Grilled Chicken al Pastor on the Big Green Egg

May 6, 2023

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Fire up the grill as we’re making the most amazing grilled chicken al pastor with slices of fresh pineapple and onions! It’s a fiesta flavor bomb of deliciousness!

Grab Your Ingredients

This is such an incredibly easy recipe that literally is only 6 ingredients. Now one of the ingredients you will need to order is honestly it’s incredible.

Chicken – I went with boneless, skinless chicken thighs. You can go with 50/50 chicken breasts too but all chicken breasts can dry out unless you watch the grill closely as it may get done sooner.
Seasoning – this is one you’ll have to buy but honestly, it’s worth it! Trompo King Al Pastor Seasoning
Liquids – olive oil, fresh orange juice, and chicken stock
Produce – large pineapple and 1 large onion

Watch The Video

Now one thing I wish I didn’t do was put the carrots directly on the bottom of the pan at the beginning. Even though I put liquid in the bottom, the carrots burned. That’s my own stupid fault.

I should have put them in about 35 minutes before the end of the cooking period. Lessons Learned

Stack It Up

Sprinkle your onions and pineapple with Al Pastor Seasoning. To the skewer, add the top (or bottom) of an onion and push it down all the way on the skewer. I push mine all the way down. Typically I use a large onion that I cut in 3 equal sizes.
Next, follow it with a slice of pineapple then a third of the meat.
Repeat until the last piece is the onion on top.
Pour over any liquid left marinade over top. (not pictured as I ended up adding it after I took the pic)

Chef’s Explanation of ‘Trompo’ Style Cooking

If you’ve ever seen gyro meat cooking, you’ll see it cooking/roasting on a vertical spit that spins. It’s typically cone-shaped and as it spins the heat cooks the cone or meats.

The Trmop King unit acts as the same way but minus the rotation part. By putting it in say a Big Green Egg (using indirect heat) or your home oven, you’re allowing the heat to circulate around the meat, cooking it in a similar fashion as say a gyro cone on a spit.

Into The Grill

Set the meat into the gril, close the lid and let it cook until the internal temp reaches 165F.

Remember, if you’re adding carrots, don’t do as I did in the video and the picture but rather add it 30 minutes before the end of the cook.

Grilled To Perfection!

So a few Chef tips here:

Pour the liquid into the pan after you put it into/onto the grill.
If adding carrots of chopped veggies, add them about 30 minutes prior to the end of the cook. Naturally if you’re using say whole potatoes of huge veggies, add them in a bit earlier. Size matters here folks.
USE BBQ gloves to remove this. These gloves are THE BEST gloves I’ve ever had! I use these daily on my pizza oven that gets over 900F an my hands and arms are protected!

Grilled To Perfection!

Seriously, just look at that char on the chicken, the caramelation on the onions and pineapple!

This was absolutely EXCEPTIONAL!

No Grill? No Problem!

What I love about the Trompo King is you can also make this in the home oven. What I would recommend is putting this on the lowest shelf, removing the other racks, and first testing it out to see if the 12″ spike will fit height-wise. If not, switch to the 7″ one. That works perfectly! Some ovens aren’t tall enough or the heating element gets in the way. If it’s too tall, no worries, they have a smaller one that is perfect!

Or maybe you just want a smaller version all together. Then check out the Trompo King Mini Vertical Skewer is only 8.4″ tall!

Removing the Meat & Produce

The easiest way is to grab a sharp slicing/carving knife and just carve the meat, pineapple and onions off of the skewer.

Alternatively you could use gloved hands and pull all fo the stuff off of the skewer, place it onto a carving board and then slice/chop it up.

Ways To Serve Grilled Chicken al Pastor

Here are some of my favorites ways I’ve served this.

Tacos – add the carved meat and produc to a hard or soft taco shell then add avocado, crema, cilantro, cheese and hot sauce
Buritto – Stuff a flour tortilla with the carved meat/produce and add mexican rice, queso and sauce
Nachos – layer it on torilla shells with cheese, jalapenos, avocados, fresh tomatoes and cilantro
Protein Bowl – tihs is amazing for meal prep! Add it atop rice or cauliflower rice and your favorite veggies!
Pizza – this with an enchilada sauce, cheese, radishes, avocado and a swirl of crema! It’s EVERYTHING!

Tell me how you’d serve it!