aside.

Thread chicken onto 10- to 12-inch metal skewers, leaving 1/4 inch between pieces.

Preheat your charcoal or gas grill. Place skewers then pineapple on grill rack over heat. Grill chicken for 10 to 12 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink, turning occasionally and brushing with the 1/4 cup reserved sauce during the first half of grilling. Discard any remaining sauce. Grill pineapple slices for 6 to 8 minutes or until warm and grill marks appear, turning once halfway through grilling.

Serve chicken and pineapple with the reserved Thai sauce and hot cooked rice, if desired.

Spicy Thai Chicken Satay with Grilled Pineapple

Yum

Still feeling the summer heat?  We are. 

Even though the season has officially changed to Fall we are still getting 100+ heat in Los Angeles.  Typical for this time of year, we don't really get the fall weather until late October.  So it's still grilling season!  We love that we can actually grill all year round.  Grilled meat is the best, isn't it?

This weekend I was looking through another of my cooking magazines by BHG and came across a recipe for Thai Chicken Satay with Grilled Pineapple.  YUM!  You had me at satay!  So I decided to make this yummy dish with a few slight modifications for our dinner.  Modifications?  Oh yea, let's spice this baby up a bit.  Then Spicy Thai Chicken Satay with Grilled Pineapple happened.

Serving this with a Simple Asian Salad, this dish was fabulous!  The chicken satay cooks quickly on a grill and has a sweet and spicy beautiful glaze.  Grill up some pineapple spears or rings to go along side and serve this over rice.  The perfect dinner, or make this as game day appetizers for a group of people.  Either way this chicken really rocks!  The glaze is perfect with the Sriracha sauce added for a little heat.  You can either adjust the temperature to your liking or omit it all together.  This glaze is what makes this dish special so don't skip it.

So break out your grill and keep the summer feeling going by making this Spicy Thai Chicken Satay with Grilled Pineapple.  Your sure to love it!

Enjoy!






Spicy Thai Chicken Satay with Grilled Pineapple


Ingredients:

2/3 cup sweet-and-sour sauce
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon Thai seasoning
1 clove garlic, minced

4 tablespoons Sriracha Sauce
6 pineapple rings
Nonstick cooking spray
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1/2 inch thick strips
2 cups hot cooked rice (optional)
Fresh basil, shredded (optional)

Directions:

If using wooden skewers, soak them for 30 minutes in water to prevent burning. 

For Thai sauce, in a small bowl combine sweet-and-sour sauce, snipped basil, butter, Thai seasoning, garlic, and Sriracha Sauce.  Set aside.  

Preheat charcoal or gas grill to medium heat. 

Brush both side of the pineapple rings with canola oil.  Place on a tray.  Thread the chicken strips onto 12-15 wood skewers accordion style.  Place on the tray.

Place chicken skewers and cook (uncovered for charcoal, covered for gas) 10 to 12 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink, turning occasionally and brushing with sauce during the first half of grilling. Discard any remaining reserved sauce. Grill pineapple slices for 6 to 8 minutes or until warm and grill marks appear, turning once halfway through grilling.

Serve chicken and pineapple with hot cooked rice, if desired. Garnish with basil shreds.

Chicken Satay with Spicy Peanut Sauce + GIVEAWAY

UPDATE:  GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED!

Congratulations to Janine A "I just love the Barefoot Contessa, she makes everything look easy!" on being the winner of Michael Symon's cookbook.  
Contact BillandImyskid@sbcglobal.net to claim your cookbook.

It's my 500th post, and my Blog is going on 3 years!

I wanted to say a BIG "Thank You!" to all that have supported me over these wonderful three years.  It could not be done without all of you.

What better to celebrate than a great recipe and a fun giveaway.

First, let's talk about today's recipe.  

I've been on a roll with Michael Symon this week and today's post is the third chicken dish that I've made from his book Michael Symon's 5 in 5: 5 Fresh Ingredients + 5 Minutes = 120 Fantastic Dinners.  (Lovin' the chicken!)

Chicken Satay with Spicy Peanut Sauce is from the section titled "on a stick".  I love a good kabob, and when it can be a meal or an appetizer it's even better.  The flavors of Thai are prominent but this dish is not blazing hot, which is good for most of us!


Again this was made very quickly as promised.  I used chicken breasts instead of thighs cause that's my preference. You could either cook these on an outdoor grill or use your indoor grill pan.  The results were they were fabulous.  The sauce is excellent, the perfect foil for the chicken.

We loved this dish! 

Now for the giveaway...
Since I was so impressed with Michael Symon's cookbook I wanted to share a copy with one lucky person.  Not sponsored, but just cause I appreciate you all so much!

So I will be giving away 1 copy of Michael's :
5 in 5: 5 Fresh Ingredients + 5 Minutes = 120 Fantastic Dinners.

To enter please leave me a comment below answering the following question.

"Who is your favorite celebrity chef and why?"

The winner will be picked randomly next Friday 11/22/13 and the results will be posted on the blog.

Good luck and thanks for coming along with me on this journey!

Other Michael Symon dishes:
Chicken Amandine
Breaded Chicken & Mozzarella with Basil


Chicken Satay with Spicy Peanut Sauce

slightly adapted from Michael Symon's 5 in 5: 5 Fresh Ingredients + 5 Minutes = 120 Fantastic Dinners

makes 8 skewers
serves 4 for dinner, 6-8 as appetizers

2 T peanut butter
grated zest and juice of 2 oranges
1 jalapeno, minced
1/4 c soy sauce
1/4 c olive oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips (Michael used chicken thighs)
salt and pepper
1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro

Preheat your grill pan to medium high heat.

In a small bowl whisk together the peanut butter, orange zest and juice, jalapeno, soy sauce and olive oil.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper.  In a medium bowl toss the chicken with half the peanut sauce, mixing well to coat the meat.

Thread chicken onto 8 skewers.  Place skewers on the grill and cook for 3 minutes.  Flip the meat over and cook for another 2 minutes or until done.  

Remove skewers and place them on a platter.  Drizzle with remaining peanut sauce and top with Cilantro.  Serve with remaining sauce. 

Thai Chicken and Rice Wraps

Hi there! I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July holiday!

Our holiday was wonderful.  Good times, good friends, and excellent food if I do say so myself!  I'll be sharing some great grilling recipes that we came up with shortly.  They are perfect to make all summer long.

But first I want to share this wonderful dish made mainly of leftovers!  This is the e a s i e s t dish to put together.  You can certainly make this on a busy weeknight, or put it together for a nice lunch or light weekend dinner.  The flavors are right on spot!  The inspiration?  One of our favorite Thai places serves their version of chicken lettuce wraps which we ADORE!  So I knew it was only a matter of time before I recreated them. 

We have been so busy getting ready for our new house, packing, paperwork etc...that I don't have energy to cook a full blown meal right now.  Nor the gumption for that matter.  So quick and easy meals, thrown together literally, are for me. 

Like I said, I made this the easy way...using leftovers of course!  You can use some roasted chicken breasts that have been shredded and leftover cooked rice. I always make extra chicken when I roast breasts cause you can use it in salads, wraps, and this dish!  Same goes for rice.  I always make extras when I make stir fry.   If you don't have leftovers then buy a rotisserie chicken and shred it up and make some rice, or buy some pre-cooked packaged rice.  It's all good.  But really, this is the best recipe for leftovers!

The flavor punch is in the sauce, so make sure to make that and spread it over your lettuce wraps to give it that punch.  A wonderful, quick dinner, you won't be disappointed.  The taste is perfect with all the combination of Asian ingredients.  I served this with a simple side of Sugar Snap peas that I'll be sharing next.  A perfect combination for a quick and easy meal!

Enjoy!

Thai Chicken and Rice Wraps

Serves 2

2 t rice vinegar
1 T plus 1 t Asian chili garlic sauce (such as Sriracha)
1 ½ t grated fresh ginger
3 T sesame oil, divided
1 c shredded cooked chicken
1 clove garlic, minced
½ c cilantro, chopped
4 Bibb or Boston lettuce leaves
1 c hot cooked rice

Combine vinegar, chili sauce, ginger and 1 ½ t sesame oil in a small bowl. Set aside.

Heat remaining oil in a medium sized skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and garlic and stir until thoroughly heated through, about 4 minutes. Add cilantro and stir to combine.

Place 2 lettuce leaves on each serving plate. Spoon rice onto the lettuce leaves and top with chicken mixture dividing evenly. Serve with the vinegar mixture.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Need another quick weeknight dinner?

Today's recipe is perfect for that.  Done in under 30 minutes this dish will please the whole family.  MGG and I used to go to a lot of Chinese restaurants and I always loved getting the lettuce wraps.  Cool crisp lettuce against a hot spicy chicken.  YUM!  I would always order these and we would fight over the last piece of lettuce!  I've actually made a version of these lettuce cups with turkey that you may love.  You can find that recipe here.

Now we seem to be going to a lot of Thai restaurants.  They've been the new "in" thing.  They too have a version of lettuce wraps, but they are different.  Light...more citrusy, very fragrant with Thai flavors of mint and cilantro. They just burst with flavor!  I had to learn to make this version.  So when I was thumbing through a Cuisine at Home magazine I spotted a similar version.  So here's my adaptation of their Chicken Lettuce Wraps.  

So light, and the flavors will just rock in your mouth.  These are filling enough to have for dinner.  Serve with a nice fruit salad and you are set!  Quick to throw together for a weeknight meal, and make sure to save some for lunch the next day!  This will be a definite "go to" recipe!

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Serves 4

1 T canola oil

1 T minced ginger

1 T minced garlic

1 lb. ground chicken

¼ c fresh lime juice

1 T soy sauce

2 t brown sugar

2 t chili garlic sauce

½ c red onion, minced

½ c cilantro, chopped

½ c mint, chopped

Lemon zest

Boston, Bibb or Romaine lettuce leaves

Toppings:

Cilantro and mint leaves (optional)

Dry roasted peanuts

Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.   Add ginger and garlic and cook for 30 seconds.  Add chicken and cook, breaking up into small pieces, about 10 minutes or until cooked through. 

Meanwhile in a small bowl stir together lime juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, and chili garlic sauce.  Add to chicken and cook until liquid has evaporated approx 4 minutes.  

Stir in red onion.  Remove from heat and add cilantro and mint.  Stir to combine.  Sprinkle on lemon zest. 

Serve chicken in lettuce leaves, topping with cilantro and mint if desired, and peanuts. 

Adapted from Cuisine at Home July/August 2012