BBQ Hawaiian Chicken Foil Packets {Grill or Oven}
These super simple BBQ Hawaiian chicken foil packets are the perfect summer meal! Cooked on the grill OR in the oven, they take minutes to prep and the flavor is incredible.
Bring on summer and all its chaotic gloriousness!
We’re heading into our second official week of summer break and are slowly getting used to summer schedules (interpreted to say: my kids are gradually making peace with the fact that they do, indeed, have the same mom that has existed every summer of their lives, which means they do, indeed, have the same-morning-jobs, rare-sleeping-in, read-to-earn-points setup that’s definitely not new news around here).
You already know that I love a good summer schedule so the above is no surprise. But I also really love summer food. I kind of go into the warm summer months with the expectation that if at least 5/7 of our weekly dinners resemble BBQ-style food in some form, summer will be a success.
These simple little BBQ Hawaiian chicken foil packet dinners fit into that criteria perfectly. First and foremost, they can be cooked on the grill which saves having to heat up the oven (or house) and lends itself nicely to the outside cooking vibe. However, they cook just as well in the oven if that’s your thing (and I really think someone should try them over a campfire just to see how they’d fare; haven’t tried that myself yet).
Using either the grill or the oven, you end up with a dinner that is so deliciously rustic, you can slap it on a paper plate, eat it in the great outdoors (no worries if that’s just your fenced-in suburban back yard) OR nicely plate it and enjoy it at the dinner table.
The prep is super simple.
Heavy duty foil + nonstick cooking spray + fresh chopped pineapple and peppers (hold me, so yummy) + seasoned chicken + healthy amount of BBQ sauce.
Once all those ingredients are carefully (or not carefully at all) layered on the foil, the folding and crimping begin.
I like to take the two short edges and bring them up together and start folding down until there’s just a little space between the chicken and the foil. Make sure to crimp and press the folds really well so no flavorful juices leak out.
Then I take both the open edges and do the same thing, pressing the folds flat.
Place the foil packets directly on the grill or in a single layer on a sheet pan for the oven. In about 15-20 minutes you’re going to have the most delicious concoction of BBQ Hawaiian chicken foil packets you’ve ever known.
The pineapple and peppers are the perfect compliment to the tender, juicy chicken. While cooking, the ingredients lend their own unique flavors to the mix and create a tasty “sauce” that is delicious served over rice (or cauliflower rice!). Also, a few slices of fresh avocado with this lineup is unspeakably yummy.
I’m sure this foil packet dinner lends itself quite well to substitutions, especially for the vegetables. It’ll pain me if you leave out the bursting fresh pineapple because it’s easily my favorite part, but do what you have to do. 🙂
I’ll let everyone else enjoy the other pleasures of summer – as always, I’m just here for the food. And this Hawaiian chicken foil dinner number is top on my list for yumminess to get me through the hot days ahead. Hope you love it and I can’t wait to hear what spin you take to make it your own.
What to Serve With This
- Hot, cooked rice or cauliflower rice
- Buttermilk drop biscuits
- Homemade lemonade
One Year Ago: Almond Coconut Milk Chicken Satay
Two Years Ago: Cuban Sandwiches {Slow Cooker or Instant Pot}
Three Years Ago: Chicken Taco Salad {InstantPot, Slow Cooker, or Stovetop}
Four Years Ago: Baked Orange-Glazed Meatballs
Five Years Ago: Glazed Lemon Yogurt Sheet Cake
BBQ Hawaiian Chicken Foil Packets {Grill or Oven}
Ingredients
For the seasoning rub + sauce:
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt, I use coarse, kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked or regular paprika
- ½ teaspoon black pepper, I use coarsely ground black pepper
- Cayenne pepper, to taste (I use a pinch)
- ¾ cup favorite BBQ sauce, see note
For the packets:
- 6 thin cut boneless skinless chicken breasts (see note)
- 2 to 3 cups chopped red/orange/yellow bell peppers, about 2 large bell peppers
- 2 to 3 cups chopped fresh pineapple, I haven’t tried this with canned
- Chopped chives or green onions for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat a grill to medium heat (I use 375 degrees F on my pellet grill) or oven to 400 degrees F.
- For the seasoning rub, in a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, chili powder, salt, garlic powder, smoked or regular paprika, black pepper and cayenne. Pat the chicken breasts dry with paper towels and sprinkle both sides of each chicken piece evenly with the seasoning rub.
- Prepare the foil packets by laying out long pieces, about 20-inches, of heavy duty aluminum foil (or two layers of regular foil). Lightly coat the center of the foil with nonstick cooking spray. Divide the chopped peppers evenly among the foil pieces (about 1/3 cup per foil packet). Top with chopped pineapple (about 1/3 to 1/2 cup). Sprinkle with green onions or chives.
- Top the pineapple + peppers with a piece of chicken. Spread BBQ sauce liberally over the chicken. Bring the short edges of the foil up to meet and then use small folds down so there’s a little space between the chicken and the foil. Crimp and press the folds well to seal. Do the same with the side edges. Press and crimp well to seal (see pictures above in the post).
- Grill or bake the packets for 15-18 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked through (if you open a packet – do so carefully as the steam will be hot – and the chicken isn’t fully cooked, carefully seal the packet again and cook for a few minutes longer). Serve hot over rice (or cauliflower rice) and sprinkle with more chives/green onions, if desired.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted from Cuisine at Home
One of our go-to dinners. So quick and yummy! I didn’t have great luck cooking them on the grill in the packets. So now I just put everything in a 9×13 pan and bake it in my oven.
Soooo my kid is allergic to chicken and turkey. Any idea if I subbed this with boneless country style pork ribs if it’d work out okay?
Definitely worth a try! I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure, but if it were me, I’d cube them so they cook faster.
I don’t love tin foil dinners simply because I can’t ever get the meat to be the texture I want. I only make them because I think it is fun to cook in a campfire and my kids love opening up their own pocket of hot food. With that in mind, these were good, but I did find myself wishing the meat had been grilled. However, I had a fresh mango sitting on the cupboard that I peeled, diced and added. It was amazing! I tried to have a little bit of mango in every bite. Just wanted to pass that along.
Mel, thank you for this one. So good and so easy to put together. A winner!
Thanks Mel for another great dinner! I made these with chicken tenderloins (2 per pack). And they cooked perfectly in the oven for 20 minutes at 400F.
Hey Mel! I’ve made this in a 9×13 casserole with success… baked longer, but still delish. I’m wondering about doing it in the crock pot. Do you think there’s enough liquid?
Hmmm, that’s a good question. I think it might dry out a bit so you might want to add in a bit of chicken broth.
well, I gave it a try in the crock pot! It was good! I put the chicken on the bottom and layered everything on top with 2/3 cup of chicken broth. 6 hours on low and then it sat on warm for a few hours before we ate it. Flavor was great – I may consider adding the peppers and pineapple at the 3 hour mark next time – or cutting them into larger chunks.
They were pretty mushy. Will try it again! Thanks!
Thanks for checking back in with the slow cooker details!
Can you bake this in a glass dish? If so, what would be suggested?
Do you mean bake the foil packets in the glass dish?
This was a really good recipe. Everyone in the family enjoyed it. Great for summer, and the seasoning rub is fantastic. After dinner I made up a big batch of the rub to use on other things. I never have to worry about one of your recipes turning out badly.
Great idea to mix up the rub ingredients in bulk, Christine! I might copy you!
Yes, I followed this recipe exactly. I was not impressed, it didn’t taste like the Hawaiian chicken I ever had. It was like watered down barbecue Chicken.
Sorry
This was delicious. I should have followed your directions more closely—I left them on a little longer and the chicken was overcooked. Well done! Another amazing recipe.
Thanks, Alli!
This was delicious! I used the Sriracha BBQ sauce from Trader Joe’s. So yummy.
Thanks, Valerie!
I’m a huge fan of your recipes, but this one didn’t turn out so great for me. 🙁 It was quite a bit spicier than I expected (and I left out the cayenne too), and it took forever to cook the chicken. I ended up cooking it almost double for what the recipe calls for. I didn’t have heavy-duty aluminum foil, so I doubled it up, as suggested. I wonder if that affected the cook time. I finally ended up turning up my oven to 425 to get it to finish cooking. Any ideas what went wrong that it took that long to cook? My poor husband had to leave for work before it was done (he works nights right now), so he had to eat PB+J for dinner. On a good note though, I appeased him by giving him one of the cinnamon rolls I made yesterday (Mel, your small batch cinnamon rolls are divine), so I think he’ll forgive me. 🙂
Sorry this didn’t work out for you, Hillary. What brand of BBQ sauce did you use? The spiciness probably came from that, I’m guessing. As for cooking time, the doubled up aluminum foil might be part of the issue, but others have said cooking in the oven meant they needed more time, so I can add a note to the recipe so others can plan on that.
Made this this morning for lunch. It’s so yummy! I kept a packet uncooked to see if they freeze well. I’m thinking I could prep a bunch and then grab them when we go camping or want an easy meal. I’ll report back in a week or so to see how cooking from frozen goes!
Great idea! Let me know how that ends up turning out to freeze and cook later!
Hi – we made these foil packets last night and they were a HIT! What a great item for the rotation – thanks so much.
Thanks, Christy!
I made these tonight for dinner. Very easy and very tasty. Loved the slightly sweet, slightly spicy rub for the chicken.
Canned pineapple chunks work just fine in this recipe, by the way.
Thanks for the review! Glad canned pineapple worked out ok!
I just made this recipe and it was simply delicious. Didn’t change a thing except that next time I will put the packets on top of a cookie sheet so the foil doesn’t rip taking them out of the oven
Thanks, Maria – glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I made this for dinner last night and it was great! I used canned pineapple and boneless skinless chicken thighs. It tasted wonderful and took about 30 minutes in the oven. Excited to have leftovers today!
Help Mel! I made these yesterday but I layered the ingredients in a 7×11 baking dish and covered it tightly with foil to bake. The chicken took forever to cook (30 mins+) and had a rubbery texture. Does the foil packet make that big of a difference in how it cooks? I figured air tight was air tight? Please advise!
Hey Jill, I do think the foil packet seals in the moisture better than covering a dish with foil…do you think the chicken was overcooked? Someone below mentioned they layered in a dish and it worked pretty well. How thick were your chicken pieces?
Made these the other night and I added potatoes! Delish and huge hit. Such an easy and tasty dinner to throw on the grill so I don’t have to heat up my hot Arizona kitchen with the oven turned on!
Love the idea of adding potatoes! Delicious!
Oohhh…I wonder if a sweet potato would be yummy. I am staring at a couple of those in my veggie basket on the island right now……
Delicious! I used regular chicken breasts because I didn’t want to cut them, but I did pound them so they were more even in thickness. It did take a little extra time, but it worked out well. Great flavor!
Thanks for adding those details, Melissa! Glad you enjoyed this one!
This was so easy and delicious! Loved it so much. Going on repeat all summer!
Happy to hear that!
Totally random and unrelated, but I just stumbled upon a Jennifer Garner bagel tutorial and she totally mentioned you! Did you know?! I don’t even know when she made it.
Haha. Yes! I about died. Then I picked myself up the floor and did the laundry. 🙂 Really, though, I was as shocked as anyone!
Super yummy! I used canned pineapple and it was great! My husband suggested using potatoes instead of pineapple because he has boring taste buds… Next time I’ll try half pineapple half potatoes. Loved the seasoning, it was a quick and easy meal!!
Thanks for the review, Shannon! So helpful to see how others have adapted this recipe!
I know this will be on repeat! Can’t wait to make it! I’m going to serve it with coconut rice- I add one can of coconut milk in as part of the liquid (water for the remaining) to my rice! It’s a family fav and I know it will go perfect with this!
SUCH a great idea to serve this with coconut rice. Yum!
We loved this recipe! The warm, BBQ-slathered pineapple was seriously delicious. After 20 minutes in the oven though, the packets were not close to done yet. I ended up baking them for closer to 45 minutes.
Thanks for the feedback, Bridget!
I had the same experience. Next time I’ll crank the oven up to 450
I made this tonight for dinner and we all loved it!! That dry rub takes it to another level of awesome. I was too lazy to make individual packets, so I just lined a 9×13 pan with foil and put everything in there then covered it and baked it for closer to 45 minutes. Worked like a charm! Seriously thank you for creating such awesome and attainable dinner recipes. More often than not, when you post a new dinner recipe I usually make it within the week. You’re the best!!
Thank you so much, Cindy! Love the idea of making this a casserole-style dish (thanks for the report back!)
Oh this looks so good! Will have to try when we get the BBQ set-up.
What are your thoughts on making this over a camp fire? Yay or nay?
A big yay! I think it would work great!
Can’t wait to try this! Looks delicious. Thanks for including brand names in your bbq sauce recommendations, I love to hear people’s favorite brands of things!
I’m so excited to try this!! I love cooking foil pack veggies (just whatever veggies I have, a tablespoon or two of butter per pack, and a sprinkling of garlic salt and maybe Tony Cacheres seasoning) but I’m so excited to see how the pineapple is because that sounds genius! I’ve cooked foil packs on the grill, in the oven, and nestled in the coals of a hot campfire and they always turn out equally delicious!!
Excited to see what you think about this, Sarah! Foil packet dinners (and veggies) are genius. Somehow the flavor is just so much better than cooking on the stove.
Yum! My family will love it. Very sad to say, I am allergic to pineapple. Only food allergy I have. Weirdest thing. Get horrible sores wherever juice touches – even blisters my hands if I handle the pineapple or touch the juice. So….I wondered if you had any recommendations for pineapple substitutes? I miss so many pineapple recipes bc I haven’t been able to figure out a decent substitute. Ideas?
Darn, sorry about that pineapple allergy! Just like any sub, it’s hard to get the exact result if subbing in or out, but could you try fresh mango. I think that would be tasty!