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Chicken Hamonado- Sweet Roast in Pineapple

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Filipino food during the holidays is always made more special by glistening marinades, often sweetened by tropical fruits. Our family favorite is Chicken Hamonado, a dish of chicken or pork that’s made special with pineapple juices and familiar Filipino seasonings.

Hamonado comes from the word ‘ham’ which describes how a dish is ‘cured’ with sweet sauces then cooked till it looks and almost tastes like the flavors of a ham. It is deliriously delish. Just like this whole roast chicken I made and will serve on the Christmas table.

If you need a really good holiday dish that’s easy and gorgeous, yet has all the fantastic flavors to make a grand entrance on the table, then this is the one to try. After the roast chicken came out of the oven, the  skin was shiny and crisp. Once carved, the chicken was tender, sweet and succulent. The pineapple chunks were a treat to enjoy along with the dish. This is an extraordinary yet effortless entrée for the holidays or any family meal.

Chicken Hamonado - Sweet Roast in Pineapple

I made this delightful Chicken Hamonado-Sweet Roast in Pineapple, inspired by the original recipe from the spectacular cookbook “Celebrating 100 Years of Cooking with Nestle”, a treasured gift from a friend I used to work with when I lived in Manila, Sandra Puno, Communications and Marketing Services Director, Nestle (Philippines). The original recipe in the Nestle cookbook called for chicken cutlets and pan fried, then garnished with grated cheese. In the recipe I did, I made it more festive by using a whole chicken, roasted it in the oven and poured the pineapple juice at the end of cooking. What a fantastic and beautiful centerpiece it made at our family holiday dinner. This recipe I did serves 4 to 6. Serve it with fragrant jasmine white rice and you’re all set for Christmas!
Prep Time1 day
Cook Time1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time1 day 1 hour 30 minutes
Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine: Asian, Filipino
Keyword: Chicken Hamonado Roast with Pineapple
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 188kcal
Author: Asian in America - Elizabeth Ann Quirino

Ingredients

  • 4 pounds whole roasting chicken
  • 1 can (20 ounces) pineapple chunks if canned, reserve 1 cup of the pineapple juice
  • 1 cup pineapple juice
  • 1 teaspoon Maggi seasoning
  • 2 Tablespoons patis ( Filipino fish sauce)
  • 1 Tablespoon calamansi or lemon juice
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon white pepper powder
  • for serving: boiled jasmine white rice

Instructions

  • To marinate overnight: Pre-marinate the whole roasting chicken with Maggi seasoning, fish sauce or patis, 1 cup pineapple juice,  calamansi or lemon juice, garlic, salt, white pepper. Rub the chicken all over with these ingredients. Cover in plastic wrap in a non reactive container. Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight.
  • To cook the Hamonado: When ready to cook, preheat oven to 375 F degrees. Grease and prepare a roasting pan measuring  approximately 9 X 13 inches. Place the pre-marinated whole chicken. Cover the entire chicken and roasting pan with aluminum foil and roast in the oven. Cook for 35 minutes per pound of chicken (with bone).
  • At the last thirty minutes of cooking, remove the foil cover from the chicken.  Combine the reserved pineapple juice from the canned pineapple and brown sugar, then pour it over the chicken. Add the pineapple chunks over the rest of the chicken. Let this cook for 25 minutes till top of chicken has a nice glaze.
  • When chicken is done, arrange on a serving platter. Garnish with more pineapple chunks or slices. Pour a little of the drippings on the roast to make it shiny. Serve hot with boiled jasmine white rice.
  • Hello, Friends! All the images and content on this blog are COPYRIGHT PROTECTED and owned by my media company Besa-Quirino LLC. This means BY LAW you are NOT allowed to copy, scrape, lift, frame, plagiarize or use my photos and  recipe content I wrote, on your website, films or videos  without my permission. If you want to republish this recipe or content on another website, video or news article, please ASK my permission, re-write it in your own words and simply link back to this blog to give proper attribution. It’s the legal thing to do. Thank you. Email me at [email protected]
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Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 188kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 594mg | Potassium: 132mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 46g | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 42mg | Iron: 1mg

Notes on Nutrition: The nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and specific brands of ingredients used.

Did you like this recipe?I have more Filipino Instant Pot recipes in my newest cookbook Instant Filipino Recipes: My Mother’s Traditional Philippine Cooking in A Multicooker Pot by Elizabeth Ann Besa-Quirino. I also have more classic recipes inspired by my mother’s cooking in my popular cookbook: My Mother’s Philippine Recipes. If you’re learning how to cook Filipino food or a fan of Philippine cuisine, buy my cookbooks and books on Amazon.com sold worldwide in paperback and Kindle format.

Copyright Notice: Hello, Friends! Please DO NOT LIFT OR PLAGIARIZE my original recipe, stories, photos or videos. All the images and content on this blog are COPYRIGHT PROTECTED and owned by my media company Besa-Quirino LLC. This means BY LAW you are NOT allowed to copy, scrape, lift, frame, plagiarize or use my photos, essays, stories and recipe content on your websites, books, films, television shows, videos, without my permission. If you wish to republish this recipe or content on media outlets mentioned above, please ASK MY PERMISSION, or re-write it in your own words and link back to my blog AsianInAmericaMag.com to give proper attribution. It is the legal thing to do. Thank you. Email me at [email protected]

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16 Comments

  1. I don’t know why I don’t make baked chicken more often. It’s comforting to smell the chicken baking in the oven and I can only imagine how wonderful this would be with the scent of pineapple wafting through my apartment!

    1. Thanks, Kelly! You’re going to enjoy this Chicken Hamonado – it’s so easy, just pop it in the oven and let it cook by itself. You’re right, the sweet aroma was so inviting, we could hardly wait for dinner. Thanks for the blog visit & all your kind support! Happy Holidays, my friend 🙂

    1. Thanks, Mari! The sweet aroma and flavors of the pineapple mixed well with the Asian seasonings.This kind of dish never fails to remind us the holidays are here. Glad you came by 🙂

  2. Thanks for reminding me about this dish, Betty Ann. I should do this soon. Hubby will be sure to like it 🙂 Love all your posts!

    1. Thanks, Nancy. Do you remember Sandra Puno, from our Saatchi days? Well, Sandra is now Director of Communications at Nestle & she was so nice, sent me this cookbook gift ” Celebrating 100 Years of Cooking with Nestle”. I was inspired by one of the holiday recipes “Chicken Hamonado” in the cookbook and decided to try it, with some minor tweaks. You must make this, Nancy — your hubby will love it! Merry Christmas!

    1. Thanks, Helene. This is also our kind of dish, whether it’s the holidays or a family meal. You’re right, the combination of pineapple on roast chicken is absolutely delish! Glad you came by! Happy Holidays 🙂

  3. OMG, I think I’ve had this once when I used to dive at Balicasag but forgot all about it! I’m going to try this, maybe for my son’s birthday on New Year’s eve. I love that you’re serving it with rice, one of my favourite ways of having roast – you can take the girl out of Asia but you can’t take Asia out of her!

    1. Hi Lins, you’re so right there, we will always need our rice to go with all our dishes. This Chicken Hamonado is super easy to do and several readers have already written with photos to tell me they’ve done it successfully. Enjoy the holidays & thanks for the nice blog visit 🙂

    1. Thanks, Laura. Some of my blog readers and friends tried this recipe right after I posted it, too. Hope you get to do it when you get the chance – I’m sure your kids will like it. Thanks for all your support this year on the blog and the social networks. It has meant a lot to me, my friend. Happy New Year to you and your family 🙂

    1. Hi Violeta. I have always oven roasted this Chicken Hamonado recipe. But if you want to try pan-frying it, you could. Cut up the pre-marinated chicken pieces and fry in a skillet. For this amount of chicken it may take about 50 minutes to cook completely. Then pour the pineapple sauce at the last 30 minutes of cooking. Hope that works for you. Enjoy and let me know how it turned out 🙂

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