Pineapple Chicken Poppers (Whole30, Paleo, AIP)
These pineapple chicken poppers are the perfect fun weeknight meal! They’re easy to make, kid-friendly, and are gluten free, paleo, whole30, and AIP compliant.
I can’t get enough chicken poppers! They’re the perfect thing to make for a quick weeknight dinner or meal prep for lunch when you want an easy and delicious finger food. They’re packed with both protein and healthy vegetable based carbs, and this version features another fun flavor… pineapple! Pineapple chicken poppers are an easy and fun way to mix up your meals!
They’re kid-friendly, flavorful, and can be made with easy to find ingredients. Plus, they’re gluten free, egg free, paleo, whole30 compliant, and AIP. Eat these chicken poppers by themselves with the teriyaki dipping sauce, serve them with a side dish, or add them to an easy salad for a fast lunch on the go.
The Ingredient’s You’ll Need for the Pineapple Chicken Poppers
Ground Chicken
You can either buy ground chicken at the butcher counter at the store, or you can make your own with a food processor! Simply place 1 lb of chicken breast in the freezer for 15-20 minutes and then grind it in the food processor. Easy peasy!
Sweet potato
You can use orange or white sweet potato for this recipe. Recently, I’ve been enjoying using the food processor to rice the sweet potato, but you can also use a grater to grate it.
Pineapple
You can either use fresh pineapple or canned pineapple without any added sugar. The plus of using canned pineapple is that you can also use any juice to make the teriyaki sauce.
Red onion & cilantro
Red onion adds some nice zest, and the cilantro adds some freshness.
Coconut Flour
Coconut flour helps to bind the poppers and makes them crispy. You can use other flours as a substitute.
Avocado oil
You can use either avocado oil or coconut oil to add a source of fat to the poppers.
Coconut aminos
This soy sauce alternative adds just a hint of extra flavor.
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Pineapple Chicken Poppers
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups sweet potato
- 1 lb ground chicken
- ½ red onion, diced
- ⅓ cup pineapple, finely diced
- 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp black pepper, omit for AIP
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 2 tsp coconut aminos
- 2 tsp lime juice
For the teriyaki sauce
- ¼ cup coconut aminos
- 2 tbsp pineapple juice
- 1 tsp arrowroot starch
- ¼ tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Using a food processor, process the sweet potato until finely riced. Alternatively, you can also use a grater to shred it.
- Combine the riced sweet potato with the dry ingredients and mix well until well combined.
- Mix in the avocado oil, lime juice and coconut aminos.
- Form the chicken in small, slightly flattened poppers or nuggets and place onto the baking sheet.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 25-28 minutes, flipping halfway through, or until the internal temperature reads 165 F on a meat thermometer. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly.
- Using a small saucepan, whisk together all of the teriyaki sauce ingredients and set to low heat. Heat until the sauce thickens and season further to taste.
- Serve the poppers with teriyaki sauce and enjoy!
Notes
Can these be served at room tempo. Want to bring them to a party on a boat but can’t keep them hot.
Personally, I don’t think it tastes as good, and I would worry about food safety if it’s not refrigerated
These were delicious but my poppers kinda fell apart so I just drizzled the sauce on top of them
Thank you!!
Just made these. They were great but way too salty. In future, I will leave out all extra salt and decrease the coconut aminos.
This is one of the best recipes ever! I am always trying new recipes, much to my 17 year old dismay….some good, some not so good. Tonight he said “this is your best meal in a long time” ❤️ So now we will add it in to our regular rotation. I doubled it (17 year old), served with the sauce over brown rice, green beans and extra pineapple. We have only a few poppers left. Thank you! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
Aww, so glad it was a hit!
I loved the flavor but my poppers completely fell apart. I wonder if putting the baking sheet in the fridge before baking would help? And, yes eliminate the salt from the sauce. Too salty.
It may be that the pineapple is too big/wet. I would try patting it down a bit more 🙂
Should the sweet potato be cooked before you place it in the food processor? Very excited to try these out !!
Nope, the sweet potato should be raw when riced!
This recipe does not include the pineapple, except in the teriyaki sauce? Please send me an updated recipe. I used the “print recipe tab.”
Also, please omit salt in the teriyaki sauce. It was way to salty. Otherwise, it was a good recipe
Followed these how you wrote it and they did not turn out at all! Wasted time and money! So sad I was really excited about them too.
Dido I think it’s the coconut flour. Lots of variance in brands. Next time if I try again I’ll cut it down to half the amount. Mine came out dry & the taste was off. Normally her recipe are spot on! We love the sweet potato poppers.
Love the idea of using a food processor to rice the sweet potato! So easy and so quick!
I am making these tonight, and I’m planning to double the recipe and freeze some for future lunches 🙂 just curious, do you fully cook them before freezing? And then how would you recommend bringing them back to life after?
Thank you so much, and thank you for all of the tasty recipes!!
I like to fully cook them and freeze, then defrost in the fridge and reheat them under the broiler for a couple of minutes 🙂 enjoy!!
Not only do my husband and I love this recipe but so does our 9 month old baby! I love that it is packed full of veggies and I often double the recipe and freeze half for easy lunches. Thank you, thank you!
Ahhh yay!! Thank you so much, Kate!!
These ones are my families favorite. So good!
Where is the teriyaki sauce recipe?