Monday, July 18, 2016

Grilled Teriyaki Chicken with Pineapple- Soy Free!!

Living without soy can be tough. It is in 65 percent of all processed foods (wow), and can be tough to avoid. When eating out, many restaurants actually buy their meat pre-marinaded..and the marinade usually contains soy. Ugh. But! There are restaurants that buy plain chicken, you just have to check! Speaking of eating out..I miss Japanese and Chinese food. Soy sauce is pretty awesome if you ask me! Recently I started experimenting cooking with a SOY FREE SOY SAUCE..yes, a soy free soy sauce..and its awesome! I wouldn't say it substitutes plain, but is fantastic when you cook with it!
I just made this Teriyaki Grilled Chicken with Pineapple, and I promise you wont miss the regular soy sauce. Now, if you CAN have soy sauce you may use soy sauce instead (i will list the amount in the recipe below).
I find this sauce at Publix, but also can be found at Whole Foods or be ordered from several distributors online.



Grilled Teriyaki Chicken with Pineapple (dairy free/egg free/soy free/nut free)

1 cup coconut aminos (or 3/4 cup low sodium soy sauce if you can have soy)
1 20 oz can of Pineapple Slices in 100% pineapple juice
2 1/2 tablespoons light brown sugar (reduce to 2 if you dont want as sweet)
1 teaspoon ground ginger powder 
1/2 cup light tasting olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 1lbs chicken breasts (i usually cut in half or you can pound out to uniform thickness for even cooking)
1 1/2 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons chicken broth (i use swanson)

Open your can of pineapple. Pour all of the juice from the can directly into a medium sauce pan. Place pineapple rings aside in a container with lid. Add aminos or soy sauce, olive oil, brown sugar, ginger, mustard, pepper and garlic powder to your sauce pan. In a small bowl mix together your slurry of corn starch and chicken broth with a spoon (if you were to add your corn starch without this step you will get a lumpy sauce!) Set aside. Turn heat on to medium/medium high and allow sauce to come to a slight boil. Let mixture bubble slightly for about 3 minutes, add your corn starch slurry, then reduce to low/medium for another 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove pan from heat and allow to cool about 20-30 min.
Reserve 1 cup of your sauce in a container.
Place your chicken in a large plastic bag or shallow container that has a lid, pour the remainder of your sauce over it and store in the fridge.
Pour 1/4 cup of your reserved sauce over your pineapple rings and shake to evenly distribute.
Allow chicken to marinade at least 6 hours. Overnight is best!

Grill Chicken on medium, turning once. Brush with 1/3 cup of your reserved sauce last few minutes of grilling and add pineapple to your grill (not on top of chicken) last few minutes of grilling.
Serve over rice or cous cous and goes great with roasted or steamed broccoli. Pour your remaining reserved sauce over chicken and rice as you serve or use for dipping.