Aloha Pineapple Chicken Rice Casserole
Ever notice how you can make anything taste Hawaiian by putting pineapple in it?
I’ve already used this trick a couple of times with chicken, once in a Crockpot Hawaiian BBQ and once in a foil packet dinner for the grill. And those are both good, but neither one is a true one-dish meal – something you can just pop on the table and serve, with no need for side dishes.
This Aloha Pineapple Chicken Rice Casserole fills that need. It’s got all the makings of a meal – chicken, rice, and veggies – in one casserole dish. And it’s all swimming in a tangy, salty-sweet pineapple sauce that gives it a real Hawaiian flavor.
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Better still, it comes together in no time. You use instant white rice in the casserole, so you don’t need to cook it first – just throw it in the dish with the veggies, chicken, and sauce, and it cooks up right in the pot, soaking up the juices of the chicken and sauce as it softens. So instead of being just a lump of bland white starch on the side, the rice is every bit as flavorful as the meat and veggies.
Whipping up a batch of this Aloha Pineapple Chicken Rice Casserole is the fastest and easiest way to whisk yourself away to Hawaii for an evening.
Aloha Pineapple Chicken Rice Casserole
Printable recipe directions and ingredient list at bottom of post
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray. I used an 11 x 7-inch dish.
- In a large bowl, whisk together brown sugar, soy sauce, garlic, and chicken broth.
- Add uncooked rice, onion, bell pepper, pineapple and it’s juices and chicken. Cover the baking dish tightly with foil. Bake for 50 minutes. Once cooking is done, uncover and stir ingredients.
- Return the dish to the oven, uncovered, and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and rice is tender.
Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Top with diced bacon and cilantro.
Aloha Pineapple Chicken Rice Casserole
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Ingredients
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1-2 teaspoon minced garlic
- 3/4 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 1 ½ cups uncooked instant white rice
- 1/2 cup diced red onion
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 1 20 ounce can pineapple tidbits in juice, NOT drained
- 1 lb. thin-sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts or chicken tenderloins, diced into bite-sized pieces
- Optional garnish: chopped cilantro and diced cooked bacon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray. I used an 11 x 7-inch dish.
- In a large bowl, whisk together brown sugar, soy sauce, garlic, and chicken broth.
- Add uncooked rice, onion, bell pepper, pineapple and it's juices and chicken. Cover the baking dish tightly with foil. Bake for 50 minutes. Once cooking is done, uncover and stir ingredients.
- Return the dish to the oven, uncovered, and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and rice is tender.
- Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Top with diced bacon and cilantro.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer: Family Fresh Meals is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.
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Good flavor but I felt using the instant rice made it very mushy. Trying again with jasmine rice and adding more veggies and less soy sauce. We will see thx
Loved this recipe! Since I buy whole chickens, cut them up and cook in an instant pot, I adapted this recipe a little. I added all ingredients together EXCEPT the chicken, and baked for about 20 minutes-until bubbly. Then I added cooked chicken chunks, stirred, covered and baked for about 15 minutes until chicken was warmed. I kept an eye on the rice to make sure it was cooked all the way through. Changes worked out well, and family really enjoyed it!
Just learning how to cook. Is the chicken raw when you put it in with everything else, or do you cook the chicken first?
Chicken will go in raw and will cook with the rest of the casserole.
I’ve made this twice, once as written ( turned out great) and a second time with kielbasa instead of chicken and added a bit extra broth to make up for the missed liquid with the chicken. That turned out really good too. Thanks for the recipe!
Kielbasa sounds delish!
Wow. Just wow. I try to stock up on whatever simple variations of chicken, veggies, and rice I can find and this HITS THE MARK. Not only did it look appealing, but I didn’t even have to go to the grocery store- these ingredients are already staples in my kitchen. I don’t ever use instant rice, so I was encouraged when I read other comments saying that regular rice worked fine. A bit worried that it would come out “crunchy,” I just tested a bite after taking it out of the oven just now and removing the foil after the initial 50 minutes. Let’s just say that it was so perfect that I’m literally typing this 5-star review as it bakes the last, uncovered 10 minutes. That taste test was *that* good. What a perfect weeknight meal!
Ok, that’s awesome because I don’t use minute rice, either. I used regular and am pretty sure it will be fine!