Chipotle Chicken Kabobs with Spicy Grilled Pineapple

Many folks are still missing their outdoor grilling with these cold winter days. But for us, we have a cast iron griddle, so grilling indoors is easy when heating it up over the gas stove top. You can click on the images for a larger view.

This recipe has chipotle peppers in adobo sauce as part of the marinade with the yogurt, giving it a southwest flavor, but the addition of yogurt also gives this chicken an Indian and middle-eastern flair as well. Each kabob served with a bed of basmati rice and a couple grilled pineapple rings.

Inspired and adapted from a Weight Watchers magazine cook book entitled ?Five Ingredient 15 Minute Recipes?, this recipe found on page 7, and according to their per serving nutritional values are 4 points per serving, 206 calories, 2.3g fat, 40.7 g protein, 3.4g carbohydrates, 0.2g fiber, 99mg cholesterol, 455mg sodium, and 64mg calcium. However, the original recipe calls for serving ½ cup of cooked couscous tossed with chopped fresh tomato and fresh chopped parsley.  We served ours with basmati rice with the chopped fresh tomato and parsley, so the nutritional information may vary, based on our substitutions.

I suppose the salt and pepper are not included in the “5 ingredients”, and the 15 minutes is also a stretch for some of the recipes, including this one. However, if prepping the chicken to marinate overnight, then putting together this recipe the next day is quite fast when grilling indoors on the cast iron griddle.

The original recipe calls for marinating the chicken for 1 to 2 hours, we actually marinated ours overnight. The original recipe also includes a side of grilled fresh pineapple rings; we used canned pineapple, but followed the recipe procedures as stated in the written version. The grilled pineapple nutritional values provided in the book are 1 WW point per serving, 87 calories, 0.2g fat, 0.6g protein, 22.7g carbohydrates, 2g fiber, 0mg cholesterol, 45mg sodium, and 22mg calcium.

Chipotle Chicken Kabobs

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients


½
Cup
Yogurt, plain, fat-free


1
Each
Chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced


1
Each
Garlic clove, minced


1
Tsp
Cumin, ground


½
Tsp
Salt


¼
Tsp
Black pepper


1 ½
Lbs.
Chicken breast, boneless, skinless, cut into 1-inch cubes




Cooking spray






Procedure Steps


1.
Combine the yogurt with the chipotle pepper, garlic, cumin, salt, and black pepper and whisk well to mix. Pour this mixture into a large plastic bag and add the cubed chicken, seal the bag, and place in refrigerator at least 1 to 2 hours or overnight to marinate.


2.
Prepare grill, getting it nice and hot.


3.
Thread chicken onto 4 (10-inch) skewers and place on the grilling rack coated with cooking spray. Grill 11 minutes or until done, turning once.



NOTE: If using wooden skewers soak them in water for several hours to prevent burning.



Sweet and Spicy Grilled Pineapples

The adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers is used to bring up some heat in these tasty grilled pineapple rings.

Ingredients


8
Each
Pineapple rings


1 ½
Tbsp
Pineapple juice


3
Tbsp
Brown sugar, light


1
Tbsp
Adobo sauce




Cooking spray






Procedure Steps


1.
Prepare grill as above.


2.
Place pineapple rings on paper towels to blot out excess juice.


3.
Combine pineapple juice, brown sugar, and adobo sauce until sugar is dissolved to create a glaze.


4.
Brush 1 side of each pineapple ring with the glaze then grill for 3 to 4 minutes until browned. While grilling, brush the top side with more glaze, then flip to grill the other side, for another 3 minutes or so. Serve 2 rings with each portion of the Chipotle Chicken Kabobs.