Huli Huli Chicken is one of my favorite Hawaiian recipes. Tender chicken is marinated in a homemade huli huli sauce and then grilled to perfection for a delicious chicken dinner that only needs a scoop of rice and mac salad to go with.
Disclosure: OXO provided the above referenced grill tools for me to play with. Opinions are 100% my own – and you know I would never recommend something I didn’t love. There are also affiliate links contained within this post.
What a grill wants
What a grill needs
Whatever makes me happy sets you free
And I’m thanking you for knowing exactly
What a grill wants…
C’mon – you know you were singing right along with me to that 90s track, right?
Whenever I think of the perfect grilled chicken – it’s marinated, basted, tender and juicy -full of fresh flavors with a bit of heat and that, my friends, is what I’m here to share with you today. It’s what my grill wanted and needed to welcome itself to its new home – my balcony.
My apartment complex has a strict no gas grill, no charcoal grill policy so, it’s either an electric grill outdoors or or I’m stove-top grilling it on a gas stove. I had one of those outdoor Foreman type grills that worked well for a few years but as I really started to get into grilling, I knew I had to upgrade to something that would put a bit of char on. After doing some research and “grilling” of friends (ha!) I found a lovely Char-Broil electric grill that “made me happy” so I set the Foreman grill free. (I know – I’ll cut it with the song references)
Anywhoo – long and short of it is that about the time I was in grill research mode, OXO wanted to gather some bloggers together to spotlight #WhatAGrillWants. They sent us a lovely box full of their top-notch grilling tools knowing that when you grill with great tools, you get a great end result.
Look at what they surprised us with:
16″ Grilling Tongs, Silicone Basting Brush, Corn Stripper, Marinade/Dressing Shaker and a coveted Meat Tenderizer
Seriously – these tools are amazing – the brush – I can see me using it for grilling and baking uses – it holds the sauce so it doesn’t get super drippy and cleans up beautifully. The tongs are big girl tongs – no burning myself when I’m charring peppers on the stovetop over the gas burners or trying to get the meat off of the back of the grill. I LOVE the corn stripper – no muss, no fuss. The Marinade/Dressing shaker has this great flip pour spout so you can mix and then pour – sooo handy when I’m trying to pour a marinade in a plastic bag for chill duty. Finally – the meat tenderizer – this bad boy is a MUST – a few pokes with the tenderizer’s sharp edges and the marinade sinks in deeper, the meat gets tender and it actually helps cut down a bit on the marinade time. These are tools that will have you grilling like a rockstar!
When I decided to break in my grill with the new OXO grill tools, I decided to make one of my favorites – Huli Huli Chicken. Huli Huli Chicken has some teriyaki-esque flavors but what it really reminded me of is my friends’ mom’s chicken that I still can’t seem to get the recipe for. It’s got soy, brown sugar, a bit of ketchup, some ginger, some garlic and a bit of cayenne for heat. A bit of banging with the tenderizer cuts down on the marinade time and, once the chicken has soaked in the delicious flavor, it’s off to a grill. A bit of a sear, some basting with sauce, over, and over again forms this sweetly salty crust that covers a juicy chicken. You might want to make a double batch for salad or sandwiches the next day.
This Huli Huli Chicken recipe is what any grill would want – and it’s what you need to make this weekend!
On to the recipe:
Gather your ingredients
Let’s brush with a bit of the marinade [My deck lighting is horrid – I need to follow my neighbor’s cue and decorate a bit]
Look at that grilled loveliness
Served with a bit of mac salad and you have a seriously delicious meal
Now – who’s grilling with me?
[mpprecipe-recipe:232]
Disclosure: OXO provided the above referenced grill tools for me to play with. Opinions are 100% my own – and you know I would never recommend something I didn’t love. There are also affiliate links contained within this post.
