Description
This Slow Cooker Shredded Hawaiian Chicken is a sweet-and-savory dish featuring tender chicken breasts and thighs slow-cooked with pineapple, coconut aminos, and aromatic spices. Perfect for versatile serving options like Swiss chard wraps, tacos, salads, or bowls, this recipe creates flavorful leftovers that are equally delicious hot or cold.
Ingredients
Scale
Chicken & Vegetables
- 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast
- ½ lb. boneless skinless chicken thighs
- ½ small yellow onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
Sauce & Seasonings
- 1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple, slightly drained
- ⅓ cup coconut aminos
- Juice of 1 lime (2 to 2 ½ tablespoons)
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Optional Garnishes & Wrapping
- Swiss chard leaves
- Avocado slices
- Shredded carrots
- Shredded purple cabbage
- Green onions
- Sliced almonds
- Fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Prepare the Ingredients: Place the chicken breasts, chicken thighs, diced onion, and minced garlic into the slow cooker, arranging them evenly.
- Make the Sauce: In a small bowl, combine the slightly drained crushed pineapple, coconut aminos, lime juice, ground ginger, red pepper flakes, sea salt, and black pepper. Stir well until the mixture is thoroughly combined.
- Combine and Cook: Pour the prepared sauce evenly over the ingredients in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours or on high for 3 hours, until the chicken is fully cooked and tender.
- Shred the Chicken: Remove the cooked chicken from the slow cooker and place it on a plate or cutting board. Using two forks, shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
- Return and Mix: Return the shredded chicken to the slow cooker and stir it into the remaining juices to soak up the flavors. Switch the slow cooker to the Keep Warm setting until ready to serve.
- Serve: Assemble Swiss chard wraps using the shredded chicken and optional garnishes like avocado slices, shredded carrots, purple cabbage, green onions, sliced almonds, and fresh cilantro. Alternatively, serve as tacos, over a salad, or bowl-style.
Notes
- Utilize either a slow cooker or an Instant Pot to achieve tender, flavorful shredded Hawaiian chicken.
- This dish is versatile and can be served wrapped in Swiss chard leaves, as tacos or burritos, over salads, or in bowls.
- Leftovers taste great served hot or cold, making it perfect for meal prep.
- Adjust the red pepper flakes to your preferred spice level.
- If coconut aminos are unavailable, soy sauce can be used as an alternative, though it will alter the flavor profile.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6 of the shredded chicken
- Calories: 170
- Sugar: 7 g
- Sodium: 574 mg
- Fat: 5 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 9 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 22 g
- Cholesterol: 75 mg
