Aloha Chicken Sandwiches

This recipe is made from all leftovers!

I made this sandwich the other night with a leftover chicken breast that had been marinated in a sesame ginger marinade that we used for an Asian chicken salad the night before, half of a leftover yellow onion, and leftover pineapple rings that were sitting in the fridge and hamburger buns from a previous meal of Boca Burgers.

I preheated a grill pan on med-high heat and sprayed it with non-stick spray. The chicken breast was quite thick so I sliced it in half to make two new chicken breasts. I sliced the onion into thick rings. While the pan was heating, I mixed the pineapple juice with a couple splashes of terayaki and poured it into a zip top bag and added the pineapple and onion slices so that they would marinate and pick up that flavor.

Place the pineapple rings (two per sandwich) and onion rings onto grill pan and cook the onion rings until soft and then flip over. I cooked the pineapple rings just until there were grill marks on them and just a bit caramelized. You can brush more marinade on top while cooking. Grilling pineapple rings completely changes its flavor. Take the pineapple and onions off and place the chicken in the grill pan. Since my chicken was already cooked, I just heated it through and brushed the pineapple/terayaki marinade on top as it was heating. I also added a slice of Monterey Jack cheese and melted that on top of the chicken.

Butter the hamburger buns and place them face down on the grill pan to toast. When done, brush a bit of the marinade on the buns and assemble the sandwich: bun, chicken, pineapple rings, onion, bun.

You can make this sandwich your own and place whatever condiment you want on it. You can add mayo or BBQ sauce if you like. You can even add bacon to it if you like that - whatever is to your taste. I recommend trying it with just the way we ate it.

The grilled pineapple is the star of this sandwich!