Easy Grilled Huli Huli Chicken Recipe - Oh Sweet Basil (2024)

Huli huli chicken on the grill is about to become one of your go-to summer grilling recipes! The marinade is so addicting, we have made it three times this week!

What Is Huli Huli Chicken?

When I was growing up, we had a family that moved in next door to us who was from Hawaii. I think they had actually been living in California before moving to Washington, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that even when it was pouring down rain the dad was ALWAYS in shorts or a sarong. To a young girl, I thought it was the craziest thing that he wasn’t freezing cold!

But none of that even mattered once summer rolled around. They’d roast a pig right there in the backyard and grill up huli huli chicken!

Huli Huli chicken originated in the mid-1950s in Hawaii when Ernest Mogado and Mike Asagi began grilling chicken in a sauce similar to teriyaki sauce. They used a makeshift spit and yelled “huli” which means “turn” every time they flipped the chicken and then basted it in the huli huli sauce.

My neighbor’s Hawaiian huli huli chicken smelled so good and tasted even better! So get comfy in some shorts or a sarong and let’s get grilling! It will transport you straight to the beach in Hawaii! Oh and prep a pineapple for some brown sugar grilled pineapple too!

What’s in Huli Huli Chicken?

The star of this recipe is the huli huli chicken marinade. It is packed full of flavor and so easy to make. Here are the simple ingredients you need:

• Ketchup
• Brown sugar
• Soy sauce
• Fresh ginger
• Garlic (crushed)
• Pineapple juice
• Rice vinegar
• Ground mustard

And, of course, you’ll need boneless skinless chicken breasts to round off this recipe!

Can I Use Chicken Thighs Instead?

The answer is yes! We love thighs and the flavor they have, but chicken breasts are equally as good! And they are a little healthier too. Make a few of each and see which on you prefer!

How to Make Huli Huli Chicken

1. Add all of the huli huli sauce ingredients into a saucepan over medium heat and cook it for 3 minutes.
2. Allow it to cool, then add 3/4 of it into a Ziploc bag to marinate the chicken for about 30 minutes. Save the other 1/4 of the sauce for basting the grilled chicken.
3. Heat your grilled to medium-high heat.
4. After the chicken has marinated, add the chicken to the grill. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 6 minutes.
5. Huli (flip) that chicken and let it cook for another 6-7 minutes.
6. Remove the chicken from the grill and let it rest for a couple of minutes before serving.

read more: Looking for chicken recipes to make this summer? Try our Pellet Grill Chicken Breast recipe next!

What to Serve With Huli Huli Chicken

I’ve already mentioned the grilled pineapple, but we also love this huli huli chicken with our coconut rice! So good! A few other option for sides are macaroni and cheese, grilled lemon asparagus, or lemon mandarin orange jello salad.

Tips for Making Hawaiian Huli Huli Chicken

Note that you can marinate the chicken in the huli huli sauce for 30 minutes to 2 hours. Don’t marinate for more than 2 hours, otherwise you’ll wind up with tough, chewy grilled chicken.

REMEMBER! Letting chicken rest after grilling is KEY to moist chicken.

You can add more sauce to the chicken before serving, or allow people to add the sauce on their own. For me, the more sauce the better!! And we love to top it with some chopped green onions.

You are going to want to make this huli huli chicken over and over again! It is full of flavor and so quick and easy! Huli huli!!

More GRILLED CHICKEN RECIPES:

• Honey Lemon Basil Grilled Chicken
• Mexican Grilled Chicken with Mango Salsa
• Asian Ginger Grilled Chicken
• Grilled Chicken with Oregano
• Sticky Asian Grilled Chicken
• Grilled Orange Tarragon Chicken
• Balsamic Glazed Grilled Chicken
• Sticky Honey Lime Grilled Chicken
• Grilled Hawaiian Chicken
• Grilled Sweet and Sour Chicken
• Check out all of our grilling recipes!