Huli Huli Chicken Jerky in the Air Fryer

Instant Pot Dave removing Air fryer Huli Huli Chicken Jerky from the air fryer

An in incredible chicken jerky made with chicken breast marinated in a rich, Huli Huli marinade. The chicken breast slices are dried at 170°F for two hours in the air fryer. Treat yourself and make a couple pounds for yourself.

Huli Huli Chicken Jerky Marinade

A strong and flavorful marinade is the secret to mind blowing jerky or dried meats. Since we are using chicken breast for this recipe, we will not have to marinate very long.

Garlic and Ginger

You can experiment with different amounts of garlic and ginger. I love cooking with both ingredients. They are very potent and enhance the other ingredients you are cooking with.

Four to Five diced large garlic cloves is enough to make a presence but more can be added if you’d like a more garlicy Huli Huli. I would not go less than four large cloves.

Cut the skin off a thumb size piece of ginger

Like garlic, it is hard to hide ginger in any dish. I love that gingery POW! Using about a thumb’s worth of it in this recipe takes the Huli Huli flavor to a whole new level. Using a sharp knife, slice the skin off the outside, slice very thin, and then dice the ginger into small pieces. I recommend a nice end grain wood cutting board when using a sharp knife.

Thin slice and dice a thumb size piece of ginger

Huli Huli Chicken Marinade Liquids

Add 1 can of pineapple juice or 3/4 cup to a pyrex 2 cup measuring cup or small bowl.

Huli Huli originated in Hawaii and it shouldn’t be a big surprise when pineapple juice finds it’s way into this recipe. 1 can or 3/4 cup of pineapple juice starts out our liquids.

Add 1/2 cup soy sauce to the Pyrex 2 cup measuring cup or small bowl with the pineapple juice

To make the Huli Huli Chicken Jerky savory, we add 1/2 cup of soy sauce. I love cooking with soy sauce. It adds a unique salty flavor that plain old salt just cannot match. A Tablespoon of sesame oil helps to round out some of the sharp edges in our Huli Huli chicken jerky flavor town.

Make your Huli Huli great with a couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegtar

Because we are going to be making jerky with out chicken breast, we need to amplify our Huli Huli. Bland jerky is boring so lets make sure to stay away from that mistake. We will accomplish this by adding 2 Tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. BOOM!!!

Huli Huli Chicken Jerky Dry Ingredients

To soften some of those intense flavors we add to our Huli Huli marinade, we will add 1/2 cup sugar. I have used plain white sugar and brown sugar on different occasions and love them both.

We can spike our garlic flavor by adding 1 teaspoon of granulated garlic and 1 teaspoon of granulated onion. You are welcome to use garlic powder and onion powder if you prefer them to granulated. I usually add a little granulated garlic when ever I cook with garlic to so the garlic does not go unnoticed.

One Gallon Ziploc Bag

Add all marinade ingredients to a 1 gallon zip lock bag and mix ingredients well.

I find using a one gallon Ziploc bag makes mixing and marinating easier for me. Add all of the marinade ingredients to a one gallon Ziploc bag, zip it closed, and shake the bag to mix those beautiful Huli Huli ingredients well.

Do the Chicken Breast Slice

Slice chicken breast into desired thickness.

I am crazy about chicken jerky that is tender to go along with delicious. To do this, use a nice sharp knife and slice the chicken breasts across the muscle fibers (grain) instead of slicing along or with the muscle fibers (grain). I also slice the chicken breast about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick rather than 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. This also leans away from a tough jerky.

If you do want a traditional tough Huli Huli chicken jerky from your air fryer, thin slice the chicken breast along the muscle fibers.

Air Fryer Huli Huli Chicken Jerky Marination

Add the sliced chicken breast to the Huli Huli  marinade

Add the sliced chicken breast to the Ziploc bag with the marinade. Zip the bag closed and shake/massage the marinade evenly around each slice. Push all of the air of the bag, zip it closed and marinate in the fridge for 1-4 hours. The longer you wait, the stronger the Huli Huli jerky! Because of the apple cider vinegar, we do not need to marinate any longer than 4 hours. I normally marinate 4 hours.

Shake the Huli Huli marinade with the chicken pieces to cover the chicken well

Drip Dry Huli Huli Marinated Chicken

After marination, let the chicken pieces sit on a paper towel for a few minutes

Fold 4 or 5 paper towels to cover a plate. Use tongs to pull each chicken slice out of the bag. Let as much of the marinade drip back into the bag and lay each slice on the paper towel to dry for a few minutes.

Trim Paddle Skewers and Skewer the Huli Huli Chicken

use cleaned pruning sheers to trim paddle skewers

Wash a pair of pruning shears and trim 3 or 4 twelve inch paddle skewers about 1/8 inch longer than your air fryer basket. You can now place one end of the skewer at the top of an air vent in your air fryer basket and slide the other end up the opposite air vent starting at the bottom sliding up to the top for a tight fit. This is how we will fit all of the chicken into the air fryer at one time without the chicken touching.

To hold up our Huli Huli Chicken Jerky, the trimmed paddle skewers wedged into the air vent worked perfectly

Skewer the Huli Huli Chicken Slices

With thick slices of marinated Huli Huli Chicken, we slid 4 to 5 pieces of chicken on each skewer

Slide as many marinated chicken pieces onto the skewer leaving about 1/2 inch between each piece to let hot air to move around them. I put 4 or 5 on each skewer with each slice of chicken around 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.

Slide each skewer full of marinated Huli Huli chicken into the air fryer basket air vents until the skewer feels solid. The chicken slices can lay on the basket bottom as long as they aren’t crowded.

Soon to be Huli Huli Chicken Jerky in the air fryer

Air Fry Huli Huli Chicken Jerky

Air Fry the Huli Huli Chicken slices at 170°F for 2 hours or 2.5 hours if the chicken sliced thick and you want the jerky more on the tough side.

Air Fry the Huli Huli Chicken at 170°F (the lowest temperature my air fryer can go) for 2 hours. My air fryer timer only goes to 60 minutes so I run it twice, 2 hours total.

The rule of thumb is you want the jerky to bend in half without breaking. This will be true if you cut your chicken breast along the muscle fibers. If you cut your chicken breast against the muscle fibers, the chicken will break between each fiber when that piece is bent in half.

Huli Huli Chicken jerky made in the air fryer.

Enjoy Your Huli Huli Chicken Jerky in the Air Fryer

*The temperature of the chicken will not be 165°F when finished. Mine is usually about 150°F when I pull them from the skewer. You are welcome to air fry yours for another 8 minutes at 370°F to bring the chicken’s internal temperature to 165°F. This will make the outside of the chicken much more tough and dry.

Enjoying home made Huli Huli chicken jerky made in the air fryer.

Slide the Air Fryer Huli Huli Chicken Jerky off the skewer and onto a plate. They are warm but ready to be eaten. I pull them off and eat them immediately.

Huli Huli Chicken Jerky in the Air Fryer

Huli Huli Chicken Jerky Air Fryer

Chicken breast marinated in an insane Huli Huli marinade, sliced, hung, and air fried at a low 170°F producing a dried meat like no other.
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Course: Snack
Cuisine: Hawaiian
Keyword: Air Fryer, chicken jerky, Huli Huli, jerky
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 10
Calories: 80kcal
Author: David Wayne
Cost: $9

Equipment

  • Air Fryer

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs Chicken breasts 2-3 chicken breasts
  • 1 thumb size Ginger root skinned, sliced, and diced or grated
  • 5 Garlic Cloves diced (large)
  • 3/4 cup Pineapple juice 1 small can
  • 1/2 cup Soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup Sugar
  • 2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp Sesame oil
  • 1 tsp Granulated Garlic garlic powder
  • 1 tsp Granulated Onion onion powder

Instructions

  • Dice or grate 5 large garlic cloves
  • Deskin, thin slice, and dice or grate a piece of fresh ginger the size of your thumb.
  • Add diced garlic and ginger with the rest of the marinade ingredients to a 1 gallon zip lock bag or mixing bowl and stir ingredients together
  • Using a sharp knife and a plastic cutting board, slice the chicken breasts 1/2 inch thick lengthwise against the muscle fibers for tender, easy chew jerky (dried meat) or slice semi frozen chicken breasts short wise with the muscle fibers about 1/8 inch thick for tough traditional jerky
  • Add sliced chicken to the marinade and mix the chicken into the marinade to cover well
  • Let the chicken marinate for 1 hour to 4 hours depending on how strong you want the Huli Huli flavor
  • Lay down 4 layers of paper towels on a plate
  • Remove the chicken breast slices from the marinade and lay them on the paper towels to drain extra marinade
  • Use cleaned pruning sheers to trim 4 paddle skewers about 1/8 inch wider than your air fryer basket
  • Push one end of a chicken slice onto the skewer close to the paddle and repeat with another 4-6 slices depending on how thick your slices are
  • Place one end of the skewer into the top of one vent slot on one side of your air fryer basket and run the other end of the skewer up from the bottom of the opposite vent slot on the other side of the air fryer basket, starting at one end of the basket
  • *make sure keep the chicken breast slices with a gap between each slice on the skewers for hot air to blow around each piece, as good as possible
  • Repeat until all chicken slices have been skewered and hung in the air fryer basket
  • Air fry the chicken slices at 170°F for 2 hours
  • Slide the Huli Huli Chicken Jerky off of each skewer
  • They can be enjoyed right away or store in a zip lock bag with a folded paper towel in the fridge to keep fresh
  • *The chicken will not be at 165°F if tested. Our chicken is usually about 145°F * 155°F when finished with no fluids left behind. You can air fry your chicken at 350°F for 8 minutes to bring the temperature up to 165°F but you will risk getting tough/over done chicken.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 80kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 12g

One Comment on “Huli Huli Chicken Jerky in the Air Fryer

  1. Pingback: Jalapeno Garlic Chicken Jerky in the Air Fryer - TheWildWaynes

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