Taco Tuesday is levelled up with a sweet and spicy pineapple chicken taco filling matched with a cool, earthy cilantro coleslaw!
It always feel funny to pump up my own recipes. We’re taught to be humble, don’t brag, celebrate your accomplishments quietly. But all those lessons go out the window when you have a food blog!
So here it is: these pineapple chicken tacos might be the best tacos you’ve ever met!
There’s so much going on and yet it all blends together so well.
- Sweetness from the pineapple
- Spice from the sauce
- Coolness from the slaw
- And if you use fresh corn tortillas, there’s a rich earthiness
And everything just comes together for a flavour party in your mouth!
What You’ll Need to Make These Pineapple Chicken Tacos
First you’ll make the flavoured oil for the chicken taco mixture. Then you’ll spread that on the sheet pan with the chicken, pineapple, and red onions.
Wondering what to do with the rest of your frozen pineapple?
Make these 3 Ingredient Disney Dole Whips!
While the chicken mix is baking in the oven, you’ll put together the cilantro coleslaw. For a shortcut you can buy pre-chopped bags of coleslaw mix. This recipe makes a lot of coleslaw on purpose: I highly suggest serving up yourself a scoop to eat alongside your tacos to bump up your veggie intake!
Why These Pineapple Chicken Tacos are a Smart Choice
With pineapples, onions, and plenty of cabbage, these tacos will check off your veggie needs for dinner! The nutrient composition of the recipe is also very balanced, providing plenty of potassium, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and fibre!
Love Sheet Pan Recipes? Me too!
Sheet pan recipes are clutch on those busy weeknights! You jus throw everything on a sheet pan and let the oven do the heavy lifting!
- Sheet Pan Pesto Gnocchi
- Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
- Sheet Pan Ginger Beef & Veggies
- Sheet Pan Pork and Prunes
Sheet Pan Pineapple Chicken Tacos with Cilantro Slaw
Ingredients
For the Pineapple Chicken Taco Filling
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 2 tbsp buffalo hot sauce aka franks
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- ½ jalapeno chopped finely
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp cumin
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- 2 lbs boneless chicken breasts, thighs, frozen, or fresh
- 3 cups pineapple pieces fresh or frozen
- 1 large red onion diced
For the Cilantro Slaw
- 8 cups shredded cabbage
- 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- ½ cup plain yogurt
- ¼ cup mayo
- ½ jalapeno chopped finely
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 clove garlic minced
- tortillas (corn or wheat) for serving
- Cotija or feta cheese for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Mix together the oil, buffalo sauce, garlic, jalapeno, chili powder, cumin, salt, & smoked paprika.
- Spread the mixture on a large baking sheet.
- Place the chicken, pineapple, and red onion on the baking sheet in a single layer.
- *Make sure your chicken and pineapple are either both fresh or frozen.
- Bake for 15 minutes (20 if using frozen ingredients). Flip the chicken over and stir the pineapple and red onion. Bake another 15 minutes (again 20 minutes if using frozen ingredients) or until a thermometer inserted into the chicken reads at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Meanwhile, whisk together the yogurt, mayo, jalapeno, lime juice, salt, and garlic. Pour over the cabbage and cilantro and stir to combine.
- Once the chicken is cooked cut in small pieces and stir together with the pineapple and onions.
- For serving, add some chicken mixture, coleslaw and cheese (optional) to tortillas. I love making fresh corn tortillas using this recipe.
This was AMAZING! Great recipe, Jessica!
These are so delicious! We used frozen chicken and pineapple -we were blown away that we could pop everything in the oven frozen and had a meal when it came out! We’ll definitely have it again, great way to shake up Taco night!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Sheet pan meals are so great!
Just made these for taco Tuesday! They were a big hit with the family!
The only thing I did differently was make half the amount of coleslaw because I knew my family wouldn’t eat as much of it.
Thanks for your comment! So happy to hear you and your family enjoyed them!
This looks interesting Jessica, I will give it a try and let you know how it turns out. Your other recipes I have tried have been excellent and have broken up the boredom of what can I make for supper and given me extras to freeze and reheat for easy meal making. Thank you so appreciate your posts. kjg
Hi Kate! Thank you for your sweet comment! So glad you have been enjoying the recipes!