Spicy Pineapple Mango Chicken Packets (Recipe)
With a whole plethora of taste-bud tingling abilities, this tangy, spicy, sweet pineapple and mango marinade/sauce made with El-Yucateco sauces, will have you craving more with each taste! It elevated these Spicy Pineapple Mango Chicken Packets to a whole other level.
If you and I were to take a gastronomical tour of Sri Lanka, we would have to travel with two kegs!
One filled with iced water and another one filled with iced water!
You see, Sri Lankan cuisine is spicy!
Super spicy!
It is the feisty and bolder cousin to Indian cuisine.
At one point in time, Sri Lanka was said to have had 60 different types of chili peppers growing there. Spices are added to balance off just about everything, even traditional favorite fruits like mangoes and pineapples.
Any combination of chili peppers with fenugreek, or cardamom, cumin, fennel seed, coriander, garlic, ginger, turmeric, or even Ceylon cinnamon (Ceylon is the old name for Sri Lanka), is sure to tingle your tastebuds, and, leave you (like an adrenaline junky) longing for that spicy tingle again.
When I was younger, I thought I had had enough of sweating my way through a spicy Sri Lankan meal.
Then we moved, and, that’s when I begin to miss that spicy tingle.
In my adult years, I’ve been chasing that spicy tingle for a while. In Atlanta, we don’t seem to have any Sri Lankan restaurants, and so I am always looking for sauces and spices that pack a punch of spice and flavor, so I can make my own version of SriLankan–fusion–type–cuisine at home.
Recently, when I was wandering down the Ethnic Foods Aisle at my neighborhood Publix, I stumbled on El Yucateco Red Habanero Hot Sauce, El Yucateco Green Habanero Hot Sauce and El Yucateco XXX Habanero Hot Sauce (Kutbilik) sauces; and, I figured I would bring them home and try adding them to a marinade of pineapple and mangoes I’d been working on. I had tried using jaggery and habanero peppers with the pureed mangoes and pineapples but was just not getting the effect I desired.
When I got home, I went about recreating that marinade/sauce:
• First, I cut up and pureed some pineapple and mango in a blender,
• I then threw in half a red onion and some garlic into the blender
• And, added a generous amount of El Yucateco Red Habanero Hot Sauce and El Yucateco XXX Habanero Hot Sauce (Kutbilik) to this.
I am not sure if it was the fresh habaneros that El Yucateco Red and XXX Hot Sauces are said to be made with, or the fact that they have less vinegar than some other hot sauces, but, the resulting marinade was so deep in flavor – rustic and earthy with a major flavor punch and spicy kick.
• I then added half of this sauce to a ziplock bag along with some chicken and let it marinate for a couple of hours.
• I added the remaining half to a saucepan and let it simmer down for about 30 minutes on a very low heat – stirring it occasionally.
• Then, I wrapped the marinated chicken in foil packets
The foil not only helped lock in the flavor of the marinade but, it made the chicken incredibly tender as well.
• And grilled them for about 25 minutes
• I then topped the chicken with some mangoes and pineapple and avocados – and thoroughly enjoyed it!
The spicy pineapple and mango sauce is definitely is a must-try! I have made and remade this sauce/marinade and used it on veggie burgers and salmon and it has been such a wonderful flavor boost! And, it seems to get better when it sits in the fridge for a while – that is if you can make it last.
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Ingredients
FOR THE SAUCE/MARINADE:
- 1/2 a fresh ripe pineapple chopped
- 1 mango chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 red onion chopped
- 2 tablespoons El Yucateco XXX Habanero Hot Sauce Kutbilik
- 2 tablespoons El Yucateco Red Habanero Hot Sauce
- 2 teaspoons honey or more
OTHER INGREDIENTS
- 3 Chicken Breasts
- 3 Rectangular pieces of foil
- Salt and pepper
GARNISH:
- 1/2 cup cut pineapple
- 1/2 cup cut mango
- 1/2 cup cut avocado
Instructions
- Add chopped pineapple and mango to a blender and blend till smooth
- Add in the garlic and onion and pulse till blended
- Add in the El Yucateco XXX Habanero Hot Sauce (Kutbilik) and El Yucateco Red Habanero Hot Sauce
- Season with a dash of salt to taste
- Add 1 1/4 cups marinade to a plastic bag with chicken breasts and let marinate for 30 minutes to a couple of hours (longer the better)
- Meanwhile, place the remaining marinade in a saucepan and let it simmer over an ultra-low flame for 30 minutes – stirring occasionally till the extra liquid evaporates.
- Add the honey to this reduction
- Place marinated chicken breasts in foil packets, topping with additional marinade, and seal the packet ends by folding them over
- Grill for 25-30 minutes
- Serve with cut pineapple, mangoes and avocado, and spicy pineapple & mango sauce
Shashi, this spicy-pineapple-mango-chicken looks fabulous!!!! and I need to try that El Yucateco XXX Habanero Hot Sauce!!!
Love the flavors! Awesome! And so easy to make, too! Need to try the sauce!
I have never had Sri Lankan food! Love this recipe and the pics are great! #client
i have never had srilankan food before but looking at this, i want some spicy chicken right now.
Foil packets make clean up so much easier!
Give me all the spicy food, I love it!
I also love the garnish of the fruit and avocado to cut through some the the spiciness and add some freshness, looks so great!
Eek! I totally know that sauce! I haven’t tried it – but now I totally plan to!
Your opening line totally cracked me about re: kegs traveling Sri Lanka! I adore Sri Lankan food and totally agree, it’s even MORE punchy flavours and spice than Indian food!! 🙂
I love making packets like this! These sound so good, especially with the pineapple, mango and avocado!
It’s so funny, but I HATED spicy food for the longest time … and now I feel so silly! It’s so good! haha
My son would really enjoy this chicken, he loves mangoes and pineapples and absolutely loves extra spicy food. I need to try these hot sauces because it’s hard to find good ones that aren’t too vinegary. My uncle lived in Colombo for a long time, he worked for a bank. My cousins grew up in Sri Lanka. They loved it there but we never had a chance to visit. I know one thing, my dad is crazy about Ceylon tea! I also have a very good friend who is from Sri Lanka so I’ve eaten Sri Lankan food at her house.
I love the combination of spicy and sweet so this is right up my alley! Great recipe, Shashi!
I’m not a fan of very spicy food, or fruit with protein, but I’m sure it tastes great 🙂
Ah, spice loving friend. 🙂
Even just reading through your list of the spices alongside the combination of chili peppers had me drooling.
I can imagine this would be such a lovely, tasty and quite easy packet chicken meal to do. Lovely!
I’ve made pineapple chicken before, but pineapple and mango chicken sound 1000x better 🙂
Spicy and Sweet- Shashi this has my name on it, I can just see it- H O T S T U F F sorry i mean A R M A N
I always learn so much when I come to your blog Shashi. I love these spicy chicken packets, perfect for summer grilling! (Perhaps we could put “something else” in one of the kegs….perhaps.)
I had no idea that Ceylon was the old name for Sri Lanka! I’m also suprised that there are no Sri Lankan restaurants in the A. But then again, who needs a restuarant when you have recipes like this! I’ve got some of that El Yucateco sauce in my pantry right now…I just might need to whip this up for dinner one night this week! (I’m sure you actually sent me a sample, but my maillady probably ate it already. How rude.)
I lovelovelove spicy food too – I’m always craving that zing! This marinade sounds insanely delicious!
Wow this looks really great!!! Plus the clean up just looks like a breeze!
This chicken looks so moist and delicious, I love the flavours and spices too – perfect for summer! I just can’t get over that Marinade! Mmmmm!
I have never tried SriLankan food but I’m fan of spicy food! I have seen this sauce so many times in store, but never thought to try it! I think, next time, I will buy one for sure!
Love the packet idea! It reminds me of back when I was in Boy Scouts and we would wrap our dinner (usually meat, potatoes, and carrots) in foil and bury them under the coals of the fire for an hour and then have a delicious meal ready for us. We also would do some peach cobbler that way which was ah-maz-ing!
Health wise, I should NEVER be eating spicy things like that..but I don’t always follow the rules 😉 This looks so good and I would gladly eat this for dinner! YUM!!!
This looks like my kind of meal. Beautiful flavours. I have a friend who is Sri Lankan and he likes his food super-hot. Whenever he goes anywhere for dinner he always takes with him a little bag of chillies. He can’t eat food that isn’t on fire. He always appreciates that when he comes to our house for dinner, I make something super-spicy xx
This recipe looks amazing. I love sweet and spicy dishes.
I am a lover of spice and this sounds absolutely mouth-watering!
I’m not a huge fan of super spicy food, and I think I’ve never tried Sri Lankan cuisine. But the chicken looks great and not that hot (deceiving, eh?) And MANGO! I’m ready to suffer if there is a mango incorporated. Give me an additional jar of that Sauce please:) Nicely done, Shashi!
During the hot weather, we do a lot of packet grilling and this one looks awesome! Love the simplicity of it and combination of ingredients is perfect, and we do love spicy! On the menu!