The Best BBQ Chicken Skewers Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What to pair with chicken skewers? ›

Sauteed vegetables, fried eggplant, garlic mushrooms, fried potatoes and onions, fried rice with vegetables, fried okra, fattoush salad, mixed greens, spinach or kale salad, or lentil rice. Any of these would pair well with chicken kabobs.

My favorite Chicken Kabobs recipe requires just a few simple ingredients and is the most delicious summer dinner! Tender, juicy chicken is marinated and grilled with peppers and onion and the entire dish can be made ahead of time. You are going to absolutely LOVE this simple, delicious chicken kabobs recipe.

How to Keep Chicken Kabobs From Drying Out. Cooking by internal temperature is the best way to prevent dried-out chicken. Once removed from heat, meat continues to cook, so it's best to catch it before you risk overcooking. I recommend using a digital meat thermometer to check around the 10-minute mark.

Sear and Bake

For chicken breast that's crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, employ the sear-and-bake method. Brown the outside of the meat on a pan then finish it off in the oven.

Because chicken isn't a very fatty cut of meat, you'll want to add some fat to keep the meat hydrated. Most recipes use butter or oil for cooking chicken, but mayo is the better fat option when it comes to producing juicy chicken.

Eating high-quality protein can help you maintain healthy skin, nails, and hair, build muscle, and maintain lean body mass while dieting. Kebabs are a high-protein meal, healthier than fast food because they are not deep-fried and include bread and salad.

Are Chicken Kebabs good for you? Homemade chicken kebabs are not unhealthy when cooked this way. You can easily make this recipe even lower in fat by using chicken breasts instead of chicken thighs and using low fat, or fat free yoghurt.

Formed chicken cooked on wooden skewers. Can be eaten hot or cold.

While 30 minutes is the minimum, it's best to plan ahead and soak your bamboo skewers overnight in water. It takes a long time for the skewers to soak up the water, but well-soaked skewers, which are slow to give up their moisture, will last longer on the grill without burning up.

Wooden skewers, like the classic bamboo skewers pictured above, can burn easily over a hot grill. Soaking them in warm water for 10 to 30 minutes before threading will keep the skewers from cooking along with the food.

What kind of onion for shish kabobs? ›

Onions: You really can't go wrong here. Use yellow, red or white – whatever you like best! For the kabob, cut the onion into 4 pieces and again in half so the pieces come out triangular. Bell Peppers: Use red, yellow and green – the more color the better!

It depends upon the size of the skewer. Aim for about 6 ounces of meat per person. You could split that up into 2 skewers or one. I recommend two, that way those who are super hungry can have two, those who are not can just eat one.

If the chicken is hard after cooking, you cooked all the moisture out of it.

Grill the chicken until fully cooked through and the juices run clear, about 10 to 15 minutes, turning the skewers every few minutes so that each side has grill marks.

Overcooking: Chicken dries out when it's cooked for too long. Poultry, unlike red meats, does not have as much fat marbling to keep it moist, so it's easy to overcook and end up with dry meat.

The best tenderizer though, is a salted yogurt marinade. The salt has the same effect as in a regular brine, but the lactic acid in the yogurt further tenderizes the meat. A 15-minute marinade with one cup of yogurt and one teaspoon of salt makes for the most tender chicken breasts imaginable.

But I often hear complaints about grilled chicken, mainly boneless, skinless breasts because they are easily overcooked and turn dry. Any lean cut of poultry or meat will tend to dry out during grilling. The darker meat, chicken drumsticks and thighs have more fat to keep them moist so these are more forgiving.