Shredded pineapple chicken with a glossy fish sauce glaze

Some weeks call for a dinner that requires very little of you and still tastes like something worth sitting down for. This one shreds soft and glazes glossy: pineapple and onion melt into a sweet tart base, bacon adds smoke, and a reduced fish sauce glaze pulls it together with real depth. It feeds a crowd or carries you through a week of lunches, one of the steady anchors of a well-stocked kitchen.

Chicken is a clean source of protein, supporting tissue repair and steady energy through the day. Fresh pineapple is a source of vitamin C, involved in collagen formation and immune support, and it supplies manganese, involved in how the body builds bone and connective tissue. The fish sauce and coconut aminos bring a savory depth that stands entirely on its own.

When chicken and bacon are doing this much for one meal, they are worth sourcing with care and cooking with attention. Shred the whole pot, stir the sauce back through every strand, and waste nothing. Serve it over cauliflower rice, steamed kale, or fried plantains, and let the meal be the small ceremony it is.

Ingredients

• 3 lb chicken breast
• Sea salt
• 4 slices bacon
• 1 1/2 cups diced fresh pineapple (canned works too)
• 1 cup yellow onion
• Coconut aminos (in place of soy sauce)
• Red Boat fish sauce (a clean-label fish sauce, AIP-permitted)
• Dried galangal or fresh ginger
• 4 garlic cloves

All ingredients are AIP Core compliant as written. Choose a clean-label fish sauce with no added sugar or wheat; it can simply be omitted for a fish allergy. No nightshade or seed-spice swaps needed.

Method

• Layer the chicken, sea salt, bacon, pineapple, onion, coconut aminos, most of the fish sauce, and the galangal or ginger in the pot. Do not add water, since the chicken and pineapple release enough liquid on their own.
• Cook until the chicken pulls apart easily. Lift the solids out and set them aside.
• Reduce the cooking liquid with the garlic and the remaining fish sauce until it thickens into a glaze.
• Shred the chicken with the pineapple, onion, and bacon, then stir the reduced sauce back through. Serve over cauliflower rice, steamed kale, or fried plantains.

Instant Pot variation

Layer everything as above with no added water, seal, and pressure cook 25 minutes, then quick-release. Lift out the solids and reduce the liquid on saute mode with the garlic and remaining fish sauce for 10 to 15 minutes. Shred, then stir the glaze back through. (Pressure time per source.) Frozen chicken needs about 10 extra minutes, an author estimate flagged for verify. Adding extra water has caused a burn error, so leave it out. One teaspoon ground ginger substitutes for fresh.

Slow cooker variation

Layer everything as above with no added water and cook about 4 to 6 hours on low, until the chicken shreds easily. Move the liquid to a skillet or pot and reduce it on the stovetop with the garlic and remaining fish sauce 10 to 15 minutes into a glaze, then shred and stir it back through. The slow cooker timing is an author estimate flagged for verify.

*Adapted from grazed-and-enthused*