You’ll notice a lot of grilled foods, pineapples, and tropical flavors. Hawaiian food uses many bold flavor combinations to make rich, succulent dishes that are unlike recipes found anywhere else. There are plenty of great options from which to choose, but these are 10 of my favorites. I hope you find a few that you love, too.
1. Grilled Pineapple Meatball Skewers
These delicious skewers take less than 20 minutes to prepare and cook. They’re so simple to make that even your kids can help if they enjoy cooking. If you want to make homemade meatballs, you can, but there’s really no need when the pre-cooked meatballs taste just as good. Mix your seasoning sauce and coat the meatballs in them. Then assemble your skewers, alternating between a meatball and a slice of pineapple each time. Once you pop them on the grill, you can have them done in about 5 minutes.
2. Fruit Kabobs
When I make finger foods for a party, I always try to find the ones that look the prettiest and take the least amount of effort to make. For a luau party, these rainbow fruit kabobs fit the bill perfectly. You don’t have to cook anything. Just grab all your various fruits and layer them on the skewers. Try to layer them in a way that maximizes all the different colors. Serve them with homemade fruit dip if you want to make it. Otherwise, store-bought fruit dip, yogurt, whipped cream, or even honey make great dipping sauces.
3. Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes
Making these tiny, beautiful cupcakes is so easy! Put a bit of brown sugar, some crushed pineapples, melted butter, and a cherry in a muffin tin. Then spoon in pineapple cupcake batter on top of all of that. Bake them for about 20 minutes, and then get ready to delight everyone you know with these topsy-turvy treats.
4. Hawaiian Hot Dogs with Grilled Pineapple and Teriyaki Mayo
Even hot dogs taste better when they’re Hawaiian-style hot dogs. I’m not sure whose idea it was to pile pineapples, teriyaki mayo, peppers, and onions on top of hot dogs, but that person is a genius. These Hawaiian hot dogs are incredible. Just don’t assume you’ll be able to pick them up and eat them. These things are stuffed full of good stuff, so you’ll need utensils.
5. Aloha Burgers
It’s unbelievable how effortless it is to turn some foods from “regular” foods into “Hawaiian” recipes. Sometimes, it’s as simple as adding some teriyaki sauce and a slice of pineapple. That’s the case with these aloha burgers. They’re bacon cheeseburgers with a bit of a Hawaiian flair. Just be sure to marinate and heat your pineapple slices before adding them to the burgers. That’s what makes them taste so juicy and delicious.
6. Spam Musubi
These tasty treats combine two unlikely things: Japanese rice balls (musubi) and Spam. Somehow, though, it works. The presentation is really what sells me on these. They look so adorable, like the perfect showroom food. Thanks largely to the homemade sauce of soy, rice vinegar, potato starch, sugar, water, and sake, they taste great, too. If you’re looking for a vegetarian option, replace the Spam with firm tofu.
7. Grilled Ham and Pineapple Kabobs
The secret to this recipe, too, is in the marinade. First, marinate your ham slices overnight in the ginger, brown sugar, fruit juice, and soy sauce mixture. Then arrange your skewers, alternating pieces of diced ham with slices of pineapple. Use your leftover marinade to coat the skewers while they’re on the grill. Doing this will give them a gorgeous, shining glaze that makes them prettier. It also makes them taste even better and more succulent. You’ll know the skewers are ready when the pineapples are nearly caramelized.
8. Hawaiian Salsa
I love colorful salsa! The more colors I can work into a salsa recipe, the happier with that recipe I’ll ultimately be. This one is one of my favorites, and I always serve it in the pineapple bowl as described. It just looks so perfect sitting there on the table like that! There are three main steps to making this recipe. First, you hollow out the pineapple. Next, mix all the blendable ingredients – tomatoes, peppers, onions, lime juice, salt, cumin, garlic, cilantro, and jalapeños – in a blender until smooth. Add that to your pineapple bowl (or regular bowl if you don’t want to serve it in the pineapple) and add your chunky ingredients on top of it. After you stir everything together, it’s ready to serve.
9. Pineapple Cream Popsicles
Anything with the phrase “two-ingredient” in the title is something that I’m going to enjoy. These two-ingredient pineapple cream popsicles are no exception. All you’ll need is a can of coconut milk and five cups of either partially thawed frozen pineapples or fresh pineapples. Blend all of that until it’s smooth; then pour it into your popsicle molds and freeze them. The recipe as-is makes about a dozen popsicles. However, if you’re making them for a party, you may want to double the recipe because these things fly off the table fast!
10. Bacon-Wrapped Pineapple Bites
If the thought of bacon-wrapped pineapple bites doesn’t make your mouth water a little, then I’m not sure what to think about you. These things are hands-down my favorite luau finger food option, which is why I saved them until the end. They always say to save the best for last, right? They take about 30 minutes to make. You’ll only need four ingredients: a pound of thick-cut bacon, half a pineapple, cut into chunks, a cup of brown sugar, and one-fourth cup of hot sauce. Then you wrap the pineapple in bacon, roll the whole thing in brown sugar, and drizzle a little hot sauce over each one. Bake them for about 20 minutes, and then they’re ready to serve. Click on a star to rate it!
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