Chicken Kabobs are one of my absolute favorite dishes to make on the grill. I've been making them for years. In fact, I remember making them for a party of 30+ people back in the day when I was a single gal living in my 1 bedroom apartment in Chicago. I over-marinated them and they turned out chewy. I was horrified. So I set out on a mission to perfect them and fortunately now, I think I'm there. Lucky for my friends they still let me make these :)
I made these recently for friends and happy to say, they all thoroughly enjoyed them! Phew! I've nearly redeemed myself since the big mess up of 2013. Kabobs are always delicious in my opinion, but what set these apart is the chimichurri sauce I marinated them in. The oil allows the chicken and vegetables to get that perfect sear on the grill, the red wine vinegar, garlic and fresh herbs is just an added kick. It was so good, the following week when I made them again, I doubled the recipe so we had some extra to dip the chicken and vegetables in. Needless to say, it didn't last long.
I went a little non-traditional with my chimichurri and used a host of herbs I have growing outside. Parsley, cilantro, and a bit of basil and dill really brightened up the flavors. Lots of fresh garlic, salt and chili pepper flakes really sealed the deal for me.
What more can a busy mom want? Simple, fresh ingredients to create a yummy dinner that was healthy and everyone enjoyed!
The kabobs really just take a bit of prep work and thinking ahead to get them onto the table at dinner time. I soak my wooden skewers for an hour or two ahead of skewering up my kabobs. This ensures the wood does not catch fire! If kabobs are a last-minute decision, especially if I have lots of roasting veggies sitting in the fridge, I have these awesome metal ones I found for $0.25 at a garage sale when I was 19 and had purchased my first grill in college. Literally have always refused to live in an apartment that did not allow me to grill. A girl has to have priorities, you know? Here are some similar ones I found on Amazon though!
I love how these are extra long too so you can fit more onto one. Now for my chimichurri. Traditionally, it's mostly cilantro with a bit of parsley, but I added in some fresh Basil and Dill as well just because I have quite a bit of it on hand. I added in a fair amount of olive oil, a lime, red wine vinegar, fresh garlic cloves, salt, pepper and chili pepper flakes. I omitted the red onion only because I was already going to be grilling up red onion, but feel free to add some if you're so inclined! Mix it up and you're ready to go!
I've used steak and shrimp before for kebobs, but I had chicken breast on hand and it complimented the summer squash, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and red onions very well!
The key to good kabobs is ensuring your vegetables and chicken are chopped up in uniform sizes. If the chicken is too thick, you're going to have burnt vegetables before your chicken is cooked through. So, very very important to get everything chopped up. I like to do 1 inch or so pieces, so that way the vegetables are cooked tender-crisp and the chicken is perfectly done.
Before I skewered everything up, I separated my chicken and vegetables into two large bowls and poured chimichurri into both. Next I did a bit of extra seasoning on the chicken. I used Montreal Steak Seasoning which can be found at post grocery stores and gave it a good mix and let it sit out on the counter to marinate for the next 20 minutes. In my separate bowl of vegetables, I seasoned lightly with some added salt and pepper and also let my vegetables marinate in the chimichurri.
Skewering as you see fit, once I got them ready to grill, I put them onto a medium-high heated grill to begin searing. With the chicken at room temperature, I'm able to get a pretty nice sear on the chicken as well as the vegetables. I cook for about 4 minutes on each side, rotating them 4 times so that all sides are well-charred and ensuring my chicken is cooked through to 165°. Depending on how hot your grill is, you may need to come down to medium heat to finish them off so that the chicken nearest to the skewer is fully done.
These were so good served with fresh salad and leftover rice, but the following day I even ate the chicken and vegetables in a pita and it was the perfect lunch on the go!
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