2/17/2014

Pacific Islands Chicken

"Southern barbecue is the closest thing we have in the U.S. to Europe's wines or cheeses; drive a hundred miles and the barbecue changes."
- John Shelton Reed


Sitting around Sunday afternoon, my mom asked casually what I wanted to cook for dinner this week.  I suggested barbecue chicken in the crock pot.  I love barbecue, albeit not as much as some people in my family, but I do appreciate pulled meat smothered in sauce slapped on a bun.  In addition to the chicken breasts, I requested pineapple and barbecue sauce.  I was envisioning a luau type chicken.  What I ended up with was yum-delicious pulled barbecue chicken that even my sometimes-picky-about-meat 5 year-old daughter gobbled up.

Pacific Islands Chicken


~3.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast (fat trimmed if desired)
20 oz can crushed pineapple
28 oz bottle barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's)
1 tsp ground ginger (or to taste)
1 TB pre-minced garlic (6 cloves, ~ 1/2 tsp per clove, or to taste)

1.  Place chicken breasts in crock pot - try to get it as close to a single layer as possible.  Mine overlapped a little - I had 6 total.  You can also plainly see in the image below that I did NOT trim the fat.  Ordinarily I would have, but having had migraines daily for 2 weeks I was trying to speed up the process so I could rest.




2.  Dump in the can of pineapple - DO NOT DRAIN - and the bottle of barbecue sauce.  Stir gently to combine.


3.  Sprinkle on the ground ginger, garlic, and brown sugar.  Stir gently to combine the sauce.  I kind of wiggled the chicken around a little to get the sauce between and under them.





4.  Set the crock pot to HIGH for 4 hours and walk away.  Just walk away.

5.  At the end of 4 hours, remove the breasts and shred or pull the meat.  I prefer to pull the meat side-to-side rather than shredding it bottom-to-top - if that makes any sense whatsoever.  I just don't think it is aesthetically pleasing to have meat that appears to have been pre-chewed.  Blech!  You could alternatively thinly slice the meat if you do not like to pull or shred.


6.  Add the shredded/pulled/sliced meat back to the sauce.  Stir to combine.  Keep on WARM until ready to serve.



7.  Serve sandwich style alongside Oven Roasted Sweet Potatoes and steamed fresh broccoli for a complete meal.


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