This quick skillet meal is one of our family favorites. I really like it because you can use pretty much any chicken that you have. You can substitute thighs for the breasts of you can use chicken tenders. I cut chicken breasts into cubes and use that because I want them to cook evenly. But if you want to use the full breasts, just pound them a bit to make them more even, so they cook evenly in your skillet.
I start a pot of rice first thing when I am making this. The skillet meal comes together so quickly that your rice will be the thing that you are waiting for. Use brown rice for added nutrition and to increase the amount of whole grains that you are eating.
Ingredients
1 Tbsp cooking oil
3 boneless skinless chicken, diced in 1 inch cubes
Pinch Salt and pepper
20 oz. can Pineapple slices in juice
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
Directions
Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the cooking oil and swirl to coat the surface. While waiting for the skillet to heat, season the diced chicken breast with a little bit of salt and pepper.
Once the skillet is hot and the oil is shimmering, add the diced chicken and cook until cooked through. Remove the cooked chicken to a clean plate.
While the chicken is cooking, drain and reserve the juice from the canned pineapple slices.
After removing the chicken from the skillet, turn the heat down to low and add about 1/2 cup of the reserved pineapple juice. Stir to dissolve and loosen the browned chicken bits from the bottom of the skillet. Once everything has been loosened from the skillet, add the BBQ sauce and stir until a thick sauce forms. If your sauce gets too thick, simply add another splash of the reserved pineapple juice.
Add the cooked chicken and pineapple slices to the skillet, dredging both sides in the pineapple BBQ sauce. Spoon any excess sauce over the chicken.
Adjust your oven's rack so that the skillet will be about 6 inches from the broiler unit and turn the broiler on to high. Transfer the skillet to the oven and broil for about 5 minutes, or just until the BBQ sauce caramelizes on the edges of the chicken and pineapple.
If you don't have an oven safe skillet** you can transfer the chicken, pineapple, and ALL of the sauce to a casserole dish for broiling, or skip the broiling step.
**Do not put Teflon skillets, or skillets with plastic handles in the oven
