Huli Huli chicken -Hawaiian chicken O’ahu East Shore

Mike’s Huli Huli Chicken is legendary in O’ahu, and tracking down his bright yellow food truck is a must if you drive up the East shore. This easy-to-make recipe for Huli Huli chicken will have you salivating. It’s a juicy, sticky, delicious meal for the whole family for lunch or dinner.

It is a very easy Hawaiian chicken recipe to make and is absolutely delicious, with moist chicken on the inside and a glazed, crispy outside.  You could serve this with vegetables or salad, and it’s great for leftovers the next day.

Related reading – Great places to eat in Oahu

Why this recipe works

• It’s simple and you can do it in stages, with many parts of the recipe being able to be made ahead of time.
• Brining the chicken makes a huge difference. Don’t miss this step if you can help it. Brining is an integral step to having moist chicken at the end. You can skip this step, but the result will be slightly different.
• Apart from having to wait for the chicken to brine properly, everything else is quick to prepare and it’s quick to cook.
• This is a full-flavoured meal. The layers of flavour are built up via the brine, the rub, the sauce used to marinade and then using the sauce at the end. It’s just super-tasty.
• It can be cooked in an oven, on a cooktop or even better, on a BBQ making it a very versatile recipe.
• The sauce is delicious and can be used on other proteins as well.
• The sauce can also be frozen and used later.

What goes into this recipe

Brine

• Enough water to cover the chicken
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1/4 cup sugar (you can use white or raw sugar here)
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 garlic cloves
• Whole chicken – around 2 kg (4.4 pounds)

Sauce

• 1 cup pineapple juice (tin)
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce (ketchup)
• 1/2 cup dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp malt vinegar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp ground ginger

Dry rub

• 2 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp salt (or less if preferred)
• 1 tbsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp onion powder or onion flakes
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp black pepper

The rub and the sauce can be made a day ahead, and any leftover sauce can also be frozen.  I tend to be heavy-handed with the sauce when serving as the chicken really soaks it up.

How to make Huli Huli chicken

Step 1 | Brining

Pro tip: This is the biggest tip of all. The secret to this recipe is brining the chicken as this keeps it moist throughout the whole cooking process.

To make sure we have enough water in the brine, we put the chicken into the pot we are going to make the brine in, cover it with water, and then remove the chicken.

Cook the brine ingredients on moderate heat until the sugar has dissolved and leave to cool down.

When it is cool, place the chicken back into the pot with the brine, place it in the fridge and allow it to sit until it is ready to be rubbed. The longer the brining, the more moist the chicken will be.

If possible do this at least a few hours before. We leave ours for a minimum of four hours. Overnight is even better.

Step 2 | Make the dry rub

Mix all of the dry ingredients for the rub together in a bowl.

Step 3 | Make the sauce

Combine the pineapple juice, tomato sauce, soy sauce and vinegar in a pot and put on the stove over low heat.

Bring it to a simmer then add the sugar and ginger. Allow the sauce to thicken, ensuring it does not boil. Remove it from the heat and leave it to cool.

Step 4 | Dry the chicken

Remove the chicken from the brine and pat it with paper towel until it is completely dry.

Step 5 | Prep the chicken

Before rubbing, the chicken needs to be butterflied.

Step 5 | Rubbing the chicken

Cover the chicken with the rub mix, getting it all over outside and in the cavity.

Step 7 | Cook the chicken

Cook over a hot BBQ. Cook on one side for around 10 minutes and then on the other for a similar time.

Squeeze some lemon or lime juice over the chicken as it is being cooked. Glaze the chicken several times, including just before you are ready to take it off the heat. We love to give the chicken a good char and love to have plenty of sauce on it as well.

Cook’s tip: Keep some of the sauce to serve with.

The chicken is cooked when it reaches an internal temperature of around 74°Celsius / 165° F.

Step 8 | Rest and serve

Remove and allow it to rest. Serve with the remaining sauce, vegetables or salad.

Cook’s tip: This Hawaiian chicken recipe is also perfect for use in a smoker. The added depth of flavour that smoke can bring to the Huli Huli Chicken is worthwhile trying if you have access to a smoker.

Recipe notes

• The components of the Huli Huli chicken may be made a day ahead, may be made in stages and may also be frozen. You can brine the chicken, make the rub and the sauce all ahead of time, leaving just the cooking to be done on the day you want to serve it.
• The chicken doesn’t need to be butterflied, but it will be much better if you do as the rub gets into the cavity better, and it will cook quickly and evenly on the BBQ.
• Be careful with adding salt in the rub. The sauce recipe uses tomato sauce and soy sauce, both of which are high in salt. The brining is also done in salt.
• This sauce is great on pork and also on chicken kebabs.
• If you measure out all of the ingredients for the rub and sauce at the start, the process of putting them all together is very quick.
• As noted above, brining the chicken is an important part of this recipe and its end result.

Step By Step Photos Above
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Recipe inspiration from Guy Fieri.