Grilled Pineapple and Chicken Skewers - Recipe theme

This month the recipe theme is Chicken.  I love chicken, fried, baked, broiled, grilled, roasted, poached, sauced or pretty much any other way you can make it. You will probably see a few extra recipes this month as a result. This month I am starting out with a grilled recipe which is quick and easy.

With it getting warm it is so tempting to get out the grill and try something.  This simple recipe makes it easy to enjoy the grill with some great fresh pineapple, easily available this time of year. And it might be a different dish to serve on Easter.

 Grilled Pineapple and Chicken Skewers 

• 2/3 cup sweet-and-sour sauce*
• 2 tablespoons snipped fresh Thai basil or basil
• 1 teaspoon Backyard Patch 4 Spice Meat Rub
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar (optional)*
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted1 small fresh pineapple
• Nonstick cooking spray or vegetable oil
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 2 cups hot cooked rice (optional)

Directions:

For Thai sauce, in a small bowl combine sweet-and-sour sauce, snipped basil, BYP 4 Spice seasoning, and garlic. Reserve 1/4 cup of the sauce to use for basting. Stir brown sugar (if desired) and melted butter into the remaining sauce; cover and set aside.

Cut ends off pineapple, exposing the flesh. Cut pineapple in half lengthwise; cut each half crosswise into four slices. Lightly coat pineapple slices with cooking spray or brush with oil. Set aside.

Thread chicken onto four 10- to 12-inch metal skewers, leaving 1/4 inch between pieces.

For a charcoal grill, grill skewers on the rack of an uncovered grill directly over medium coals for 10 to 12 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink, turning occasionally and brushing with the 1/4 cup reserved sauce during the first half of grilling. Discard any remaining reserved sauce.

Grill pineapple slices for 6 to 8 minutes or until warm and grill marks appear, turning once halfway through grilling.

For a gas grill, preheat grill. Reduce heat to medium. Place skewers, then pineapple on grill rack over heat. Cover and grill as directed.

Serve chicken and pineapple with the reserved Thai sauce and hot cooked rice, if desired. If desired, garnish with basil shreds and chile pepper slices.

*Tip:

Bottled sweet-and-sour sauces vary in sweetness and thickness. If you use a less sweet sauce, add the brown sugar to the Thai sauce. If you use a thick sweet-and-sour sauce, adjust the consistency of the Thai sauce by adding a little water.

RECIPE THEME

Each month a theme is chosen and a number of recipes on that theme from my massive archive will be shared.  This year we have 12 new topics, different from the topics of last year.  

To find the recipes of last year, check out this recipe link or search the blog with the topic Recipe2018, Recipe2019, or Recipe2020.

 
You can search the monthly theme by looking for the theme keyword in the search box and it will pull up the recipes on that theme as posted, so look at the bottom of the recipe in each posting for the KEYWORD for each month.  All recipes this year will be tagged Recipe2021 so you can find them all.

The themes are:
Jan 2021 – Baked Items
Feb 2021 – Breakfast Dishes
March 2021 – Italian Dishes
April 2021 - Chicken Recipes
May 2021 - Appetizers
June 2021 – Mediterranean Dishes
July 2021 – Pork Recipes
August 2021 - Seafood
September 2021 - Pizzas
October 2021 – Mexican Dishes
November 2021 - Cookies
December 2021 – Gift Recipes