Huli-huli chicken with grilled pineapple salsa
Serves: 4
Prep time: 25 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Martin Poole
Huli-huli chicken with grilled pineapple salsa
The name for this Hawaiian dish comes from the word ‘huli’, meaning ‘turn’, as the chicken is turned during cooking. Served with a grilled pineapple salsa, it’s the meal you’ll barbecue all summer long
Serves: 4
Prep time: 25 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
648Kcal
Fat
24gr
Saturates
5gr
Carbs
82gr
Sugars
80gr
Fibre
4gr
Protein
28gr
Salt
10gr
Spencer Lengsfield
Our Senior Food Producer Spencer was born in Los Angeles, so has an inherent love for all things Mexican, Japanese, and Korean but is also heavily influenced by her family’s Louisiana heritage. She loves spice, bright flavours, and fusion food, and she has a soft spot for a chocolate chip cookie.
See more of Spencer Lengsfield’s recipes
Spencer Lengsfield
Our Senior Food Producer Spencer was born in Los Angeles, so has an inherent love for all things Mexican, Japanese, and Korean but is also heavily influenced by her family’s Louisiana heritage. She loves spice, bright flavours, and fusion food, and she has a soft spot for a chocolate chip cookie.
See more of Spencer Lengsfield’s recipes
Ingredients
- 1 x 1kg pack chicken legs
- 250ml tomato ketchup
- 250ml soy sauce
- 250ml pineapple juice
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2.5cm piece ginger, grated
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 100g light brown soft sugar
- 100ml rice vinegar
For the salsa
- ½ red onion, sliced
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 medium pineapple, peeled and diced (about 300g)
- ½ cucumber, deseeded and diced
- 2 spring onions, sliced
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
To serve
- ½ x 30g pack coriander, leaves picked
- cooked jasmine rice
Step by step
- Use a sharp knife to score slits in the skin of the chicken legs, then put in a large dish. In a bowl, combine the marinade ingredients from the ketchup to the vinegar, then add half to the chicken legs and coat all over. Cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour. Pour the remaining marinade into a pan. Simmer for 5 minutes until just slightly thickened. Set aside, reserving 1-2 tablespoons in a small bowl for serving. Meanwhile, for the salsa, mix the red onion with the vinegar and allow to lightly pickle.
- Heat the barbecue for direct and indirect cooking (the coals heaped to one side). Grill the chicken legs over direct heat, turning, until nicely charred on both sides, then move over to the indirect side of the grill to finish cooking. This should take around 25-30 minutes, depending on the size of the legs. Brush the reduced marinade over the chicken as it cooks.
- Meanwhile, grill the pineapple over the direct heat until nicely charred, then finely chop. Add to a bowl with the remaining salsa ingredients, including the pickled red onion. Mix well and season to taste, then arrange on a large platter. Top with the chicken, brushing it with the reserved reduced marinade, then scatter over the coriander. Serve with jasmine rice.
