This weekend marks the unofficial start to summer, grilling season, and all the hot weather we can handle. Today, I have a recipe perfect for a Memorial Day cookout and any summer get-together. 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 Chicken Skewers
Ingredients and Preparation
Step 1: 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.
Step 2: 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 the heat and give it a taste. Add more sugar if you like. Transfer the glaze to a bowl and set aside until we’re ready to grill.
Step 3: 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.
Step 4: 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 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.
Step 5: Grilling
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 them 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.
Teriyaki Chicken Skewers with Pineapple & Peppers
Even though we cooked the veggies separately from the chicken, we will serve them 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 off 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. A beautiful, colorful presentation.
The presentation is 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 big bowl of rice or lay out this platter alongside other cookout sides like Esquites (Mexican Street Corn Salad). Take care and be well, xo Kelly
Key Equipment
Teriyaki Chicken Skewers with Pineapple & Peppers
Ingredients:
Marinade
- 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:
Marinade
- Whisk together the soy sauce, pineapple juice, sesame oil, Mirin, ginger, and garlic. Pour off 1/2 cup to reserve for glaze and set aside. Add cut chicken pieces to the remaining marinade, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour, or overnight.
Teriyaki Glaze
- 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.
- 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.
- Remove from the heat and give it a taste. Add more sugar if you like. Transfer the glaze to a bowl and set aside until ready to grill.
Skewers
- Thread cut pepper pieces and pineapple pieces onto skewers, alternating peppers and pineapple.
- Thread marinated chicken pieces onto skewers. Discard marinade.
- Place skewers on a hot grill and turn skewers every 1-2 minutes. Brush the chicken skewers with the glaze after every turn.
- Remove veggie skewers from the grill when the peppers are softened and develop some browning.
- Lay scallions directly on grill grates and turn every minute, with tongs, until browned.
- Remove chicken skewers from the grill when chicken is firm to the touch and reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
- Pull veggies and pineapple off skewers and pile onto a large platter.
- Remove chicken pieces from skewers and lay pieces on top of veggies and pineapple. Drizzle with any remaining glaze.
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