Sticky chili chicken with hot-and-sour pineapple from Nothing Fancy: Unfussy Food for Having People Over (page 196) by Alison Roman

Ingredients

dried red pepper flakes
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chicken pieces
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Where’s the full recipe - why can I only see the ingredients?

Accompaniments: Celery salad with cilantro and sesame

Always check the publication for a full list of ingredients. An Eat Your Books index lists the main ingredients and does not include 'store-cupboard ingredients' (salt, pepper, oil, flour, etc.) - unless called for in significant quantity.

Notes about this recipe

william_q4vejb on May 12, 2026

This was good, but I found the marinade to be too watery, so most of it was left in the pan and wasted. Maybe would have been better if it was reduced before marinating
Caja on April 05, 2026

I accidentally doubled the pineapple but that was a good thing in the end! I would probably do boneless chicken next time and cook it a bit less next time. I used Sriracha because I couldn't find anything better and that worked well
jennicakes on March 02, 2026

Cut down on the chili sauce and red pepper, still had a kick to it. Did not get very sticky.
Lepa on January 07, 2026

Super delicious! I halved the recipe for my family of four but used double the pineapple. As others have noted, it's the best part of the dish.
hirsheys on March 15, 2025

Had the same experience as others who made it with boneless skinless chicken - yummy, but too hot as written. Next time would leave out the pepper flakes and leave the heat to the sambal.
chefmichael on January 30, 2025

This was good but HOLY HELL is it spicy with 2 tsp of red pepper flakes. This LIT ME UP. Not even the ripe, sweet wedges of pineapple would save me as they too had been completely impregnated with searing heat from the sauce. And I like spicy food. Definitely recommend toning this down to 1 tsp red pepper flakes on your first dance with this dish. Else eater beware.
Pimlicocook on January 04, 2025

Really liked this, even if I didn’t end up with a sticky sauce. Might try bigger pan next time so it’s less crowded and perhaps thickens up more. Used sriracha rather than sambal - maybe that made marinade runnier? - but otherwise followed recipe. Will make again: so easy and tasty, and looks great, too.
kari500 on February 02, 2023

A hit with my family (more than with me, to be honest). I did it with drumsticks since it's what I had, but I'd like this much better with boneless skinless thighs. The skin doesn't stay crispy, so it's not fun to eat - might as well just have the sauce coat the chicken pieces. I also cut my pineapple into bite sized pieces, so cooking time was shorter - maybe 40 minutes. Very much like sweet and sour chicken.
CheesyKranskyLove on October 03, 2022

One of my favourite recipe from this book. I used 4 chicken marylands and they were cooked perfectly. Wish I left the pineapple out to ripen longer but it was still very tasty.
tdimond on November 25, 2021

Delicious! I marinated boneless/skinless chicken thighs all day, then BBQ’d chicken and pineapple, basting with reduced sauce. Served over brown rice with a sprinkle of cilantro.
tarae1204 on January 20, 2021

What I thought were 4 pounds of chicken thighs in the back of my fridge turned out to be 4 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast. But I had already decided upon making this recipe and proceeded! It worked out fine. Started roasting pineapple by itself first for a head start. Then added to marinated breasts. Cooked at 400, flipping breasts halfway through. Took around 20-25 min to cook the meat to 185. I should’ve brushed them with some oil but they’re ok. Raw shallots on top are nice and they cook and pickle a bit in the sauce. Cilantro gets icky as leftovers so just add to each serving. My dish wasn’t sticky or caramelized but still delicious.
Lsblackburn1 on October 09, 2020

Nice! Mine did not turn out sticky like in the picture, but I loved the flavors. Didn’t add the chili flakes because I was afraid it’d be too spicy and that was a good call.
anya_sf on May 08, 2020

I wanted to make this with thighs, but the store only had chicken breasts, so I used those. They were enormous (1 lb each) so I cut them in half - maybe I didn't need to since an hour would have been long enough to cook them through (and they did get kind of dry, but I wanted the sauce to caramelize), but it did mean more of the meat was exposed to the delicious sauce. The chicken marinated 2 hours. I omitted the red pepper flakes (my son doesn't like them) and thought it still had enough kick from the sambal. My pineapple was small so I cooked all of it. I can't imagine I'd enjoy raw shallot on top, but green onions, cilantro, and sesame seeds were nice. My husband loved this, my son not so much.
vickster on May 04, 2020

Delicious! The roasted pineapple is a real treat.
BeckyLeJ on April 30, 2020

I had wings on hand, so I made it with wings. It did not need quite as much cooking time, which I expected. I also set aside some of the marinade beforehand to baste them as I knew pouring it over would burn with wings.
Skamper on February 11, 2020

This was good but not amazing. However, I absentmindedly bought chili garlic sauce, so used that. Marinated all day in the fridge. I used two breasts, each cut in half, and a half batch of marinade. Only took about 30 minutes for the chicken to roast, but this wasn't long enough for the pineapple to caramelize. Not sure the shallots at the end add anything.
ShefsKitchen on February 02, 2020

Excellent easy recipe. no changes on the recipe at all.
Zosia on January 31, 2020

Quite easy to put together and very tasty. I didn't have time to marinate the chicken but made sure to baste it several times during roasting and served each piece with a drizzle of sauce at the end. Good though the chicken was, the pineapple, which absorbed all of the flavours, was my favourite part.
stockholm28 on January 27, 2020

Very good and quite easy. It does need a 30 minute marinade. I cut the recipe in half and used all thighs and they were done in 40 minutes. It does have some heat. Definitely a repeat.
KarinaFrancis on January 05, 2020

Hot, sticky and delicious! The marinade is easy to put together and then you just pop it in the oven. I used just chicken thighs and they were cooked in 45mins, I also halved the marinade and it was more than enough (it didn’t really reduce as much as I hoped, but lots of sauce is no bad thing). I’ll make this again for sure, maybe not using a sambal rated “extremely hot”. Another winner from this book.