Adobo buttermilk chicken with onions

I finally cooked!!! Can you believe it? I am so excited to have a recipe to share with you.

After flying back from a week in Seattle, I needed to replenish my refrigerator and get back to the kitchen. I went to the store without much of a plan. I picked up a pack of skinless boneless chicken breasts because they were on sale, some dry beans to make rice and beans for lunch, a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce to add to the rice, and some random produce.

Then I decided to get a container of plain yogurt to use as a base for marinade for the chicken, but couldn't find a little container. That's when the light bulb went off: buttermilk! You see, I grew up in Russia, and buttermilk was a staple in our diet. We would drink a glass of buttermilk, which came in regular and strawberry flavor, with cookies, just like US kids drink milk with cookies. I love buttermilk in pancakes, cakes and scones (aha, scones! I will post a recipe I made later this week, but for now check out this one).

So I decided to pick up a container of buttermilk to make an adobo & buttermilk bath (marinade) for the chicken.

Adobo Buttermilk Chicken with Onions

Ingredients
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons adobo sauce (feel free to add chopped chipotle peppers if you like your food very hot)
3 chicken breasts, cubed into 1" pieces
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
salt

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl (I used a large Pyrex measuring cup) and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour (if you let the chicken marinade over night, the flavor will be even better).

2. Preheat the oven to 400F. Alternatively, you can grill the chicken on skewers if you have a grill: I did not, so I sprayed a roasting dish with some oil, added the chicken and onions in one layer and baked for 15 minutes. [You can also brown the chicken in a skillet on top of the stove, but then you'll have to babysit it.]

3. After baking the chicken for 15 minutes, put it under a broiler for a few minutes to get the gorgeous color.

Serve the chicken with sauteed green beans, rice, or on top of a salad. The buttermilk tenderizes the meat, and the adobo sauce adds a punch of heat. And don't forget the onions: they are full of flavor after sitting in the adobo buttermilk marinade and then getting charred underneath the broiler.

Take that, 5 ingredient girl :) This recipe takes minutes to put together, and less than 20 minutes to cook. Enjoy!