About the Recipe
“Huli” is Hawaiian for “turn”, and huli-huli chicken is about the equivalent of a teriyaki chicken cooked on the grill. As the story goes, a man named Ernest Morgado used his grandmother’s teriyaki chicken recipe to grill chicken for a crowd in the 1950s. When the chicken was ready to be flipped, someone would yell “huli!” and the chicken would get turned to the other side. The recipe was so delicious that he quickly had a hit on his hands, and huli-huli chicken was born! Today you can find the American style of Hawaiian all over the islands. Like the Hawaiian tradition, "just gotta live good bruh".
Ingredients
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup soy sauce
juice from a large can of pineapple chunks (reserve pineapple for the rice)
1/3 cup Red wine or dry sherry
1 Tablespoon ginger, minced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
6 bone-in, skin on chicken thighs
Preparation
Mix all marinade ingredients in a gallon size sealable baggie; add the chicken and marinade overnight.
When ready to begin cooking, remove the chicken to a sheet pan and pat dry; cover with plastic wrap and bring to room temperature, about one hour.
Preheat your grill and prepare for indirect heat cooking. (I have a gas grill and I preheat the grill then turn off the two burners in the middle, leaving the outer two burners on high.) Empty the marinade into a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Let the marinade boil for a couple minutes to make sure all the raw chicken is cooked thoroughly
Turn the heat to low or simmer and let the mix reduce. A mixture thick enough to glaze the chicken as it grills should occur. Set the glaze aside.
Grill the chicken, skin side up, on the indirect heat side for about 5 minutes to let the fat begin to render. Turn to the skin side and, still using indirect heat, grill another 20 minutes. Make sure your grill lid is closed while you’re cooking over indirect heat. When the internal temperature of your chicken reaches 150° or so, slather your reserved glaze all over the thighs and move to the direct heat side, turning skin side up.
(Keep the lid up and keep a close eye on things, as your chicken can easily burn at this point. If you want more char or crispness on your skin, spend a little more time skin down. Huli as needed (I like to yell “HULI” each time. It keeps my neighbors on their toes).
Pull the chicken off the grill when internal temperature reaches 160° and let it rest while you finish everything else; it will continue to cook to a safe temperature of 165°.