Huli huli chicken was invented by Ernest Morgado in 1955, who grilled chickens on a wire grill that flipped (huli means 'turn' in Hawaiian) to cook both sides simultaneously. The sauce — soy, ginger, pineapple juice, brown sugar, and sesame — became one of Hawaii's signature flavours and is now sold in bottles across the islands. The roadside versions are grilled over kiawe wood (mesquite), which adds a distinctive smokiness. This home version uses a gas or charcoal grill with tallow basting.
The Huli Huli Sauce
The sauce is a Japanese-Hawaiian fusion — soy sauce meets pineapple, which is both the sweeter, fruit-forward version of teriyaki and a nod to Hawaii's plantation-era pineapple industry. The pineapple juice does double duty: it sweetens and it tenderises, because bromelain (the pineapple enzyme) breaks down meat proteins. The result is an extremely tender, deeply flavoured chicken with a lacquered, slightly caramelised exterior.
Tallow Basting
Commercial huli huli recipes baste with the sauce alone. This version adds melted tallow to the basting mix, which does two things: it carries the sugar and soy deeper into the caramelisation reaction, and it prevents the chicken from sticking to the grill at the high temperatures required for proper charring. The tallow's high smoke point handles grill temperatures that butter cannot sustain.
Serves 4 · Prep 20 min + marinate · Cook 40 min
Ingredients
- 1.5kg chicken pieces (thighs and drumsticks)
- Sauce: 80ml soy sauce, 80ml pineapple juice, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tbsp tomato ketchup, 2 tsp fresh ginger grated, 2 garlic cloves minced, 1 tsp sesame oil (finishing)
- 2 tbsp beef tallow, melted (for basting)
- Spring onion and sesame seeds to serve
Method
- Combine all sauce ingredients except sesame oil. Reserve half for basting.
- Marinate chicken in the remaining sauce for 4 hours or overnight.
- Preheat grill to medium-high. Brush grates with tallow.
- Grill chicken skin-side down 8 minutes. Flip (huli).
- Mix reserved sauce with melted tallow. Baste the cooked side.
- Continue flipping and basting every 5-6 minutes for 30-35 minutes total until cooked through and deeply lacquered.
- Rest 5 minutes. Add sesame oil to remaining basting sauce and drizzle over.
Oven Version
Preheat oven to 200°C. Place marinated chicken on a rack over a roasting tin. Roast 20 minutes, then baste with the tallow and sauce mixture. Continue basting every 10 minutes for a further 20 minutes. Finish under the grill for 5 minutes to lacquer the skin.
Can I use chicken breast?
Thighs and drumsticks are strongly preferred — they stay moist through the multiple flipping and basting cycles. Breast meat dries out more easily at grill temperatures.
Can I substitute the pineapple juice?
Orange juice is the closest substitute. The bromelain tenderising effect will be absent but the sweet-citrus flavour profile is similar.
What is kiawe wood?
Hawaiian mesquite — a variety of mesquite tree widespread in Hawaii that produces an intensely smoky, slightly sweet smoke. Standard mesquite wood chips approximate the flavour.
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