This Easy and Homemade Chicken Tocino Recipe is sweet, savory, and juicy for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. This delectable dish features sliced boneless and skinless chicken, marinated with pineapple juice, brown sugar, garlic powder, ketchup, and soy sauce for several hours or overnight, allowing the flavors to infuse and tenderize the meat.
In the Philippines, my mom cooked this usually for breakfast during school days because it is quick and easy to cook. She paired it with Garlic fried rice and sunny-side-up eggs also called tosilog. This and tapsilog are regular rotations for us.
However, she used store-bought tocino which the meat is cured and frozen. For me, homemade is the best because you can control the quality and quantity of your ingredients.
My version of this dish is a chicken marinated with pineapple to make it sweet, tangy, and juicy. Our family loves this, I hope that you will try and keep this recipe as yours too.
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you will love this
- Nothing is better than a homemade sweet, tangy, and flavorful dish that you make in the comfort of your home.
- It is the easiest sweet, tangy, and savory Filipino Chicken recipe you will enjoy.
- Made with all-natural ingredients from your own kitchen, tastes better, and is more affordable than buying a commercial tocino that comes from a plastic bag in the Supermarket with over 20 ingredients.
- If you love more pineapple recipes, be sure to check out my Sweet and Sour Meatballs, Macaroni Salad, Chicken Adobo with Pineapple, Mango Pineapple Tomato Salad Recipe, and Tepache Pineapple Drink.
Ingredients Notes
I am sure that most, if not all, of the ingredients are already in your kitchen. I wrote some helpful notes for you to make this dish a success. For a printable copy, check the recipe card below.
- Chicken Thighs - I prefer boneless and skinless thighs over chicken breast because it has more fat content, are tender, and are slightly more flavorful. You can also use chicken breast which has more protein content.
- Pineapple Juice - This is one of the key ingredients to juicy, sweet, and tangy meat. Marinating chicken in pineapple also serves as a tenderizer making the chicken moist and juicy. No pineapple juice? You can use orange juice in the same amount.
- Brown Sugar - This dish is sweetened with brown or white sugar in addition to pineapple juice and ketchup. I love brown sugar because of its deeper color and nutty flavor. You can adjust the sweetness by adding more or less brown sugar to suit your taste. You can also use honey, molasses, or maple syrup as an option as a sweetener.
- Ketchup - It adds red color, tanginess, and sweetness. Use banana ketchup or tomato ketchup. If you don't have ketchup, skip it and add a little bit more sugar and red food coloring.
- Garlic powder - For a garlicky taste. You can also use fresh minced garlic. Garlic powder is more potent.
- Soy Sauce, Salt, and Black pepper to taste.
- Red food coloring - Just to add an appealing red color. It is only for appearance, and it doesn't add any flavor.
Pro Tip: Some recipes call for using annatto seeds instead of red food coloring to achieve the red hue. To do this, heat a small amount of oil, add annatto seeds, and strain the infused oil into the marinade for color.
Instructions
Chicken Tocino is super easy to make! Prepping all the ingredients is such a breeze. We just need measuring spoons and measuring cups. It is basically 3 step process, to have the best tocino chicken dish on the table.
1. Prepare and Marinate the Chicken
Using a sharp knife and chopping board, slice your boneless and skinless chicken thighs into 2x2 inches.
In a bowl, combine pineapple juice, soy sauce, ketchup, garlic powder, soy sauce, sugar, and salt. Mix everything together until well blended. Add the chicken into the marinade, and massage the meat with the curing mixture until well distributed. Cover with a lid and let it marinate in the refrigerator overnight.
2. Cook the Marinated Chicken
Once the chicken has absorbed all the flavors from the marinade, it's time to drain the marinade or save it for a second batch of tocino. Place the meat into a skillet. Turn the heat to medium and let the chicken cook in a layer. Let it cook on both sides and let the liquid evaporate. You may need to do a second batch.
3. Fry the Chicken
After the meat is cooked through and the liquid is mostly evaporated, add enough cooking oil to sear the chicken.
Continue to cook on low to medium heat, stirring regularly to avoid meat from burning, Cook until chicken is nicely browned and caramelized. Serve and enjoy with Filipino Garlic Fried Rice.
Air-fryer Tocino
You can absolutely cook them in an air-fryer! Preheat your air-fryer. If your air, fryer doesn't have a preheat setting, simply turn it to 375F or 190C for 4 minutes. Place the drained tocino in an air-fryer basket and brush them with cooking oil or cooking spray. Cook each side at 375F until each side is cooked thoroughly, this takes about 6-8 minutes on each side.
Flip, brush with more oil, and air-fry the other side until it is slightly seared and charred.
Questions and Answers
Tocino means bacon in Spanish, typically made from thinly sliced pork belly. It is a type of cured meat that is fried until crispy. There are different cuisine that makes tocino in their own variations.
Filipino tocino is a cured meat, usually with pork belly sweetened by the marinade from pineapple juice, ketchup, sugar, soy sauce, and garlic then fried until it caramelized.
Yes! Tocino is freezer-friendly and usually sold uncooked in the frozen section in Supermarkets.
The more fat content the meat has, the better for making tocino. Pork belly and chicken thighs are the best cut and have the higher fat content in meat. More fat means more flavor.
Uncooked tocino can last in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. When it is cooked, it can last up to 7 days in the refrigerator if stored properly. If you want to keep it longer than that, you can freeze it raw in a ziplock bag or air-tight container for up to 4 months.
What to serve with it
Chicken Tocino is often served as the popular breakfast, lunchtime, or dinner combination with the following:
- Plain white rice
- Filipino Garlic Fried Rice
- Fried eggs or sunny-side-up eggs
- Pancit Bihon and Pork Lumpia
- Cucumber Salad
Storage Tips and Reheating
- Storage: Leftovers can be stored in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for 7 days. Store uncooked tocino in the refrigerator with the marinade for up to 3 days. If you plan to keep it longer, transfer tocino in a ziplock bag and keep it in the freezer for up to 1 month.
- Reheating: Reheat tocino chicken in a skillet with cooking oil until warm thoroughly. Or microwave for 30 seconds or until completely warm.
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Chicken Tocino Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken thighs skinless, boneless, and sliced 2x2 inches
- ¼ cup cooking oil
Marinade for Chicken
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup pineapple juice or orange juice
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder or fresh minced garlic
- ¼ cup ketchup
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon red food coloring optional
Instructions
- Slice your boneless and skinless chicken thighs into 2x2 inches.
- In a bowl, combine pineapple juice, soy sauce, ketchup, garlic powder, soy sauce, sugar, and salt. Mix everything together until well blended. Add the chicken into the marinade, and massage the meat with the curing mixture until well distributed. Cover with a lid and let it marinate in the refrigerator overnight.
- Once the chicken has absorbed all the flavors from the marinade, it's time to drain the marinade or save it for a second batch of tocino. Place the meat into a skillet. Turn the heat to medium and let the chicken cook in a layer, Let it cook on both sides and let the liquid evaporate. You may need to do a second batch.
- When the meat is cooked through and the liquid is mostly evaporated, add enough cooking oil to sear the chicken on both sides.
- Add cooking oil and continue to cook on low-medium heat, until chicken is nicely browned and caramelized. Serve and enjoy!
- For air-fryer: Preheat your air-fryer. If your air, fryer doesn't have a preheat setting, simply turn it to 375F or 190C for 4 minutes. Place the drained tocino in an air-fryer basket and brush them with cooking oil or cooking spray. Cook each side at 375F or 190C until each side is cooked thoroughly, this takes about 6-8 minutes on each side.
Cristina
We made this tocino yesterday. The meat is very flavorful. Thanks for the yummy recipe. I will check out your other meaty recipes on your blog.
Hanna
I made this recipe for dinner. Everyone loves it. Thanks
Solair
I absolutely love your recipes. It makes me want to cook because they are easy to follow and are very delicious, especially this tocino. Now no need to buy in the store because I can make my own tocino at home from your recipe.
Jomelyn
I am so glad to help, always. Let me know if your need more help.