Huli huli chicken

Hawaii's roadside fire: split chickens basted over kiawe charcoal with a sticky glaze of pineapple juice, soy, ginger, and brown sugar, turned continuously until lacquered and caramelised: the fundraiser food of the Hawaiian plantation community that became the island's most beloved cookout

Origin: Hawaii, United States

From the journey of Pineapple.

Huli huli chicken was created in 1955 by Ernest Morgado and Mike Asagi of the Pacific Poultry Company in Honolulu, who developed a teriyaki-style pineapple-soy glaze for chicken and began selling it at a local fundraiser for the 4-H club of Honolulu, cooking chickens over kiawe wood (Hawaiian mesquite) charcoal on rotating grates. The name 'huli huli' means 'turn turn' in Hawaiian: the instruction given to the grill operators to rotate the chickens on the spit. The preparation was an immediate sensation and became the standard format for Hawaiian school and community fundraisers: a roadside tent, a long bed of kiawe charcoal, and thousands of chicken halves rotating on handmade grills, the pineapple glaze dripping into the coals and sending up fragrant, sweet-savory smoke that could be smelled from a mile away. Morgado trademarked the name 'Huli Huli' in 1958. The chicken embodies the Hawaiian plantation community's culinary identity: a confluence of American barbecue, Japanese teriyaki (brought by the Japanese plantation workers who were the largest ethnic group in early 20th-century Hawaii), Chinese soy sauce traditions, and the island's defining agricultural products: pineapple from Dole and Del Monte, sugar, and ginger.

Ingredients

Protein

1.5 kg chicken, spatchcocked (backbone removed, flattened) or cut into bone-in halves or quarters

Glaze

200 ml fresh pineapple juice (or 100% canned pineapple juice, not cocktail)
80 ml soy sauce
3 tbsp light brown sugar or honey
2 tbsp ketchup (gives the classic colour and slight tang)
3 cm fresh ginger, grated
3 cloves garlic, minced or grated
1 tbsp rice wine or dry sherry
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
0.25 tsp white pepper

Accompaniment

To serve: fresh pineapple slices grilled alongside, steamed rice, macaroni salad (the Hawaiian plate lunch tradition)

Method

Make the huli huli glaze: combine the pineapple juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, ketchup, ginger, garlic, rice wine, sesame oil, and white pepper in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook for 8–10 minutes until slightly reduced and syrupy. Divide in half: half for marinating, half for basting (do not mix the marinating and basting portions after the raw chicken has been in contact with the marinade).
Pour half the glaze over the chicken and massage in thoroughly. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours; overnight is strongly preferred. Bring to room temperature 30 minutes before grilling.
Prepare a charcoal grill (kiawe or mesquite charcoal for authenticity, standard lump charcoal otherwise) for indirect cooking: bank the coals to one side or use a two-zone setup. The cooking temperature should be medium; not screaming hot, as the sugar in the glaze burns easily.
Place the chicken on the grill over indirect heat. Cover and cook for 20 minutes. Flip (huli!) and baste generously with the reserved fresh glaze. Cover and cook for another 20 minutes.
Move the chicken over direct heat for the final 3–5 minutes per side to caramelise the glaze into a deep, sticky, burnished coat. Watch carefully; the sugars in the pineapple glaze burn fast over direct heat. The skin should be charred at the edges and deeply bronzed throughout.
Rest for 5 minutes. Serve with grilled fresh pineapple rings (place directly on the grill for 2–3 minutes per side while the chicken rests), steamed white rice, and Hawaiian-style macaroni salad. The plate lunch format is the traditional Hawaiian service.

Notes

The kiawe tree (Prosopis pallida), introduced to Hawaii in 1828 from Peru, rapidly became one of the most widespread trees on the drier leeward sides of the Hawaiian islands. Its wood burns extremely hot and produces a distinctive sweet, dense smoke that became the preferred fuel for Hawaiian barbecue. Kiawe charcoal is still the standard for huli huli chicken at Hawaiian community fundraisers. Ernest Morgado's original recipe remained proprietary; his Pacific Poultry Company sold bottled huli huli sauce commercially until the 1990s, and the trademark dispute over the name 'Huli Huli' has been one of Hawaii's longer-running culinary legal stories.

The Gastrographer

Name: Huli huli chicken
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 5 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: United States
Ingredients: 1.5 kg chicken, spatchcocked (backbone removed, flattened) or cut into bone-in halves or quarters; 200 ml fresh pineapple juice (or 100% canned pineapple juice, not cocktail); 80 ml soy sauce; 3 tbsp light brown sugar or honey; 2 tbsp ketchup (gives the classic colour and slight tang); 3 cm fresh ginger, grated; 3 cloves garlic, minced or grated; 1 tbsp rice wine or dry sherry; 1 tsp toasted sesame oil; 0.25 tsp white pepper; To serve: fresh pineapple slices grilled alongside, steamed rice, macaroni salad (the Hawaiian plate lunch tradition)

Mapping Culinary History

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control