New York Times recipe: Pineapple-marinated chicken breasts

The group of enzymes in fresh pineapple, bromelain, excellently breaks down the connective tissues in thick, fibrous chicken breasts. This brilliant recipe uses pineapple two ways: in a cheerful salsa, and as a marinade that transforms breast meat into something closer to tender dark meat. Don’t let the marinade sit too long, or the chicken will fall apart during cooking. Fifteen minutes is the sweet spot for a recipe that clocks in, marinade and all, at 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

3 packed tbsp dark brown sugar

2 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for cooking

1 tsp salt flakes

1 tsp garlic powder

¼ to ½ tsp ground cayenne

½ tsp black pepper

1 cup diced fresh pineapple (1cm chunks)

¼ cup finely diced red onion

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander

2 tbsp finely grated fresh pineapple, including accumulated juices

700g boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 3.5cm chunks

Cooked white rice, for serving

Preparation:

Step 1 In a large bowl, stir together the brown sugar, rice vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce, 2 tbsp olive oil, salt, garlic powder, ground cayenne and black pepper. Transfer 1 tbsp of this marinade mixture to a separate medium bowl and add the diced pineapple, red onion and coriander. This is your salsa; toss until well mixed and set aside.

Step 2 Add the grated pineapple and its juices to the marinade mixture in the large bowl, then add the chicken and toss to coat. Set aside to marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes (and no longer).

Step 3 Once the chicken is done marinating, heat a large nonstick frying pan over medium-high and add enough olive oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken pieces, leaving any marinade behind, in a single layer so that they don’t touch and let cook until the bottoms are browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until browned on all sides and no longer pink on the inside, 4 to 5 minutes more.

Step 4 Serve the chicken over rice and top with the reserved pineapple salsa.

Serves 4

Total time: 30 minutes

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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