Vegetable Skewers For An Easy Side Dish
Vegetables are a huge part of my lifestyle year-round, but as we head into the warm summer months, we have so many more options to enjoy! I’m game for anything from ratatouille to roasted vegetables, but as it’s getting quite warm out, I can’t help but throw my veggies on the grill. Not only does it avoid heating up the kitchen, but it adds so much flavor!
Depending on what vegetables I pick up from the farmer’s market, it’s either my grilled vegetables platter or something like today’s marinated vegetable kabobs.
The simple but flavorful Mediterranean-style marinade, combined with the appropriate heat from your grill, will create amazingly delicious kabobs. While you don’t want to burn these, they should be slightly charred in a few places before you remove them from the grill. I love to add some freshly made romesco sauce for dipping the veggies as well.
Before we get to the recipe, let me cover a few basics that may be helpful to new cooks.
Moroccan Grilled Fish Kebabs
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To ensure it doesn’t fall apart on the grill, choose a firm white fish like halibut or mah-mahi for this Moroccan fish kebab recipe. The garlic and onion marinade includes cilantro, paprika, and turmeric with a bit of chili powder for extra heat that’s sure to tantalize everyone’s taste buds.
How Long To Marinate Chicken For Kabobs
One of the biggest challenges I run into when making kabobs is building in time for the meat to marinate.
These grilled chicken kabobs need just 30 minutes! This amount of time is easy to accomplish while you are prepping other elements of the meal.
- Start with the chicken marinade, then set it aside to let it do its tasty thang.
- Move on to chopping the vegetables.
- Tidy up your kitchen and check Instagram. Before you know it, the chicken and vegetable kabobs are ready to grill.
The chicken can rest in the marinade for as little as 30 minutes and for a maximum of three hours. After three hours, the meat will start to break down.
If you are trying to get ahead on the recipe, chop and prep the ingredients but wait to add the marinade to the chicken until closer to the time when you plan to grill.
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Grilled Pork Belly Kebabs With Sweet
Thick, sweet, funky gochujang is a great alternative to more ubiquitous chili condiments like Sriracha and chili-garlic sauce. Here we mix it with honey, sake, and soy sauce to make a marinade for pork belly and vegetables. Gochujang is fairly tame in terms of heatthis dish isn’t as scary as the color might make you think.
Do You Grill With The Lid Open Or Closed
When you first place your kabobs on the grill, youll keep the lid open to sear the food, usually for a couple of minutes. After that, lower the lid and close the bbq to keep the heat inside and continue cooking.
Half way through cooking, youll want to flip the food youre grilling, whether its kabobs, chicken, or hamburgers. At this point, youll open the lid, flip, allow the flames to give the other side a sear, and close the lid to finish cooking.
If your grill has a vent and youre using charcoal, you might want to keep it open to let some air in and keep your charcoal flames lit.
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Vegetable Kabobs In The Oven
If you don’t have a grill, you can absolutely cook these veggie skewers in the oven at 400 degrees F. Arrange the skewers on a baking sheet and put them in the heated oven for about 15 minutes, turning over occasionally so that they veggies can char on different sides. Again, if you are using wooden skewers, soak them in water for 30 minutes to 1 hour before using.
How To Keep Ingredients From Falling Off
To prevent meat and veggies from falling off the skewers while cooking, cut them slightly larger than the spaces between the grill grates, about ½ to 1-inch thick. Make sure to thread each piece right through the center.
To avoid the tragedy of an entire kabob falling into the coals, place it across the grill grates.
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Grilled Thai Coconut Chicken Skewers
Amazingly tempting in terms of appearance and equally drool-worthy to savor, these smoky grilled chicken skewers are super easy to pull off at home. A great blend of soy sauce, coconut cream, garlic, and ginger go for a luscious marination in this recipe, finishing things up with some sweet coconut cream glaze. Marvelous when served with peanut sauce.
How To Make Grilled Chicken Kabob
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Best Skewers And Kabobs For Easy Summer Grilling
Jackie Freeman is a professional chef and cookbook author with over 20 years of experience in the food industry. Her talents include a wide range of skills such as a cheesemaker, farmhand, culinary instructor, recipe developer, TV and radio personality, and food stylist.
Need a quick and easy grilled dish that can be endlessly customized with meats, vegetables, and fruits to suit any appetite? Kabobs are the answer! Here are just a few of our favorite kabob recipes there’s something here for every palate. For more ideas, browse our complete collection of grilled skewers and kabob recipes.
Beef Satay is a Thai appetizer skewer that always disappears first. Tender cubes of sirloin are marinated in an aromatic mix of ginger, garlic, onion, brown sugar, fish sauce, soy, coriander, cumin, and turmeric. Serve it with a Peanut Dipping Sauce, and stand back while the crowd goes wild. Watch the video to learn how to make this flavorful dish.
This Greek-inspired chicken kabob recipe includes an easy cucumber yogurt sauce called tzatziki. Reviewers recommend squeezing the moisture out of the cucumbers so the sauce doesn’t get too watery.
Tender cubes of boneless pork loin are marinated in garlic and soy sauce then glazed as they grill with homemade teriyaki sauce.
Tips For Skewering With Success
You can make these chicken kabobs with metal skewers or wooden skewers.
- If usingmetal skewerslike these or these, be sure not to touch the skewer ends after the kabobs are cooked, as they will be HOT. Use a hot pad or tongs to hold the skewer end while you remove the chicken and vegetables from them prior to eating.
- If usingwooden skewerslike these, soak the skewers in water for 20 minutes prior to grilling to prevent them from catching on fire.
- My other big skewer tip is not to crowd the vegetables and chicken together too tightly when threading. The chicken and vegetable pieces can lightly touch, but you want to make sure the heat can circulate so that the chicken cooks through.
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Balinese Pork Satay With Sweet Soy Glaze And Peanut Sauce
There’s more to satay than the Thai chicken version. To expand your horizons, check out this Balinese pork shoulder satay. The marinade, dipping sauce, and glaze are all made with a spice paste made from lemongrass, dried chilies, garlic, shallots, coriander, white pepper, and sugar. We make the paste with both a mortar and pestle and a food processor .
Don’t Choose The Wrong Protein
Not everything is ideal for skewering. You want proteins that are sturdy enough to stay on the skewer, and can stand up to hot, fast grilling without drying out. For seafood, leave the delicate flaky fish behind and stick with meatier fish like swordfish or monkfish, or whole shellfish like shrimp or scallops. Chicken thighs are more forgiving and will stay juicier than breasts, and meats with some marbling like skirt steak or ribeye will serve you better than tenderloins or other leaner cuts.
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Variations Of This Recipe
- SPICY if you like a little more heat, add some cayenne pepper to the rub and/or use a spicy bbq sauce!
- OTHER MEAT Ive used chicken breasts here because my kids prefer white meat, but boneless chicken thighs would be amazing, and even juicier! Cubed pork tenderloin would be another amazing option, as would shrimp!
- OTHER VEGGIES the sky is the limit on what veggies you can add. Peppers and onions are a pretty common variety, but zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes, etc are also delicious! Mango would also be amazing used in place of the pineapple.
- while its pretty to have the alternating chicken, fruit and veggies, it can be a little tricky to make sure the meat is fully cooked and the veggies and fruit arent burnt. If youre new to grilling, or simply want this meal to be even easier, do separate skewers of chicken/bacon, and veggies/fruit.
- STORE-BOUGHT RUB there are so many great pre-made rubs out there nowadays, and you can certainly use one of those if youd rather not make your own.
- HOMEMADE BBQ SAUCE if youd rather use a homemade bbq sauce, you can absolutely go for it! I really love my Bourbon BBQ sauce on these kabobs.
Don’t Choose The Wrong Seasoning And Marinade Ingredients
Seasoning kebabs before cooking is essential. Rubs and spice blends are ideal for this, since they keep the exterior of the ingredients dry which is great for searing and color. Marinades can be tricky, since they often include ingredients which can burn or brown quickly, making you think your kebabs are done before they are, or can get acrid when charred. If you can, avoid glazes or sauces that contain sugar, fresh or dried herbs, or too much oil, which can catch and flame up. Instead, think about seasoning your proteins with salt and pepper and then when cooked, transferring them to a shallow dish and tossing with your favorite sauce or marinade, so that they can absorb and get coated as they rest. Bonus, since the meats will already be cooked, you can serve the sauce or marinade on the side, no danger of contamination and no wasteful need to discard, the way you must when doing a raw preparation.
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Chicken Skewers Are The Best
It doesnt have to take a ton of time to make something delicious. These simple chicken skewers are fantastic and only take a few minutes to prepare.
They are also inexpensive to make and can be made to please everyone. I have a few family members that only want chicken on their skewers. Some want extra vegetables.
This is the perfect recipe to please everyone and is sure to be a hit!
Steak Kabob Marinade Ingredients:
- beef sirloin, cut into 1 inch pieces
- package mushrooms, cleaned and cut in half
- multi-colored peppers, cleaned and cut into 1 inch pieces
- large red onion, cleaned and cut into 1 inch pieces
- Salt and pepper to taste
This all comes together for a delicious marinade with so much flavor on the steak and veggies.
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Cambodian Grilled Lemongrass Beef Skewers
While not as well known as the food of Thailand or Vietnam, Cambodian cooking is well worth exploring. Much of the country’s cuisine is based on kroeung, aromatic flavor pastes that form the foudnation for all sorts of dishes. In this recipe that means aromatics like lemongrass, bay leaves, thyme, citrus zest, and cinnamon, which we mix with fish sauce and oil and use to coat strips of sirloin or flank steak.
Grilled Steak And Asparagus Kabobs
Grilled asparagus has got something amazing about itself, whether its the texture or the bursts of flavor it comes with. Susie over at Hey Grill Hey goes for some New York Strip steaks on the kabobs to compliment the asparagus just right. Going for some steak marinade makes things flavorful from the inside, sprucing the dish up with herbs.
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How Long To Grill Chicken Kabobs:
Grill on the grill, rotating them often for about 15 minutes until chicken is cooked through. We use grilling tongs so we didnt burn our hand. I have also heard that these grilling mitts work great.
The time may vary slightly depending on how large you cut the pieces of chicken and how thick each piece is.
Serve with your favorite sides!
Japanese Chicken Skewers With Scallion
If you’ve never tried making yakitori, negima is the easiest way to start. The simple dish is nothing more than skewers of chicken thigh and scallion that are grilled and brushed with homemade teriyaki sauce. Want something slightly more involved? Check out our recipe for tsukune, or Japanese chicken meatballs.
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How Do You Grill Shrimp
The best way to grill shrimp are to marinate them in olive oil, herbs, garlic and lemon, then skewer and cook. Shrimp are best grilled on skewers if you try to grill them without a skewer, you run the risk of these little guys falling through the grates of the grill when you go to turn them.
This shrimp marinade starts with olive oil and lemon juice. I add an additional layer of flavor with plenty of dried herbs , along with fresh minced garlic. I like simplicity here, but if you want to jazz up your marinade even more, you can add lemon zest, a splash of white white, soy sauce, or a squeeze of honey.
Great Kabob Recipes Need Great Marinade Recipes
Most kabob recipes include a tasty marinade which acts to infuse flavors into the ingredients and moisturize or tenderize the ingredients before grilling. The flavors of the kabob recipes can be changed to be sweet, spicy or with a regional theme such as Asian or Mexican flavors.
The kabob recipes Ive included below each have a marinade or sauce recipe included but bookmark these grilling marinade recipe links for making up your own kabob recipes.
Steven Raichlen is the King of the Grill and one I spent three intensive days with learning tips for grilling and smoking meats.
His The Only Marinade Recipe Youll Ever Need recipe is great for all meat or fish types as well as vegetables.
It can be used as a marinade or a baste while grilling.
Flavors of fresh garlic, lemon juice, red pepper flakes and fresh herbs will make your mouth water even before tasting it.
Epicurious published a list of 33 Best Grilling Marinade Recipes which span the gamut of every flavor profile and ethnic recipe persuasion imaginable.
I would be surprised if you dont find a few things you love here!
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What You’ll Need For This Recipe
These seasoned vegetable skewers are made with fresh vegetables and a handful of seasonings. Quick, easy and flavorful!
- Yellow squash or zucchini – You can use whichever you have on hand or prefer.
- Baby bella mushrooms – These mushrooms are perfectly sized for sliding on a skewer and stay firm when grilled.
- Grape tomatoes – You can also use cherry tomatoes, which are a good size and can also be left whole to slide on your skewers.
- Brussels sprouts – Brussels sprouts add a crunch and pop of green to the skewers. It helps to microwave them for a couple minutes before skewering.
- Onion – You can use any type of onion, but I like red onion for its sweet flavor.
- Garlic – Freshly minced garlic for the marinade.
- Seasoning – A combination of fresh parsley, salt, dried oregano and, for heat, Aleppo pepper or red pepper flakes.
- Olive oil – Olive oil helps the seasonings stick to the vegetables and helps them char up nicely on the grill. Try Private Reserve Greek EVOO or another olive oil from our collection!
- Lemon juice – Freshly squeezed lemon juice adds a pop of bright, fresh flavor to the kabobs.
How To Make Steak Kebabs
- Make the marinade: in a mixing bowl whisk together olive oil, soy sauce, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, Worcestershire, honey, dijon, garlic and pepper.
- Add marinade to steak: place steak into a gallon size resealable bag, pour marinade over steak then seal bag while pressing out excess air and message marinade over steak.
- Rest in refrigerator: transfer to refrigerator and allow to marinate 3 6 hours.
- Preheat a grill over medium-high heat to about 425 degrees .
- Toss veggies with oil and seasoning: with veggies on cutting board, drizzle with oil and lightly toss to coat.
- Sprinkle veggies evenly with garlic powder and season with salt and pepper.
- To assemble kebabs: layer steak and veggies onto kebabs in desired order, work to fit 4 steak pieces onto each kebab.
- Cook kebabs on lightly oiled grill grates: brush grill grates lightly with oil.
- Place kebabs on grill and grill until center of steak registers about 140 145 degrees for medium doneness, turning kebabs occasionally, about 8 9 minutes.
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