Huli Huli Chicken

Keto Huli Huli Chicken Recipe

This keto huli huli chicken recipe can be made with simple ingredients found in most keto pantries. To make this Hawaiian chicken recipe, all you need is boneless, skinless chicken thighs, golden monkfruit sweetener or other brown sugar replacement sweetener, unsweetened ketchup, apple cider vinegar, freshly grated ginger, minced garlic, and soy sauce or liquid aminos. Huli huli chicken should be grilled and basted with leftover marinade to get that ultimate huli huli flavor. The marinade will give the chicken a flavorful charred taste that your family will crave.

To keep this huli huli sauce keto, we don’t have pineapple juice because pineapple juice has too much sugar in it. We also use a brown sugar substitute like golden monk fruit or brown erythritol in place of the brown sugar.

Why is it Called Huli Huli Chicken?

According to online sources, Huli Huli Chicken is a grilled chicken recipe invented by Ernest Morgado in 1955. These chicken thighs were originally made on a grill with a makeshift spit roaster, and people would shout ‘huli’ when the chicken was ready to be flipped. That is because, in Hawaiian, the word ‘huli’ means to turn. Morgado made his popular recipe at many fundraisers at churches and schools all around Hawaii and raised millions of dollars for different causes.

Keto Marinade

This version of grilled huli huli chicken is 100% keto-friendly. To make this recipe low-carb, we use golden monkfruit sweetener instead of brown sugar. The best keto replacement for regular ketchup, which contains added sugars, is the unsweetened ketchup from Primal Kitchen. While the recipe still uses soy sauce, you can use tamari sauce instead if you avoid gluten. You can even use liquid aminos if you want to decrease the carb count even further.

Don't Have a Grill??

You can still achieve crispy, charred huli huli chicken by baking the chicken in an oven or in an air fryer if you don’t have a grill. If you want to bake this recipe in the oven, preheat the oven to 400 degrees and cook the chicken for 20 minutes. If you want to cook the recipe in an air fryer, set the air fryer to 360 degrees and cook for 12-15 minutes.

Storage and Meal Prep Tips

Marinated chicken is one of the easiest to store and meal prep. If you know you will be short on time, you can prepare the marinade ahead of time and use it when you are ready. You can also marinate the chicken in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or store it in the freezer for even longer. Marinating the chicken for longer periods of time also helps the flavor infuse with the chicken and will create a stronger flavor. If you are looking to meal prep for the week, grilled huli huli chicken can be stored in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days. You can also freeze the leftover cooked Hawaiian huli huli chicken for longer.