Adobo-Honey Chicken Kebabs
with cucumber salad and quinoa
These chicken kebabs are topped with an adobo-honey sauce that's sweet, tangy, and ends with a light kick. Enjoy with a cool salad and some quinoa for a simple, complete meal.
Smarts: Adobo sauce is a smoky sauce common in Latin cooking. Chipotle peppers are typically sold in adobo sauce. Divide and freeze in small portions so you don't waste it.
Ingredients
- Quinoa - 2/3 cup, uncooked
- Green onions, white parts - 2 stalks
- Garlic - 1 clove, peeled
- Red wine vinegar - 3 Tbsp
- Honey - 2 Tbsp
- Adobo sauce (usually found with canned chipotle peppers) - 1 tsp
- Salt - 1 tsp
- Plain Greek yogurt - 1/2 cup
- Cucumbers - 1/2 lb, chopped
- Iceberg lettuce - 1/3 head, sliced
- Maple syrup - 1 tsp
- Dijon mustard - 1 tsp
- Apple cider vinegar - 1 1/2 Tbsp
- Cooking oil - 2 Tbsp
- Chicken thighs - 1 lb, boneless
- Adobo-honey sauce - 3 Tbsp + 3 Tbsp ((Ingredients listed separately))
- Skewers - 8 to 16 ((If using flat skewers, you'll just need 1 / kebab))
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Make adobo-honey sauce - This makes enough for tomorrow night. In a blender, combine white parts of green onions, garlic clove, red wine vinegar, honey, adobo sauce, salt, and Greek yogurt. Puree until well-blended. Season to taste with any of the ingredients. Reserve half for tomorrow night. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Prepare kebabs - Slice chicken up into strips, long ways. You'll want them to be 3/4" (2 cm) wide. Marinate and tenderize with first part of adobo-honey sauce and thread skewers through chicken strips. You should make 2 kebabs / person. (Can be done up to 1 day ahead)
- Quinoa - Double if making Wednesday’s dinner. Combine quinoa with 2x the amount of water (or stock if you prefer) in a saucepan. Add in some salt. Bring to a boil covered. Lower heat, keep covered, and cook until liquid is absorbed, 8 to 10 minutes. If you doubled, reserve half for tomorrow night. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Cucumbers / Iceberg lettuce - Prep as directed.
Unlock this meal along with hundreds of smart meal plans and never stress about "What's for dinner?" again
Get 1 free monthLearn More
Make
- Whisk together maple syrup, Dijon, apple cider vinegar and oil (double if making tomorrow night's dinner). Set aside.
- If using an outdoor grill: Heat your outdoor grill up to 500F(or 260C) degrees. Brush grill grates with cooking oil and then lay kebabs over direct heat. Sear on opposite sides for 3 minutes each with cover closed. Then move to indirect heat, close cover, and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, until chicken is cooked to 165F (74C) degrees.
- If using a grill pan: Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Brush pan with cooking oil and then lay skewers down on the pan. Sear on opposite sides for 3 minutes each. Then lower heat and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, or until chicken is cooked to 165F (74C) degrees.
- Take kebabs off pan or grill and brush immediately with some more adobo-honey sauce, and lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Toss vinaigrette with cucumbers and lettuce. Enjoy kebabs with salad and quinoa. Feel free to use remainder of the adobo-honey sauce with the kebabs.
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
155 reviews
I completely changed this entire recipe bc I was tired and didn't have all the ingredients. Still turned out great! (To my future self-I wrote down the changes on a recipe card in the recipe book)
0 HelpfulThe quinoa and the zucchini and mushroom sauteed with sauce was delish but the salad was a big miss on every one side
0 HelpfulWell this is 3 stars because of the side dish..it was a total miss. I mixed the quinoa with mushroom and zucchini...the sauce was good.
0 HelpfulThe chicken was delicious. We made it like a stirfry rather than on skewers, though. I made the quinoa in broth instead of water and used butter lettuce instead of iceberg.
0 Helpful