I remember watching Mad Men earlier this year and Betty made a special appetizer for Don and his colleagues called, “Rumaki.” I was fascinated. What is this fancy, 1950s dish that Betty cooked up! Well, I found out it was pretty much the basic party food involving bacon, water chestnuts, and a teriyaki style sauce. It was super popular in tiki culture, so when my friends Hillary and Ariel said they were throwing a luau themed housewarming party, I knew I had to bring my own spin to Rumaki. I took two classics: bacon and pineapple, added chicken and used my favorite teriyaki sauce from Trader Joe’s and created this amazing dish…that I have to admit…I ate wayyy too much of before even getting to the party!
Sticky Chicken Teriyaki Bites
Ingredients:
- 1 large chicken breast, cut into small pieces
- 1/2 pineapple, cut into small pieces
- 6-8 slices of bacon
- 1 1/2 cups of your favorite teriyaki sauce
- Smidge of red pepper flakes
- Dash of salt and pepper
- Toothpicks
Directions
- The first thing I do, preheat my oven to 450. Gotta get things hot right away, ya know.
- Then I take my small pieces of chicken, toss them in a ziplock bag, and add a half cup of teriyaki sauce to the bag. I add some salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes to the bag, and mix it all up. Place it in your fridge for at least 20 minutes, but the longer the better. When it comes to the chicken, I used one large breast and cut into small, 1/2 inch pieced. I ended up with approximately 35 pieces. Ensure you have enough chicken to bacon to pineapple ratio.
- Once your meat has marinated for a sufficient amount of time, set up your station. I have my toothpicks out, then my sliced pineapple, bag of chicken, and bacon in order. I begin assembling each toothpick with pineapple, chicken and bacon.
- Place your assembled bites onto a greased baking sheet and throw it into the oven for about 30 minutes, or until your bacon is crispy. About halfway through, use about a 1/2 cup of your teriyaki sauce and glaze it over your bites. Continue cooking for the remainder of the time.
- Once chicken is cooked through and bacon looks crispy, pull your bites out and brush with your teriyaki sauce one last time and serve immediately.
Category: Recipes