Grilled Huli Huli Chicken – DANGEROUSLY good!!! Chicken thighs marinated in brown sugar, soy sauce, ketchup, sherry, ginger, and garlic. Let the chicken marinate all day and grill. We ate this twice in one week. It was seriously delicious!! Can use chicken breasts or tenders instead of thighs.
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Pin This RecipeThis Grilled Huli Huli Chicken was the best thing we ate last week. Chicken Legs loves chicken thighs, so when I came across this recipe in one of my old cookbooks I knew I had to make it for him. It was SO good that we actually made it twice in one week!
The chicken is marinated all day in a quick Hawaiian BBQ sauce made of ketchup, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and sherry. It is seriously delicious! I used dried ginger in the marinade, but feel free to use fresh ginger. I am not a huge ginger fan, so I didn’t use a lot. If you love ginger, bump it up in the marinade. The bbq marinade has cooking sherry in the mixture. If you aren’t a fan of sherry, you can swap it for some chicken broth. It will still taste delicious!
We used chicken thighs in this recipe. If you aren’t a fan of chicken thighs, feel free to use chicken tenders or breasts. I am going to make it with chicken tenders this weekend. YUM! Make sure to brush the chicken with all the reserved sauce right before you pull it off the grill – the sauce is way too good to waste!
We served it with some macaroni salad and asparagus. Here are a few of our favorite recipes from the blog that go great with this bbq grilled chicken:
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Grilled Huli Huli Chicken
Ingredients:
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- 6 Tbsp ketchup
- 6 Tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 2½ Tbsp sherry or chicken broth
- ½ tsp dried ginger
- 1½ tsp minced garlic
- 12 boneless skinless chicken thighs, about 2.5 pounds
Instructions:
- In a small bowl, mix the first six ingredients. Reserve ½ cup for basting; cover and refrigerate.
- Pour marinade over chicken and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. (I put the chicken and marinade in a gallon ziplock bag)
- Remove chicken from marinade and grill until done, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Baste chicken with reserved marinade during the last 5 minutes of cooking.
Notes:
Steph
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Reminds me of when I was stationed in HI. Made this along with some Hawaiian macaroni, kinda a plate lunch thing.
I am going to make this forn the first time tomorrow and am so excited!!
One question – your recipe calls for dried ginger… do you use ground ginger? Or do you use something else. I just want to make sure I am using the right thing. Thanks!!
yes
Great recipe.. my daughter loves this on top of coconut rice. Definitely a keeper recipe!
This is a fantastic recipe that I will definitely make again!
Wonderful and we make often. Also you can do bone-in thighs. Only addition I make is adding 3 tbl of pineapple juice.
I used this marinade on chicken breasts that I cubed up for kebabs. These skewers disappeared QUICKLY from my Labor Day cookout table! I included red and yellow bell pepper and sweet yellow onion on the kebabs. I will absolutely make this again… P.S. I had leftover marinade and trying on pork loin chops tonight!
SO glad it was a hit!
Delicious is all I can say!
When do you use the Cast Iron Grill Pan listed in the recipe for equipment needed?
If you cook it inside instead of outside on the grill.
That’s what I figured but wanted to be sure 🧡💙. War Eagle ! Thanks
What kind of sherry does you use for this recipe?
Any brand of cooking sherry is fine.
Do you think this would be ok in the oven?.I don’t have a grill. What degree would you suggest for cooking. Thanks
Pan sear the chicken for 2 or 3 minutes per side. Place on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake at 400ºF for 10 to 12 minutes, until a meat thermometer reads 165ºF.
I make this recipe on a regular basis. It’s a family favorite and asked for at our BBQs. So glad I stumbled across this gem a couple years ago. One BBQ we tried adding crushed pineapple to the marinade. OMG it was awesome. We’ve been adding it ever since. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
so easy to make!! I only had bone in chicken thighs.. so that’s what I used! tossed the frozen thighs in the marinade the night before. i flipped them over a couple of times to make sure every side was coated well. thawed in fridge overnight. Grilled low and slow on the grill until done. I basted them with some of the marinade I set aside(never touched the raw chicken!). kids ate every single bite. I made 8 thighs, thinking I’d have leftovers. NOPE!
Awesome dish!, everyone joy during this past hunting season,
Wow this was delicious and so easy!!!! Gonna add a little pineapple juice and try in on kabobs!!! Ow a family favorite! Thanks for sharing!
Just had my first taste of huli huli chicken from a street side vendor in Maui. What a treat this was! Will definitely being making this when we get home to Cali.
Just had my first taste of Huli HulI chicken from a roadside vendor in Maui. What a treat this was. If this recipe is like what I just ate, I’ll be eating it every week!!! It is sooooo good
Weird question but where does Huli Huli come from?
It is a Hawaiian dish – huli in Hawaiian means turn.
Great flavor. I used chicken breasts because that's all I had but they were a bit to dry. Will definitely try again using the thighs. Will probably also add a little heat like Sambal Oelek (chili paste) to the extra sauce for basting. Very easy recipe. Thank you
This was seriously soooooooo good. I could only fit 10 pieces in my bag. They were a little big. I doubled the sauce though. Half to marinade and the other half to pour over when done. I love it poured over rice. Its even better the next day. Definitely making this again and again. So easy to prepare as well. Thank you so much!
Seems very easy & without much parafonia. I will certainly try tis week end. Thanks.
The photo makes me want to reach into my screen.