Huli Huli Chicken Wing Kabobs

We’re going to be bringing Hawaiian flavors into your kitchen with this recipe! (or to your camp stoves!)

My family has property out in eastern Washington that my grandfather has owned since before I was born. We try to make it a family tradition when we head out there every summer when we can. It’s a beautiful land, with a cliff, a creek, and complete peace and tranquility all around you.

Unless you are around the campfire with the family that is….. (at that point it gets a little louder).

What we do is we try and have everybody plan one meal that we can share with the group, so feel we all contributed to the weekly meals. Me, I am always excited about getting my gears grinding about what kind of meal I want to plan for our family meals. I have really made it my goal to become very proficient with cooking around a campfire.

But guess what??

We were not allowed any fires during our stay because the area was struck with a particularly dry spell this summer! That is why you do not have those gorgeous campfire photos I was planning on sharing with you lovely people. But what Smokey the Bear says, goes. We went with the next best thing, which was our grill that we just happened to have. But hey, the chicken still achieved that beautiful black charred look and taste that I just love to have on my grilled chicken.

Hawaii has been on my mind lately because my family is trying to put together a family trip out to Maui again for next winter and that always gets me thinking about the Huli Huli Chicken, Kahlua Pig, Hawaiian Mac Salad, and all those tropical goodies. For a little Hawaiian trivia, “Huli” actually means “turn”. So Huli Huli actually means “keep that chicken turning!” (I might have expressed that in my own words a bit!)

I thought to myself, I’ll put together some Huli Huli chicken marinade with all the right essential oils to make one fantastic sauce! The great thing about using essential oils in a meat marinade is that the oils work on the meat just like they work on our bodies. (No, don’t go rubbing marinade on yourself.) When we apply essential oils onto our skin the oils absorb very quickly into our bloodstream. Same works when you put essential oils into your marinade. The oils quickly permeate the meat with all the flavors and help get that meat marinated all throughout. Yummy!

With this recipe, I chose to use ginger, bergamot, and lemongrass essential oils, mixed with fresh pineapple juice, garlic, and miso. And for a little redneck twist, we are in the woods after all……pineapple moonshine! My uncle likes to make moonshine so are always getting our fair share and we like to play around with adding flavors for drinks and recipes.

Now you can’t have meat on the grill without a few sides! I put together some vegetable kabobs and some slices of pineapple and tossed them straight on the grill. Nothing like grilled pineapple!

As you can imagine the end result was delicious and I definitely recommend giving these chicken kabobs a whirl. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. (If you are you can send me an angry e-mail telling me all about it, but hopefully, that is not the case.)