Grilled Chicken Kabobs with lemon marinated chicken and tender, colorful vegetables make the perfect sit-on-the-deck summer meal.
These Grilled Chicken Kabobs are the perfect easy meal for when you’re in the mood to grill. The quick marinade adds bright flavor to the chicken, while the grilled veggies bring vibrant color and taste to the plate. It’s easy to prepare and perfect for outdoor gatherings with those easy to grab skewers.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
Type Of Chicken To Use For Kebobs
I chose boneless skinless chicken thighs for this recipe because they’re so juicy and tender. I also love that they can be on the grill a bit longer than chicken breast, and thus pick up more of those smoky flavors that grilling provides. However, like many of my chicken recipes, you could absolutely use boneless skinless chicken breasts for this recipe if that’s your preference. Either way, you want to cut them into bite-sized pieces that are large enough to stay on the skewer and not split in half when you stab them.
Note that other kinds of meat can be used as well, like in these Mediterranean-style Lamb Shish Kebabs. Shrimp, steak, and pork tenderloin are also all good options.
Veggies To Use
For the veggies for these skewers, I went with red and orange bell peppers as well as onion. My preference is white or yellow onions for this recipe. They both tend to be sweet and mild, though white onions are the mildest and have a nice clean flavor. The bell peppers are sweet and give great pops of color.
If you wanted to add more vegetables to your grilled chicken skewers, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, or mushrooms are other tasty options.
Do I Have To Marinate Chicken Kebobs?
The short answer is no. The longer answer is, you really should try to find the extra 30 minutes for this process.
Really, there’s no need to marinate the chicken or vegetables for more than 30 minutes. The truth is that these flavors will never get to the center of the foods. The purpose is to introduce the flavors in the marinade to the heat of the grill first. As the chicken and the vegetables cook on the grill, the flavors from the marinade will continue to develop.
So, no you really don’t have to marinate the chicken or veggies for the kebobs. But when it only takes 30 minutes of hands-off time, why wouldn’t you give it a try?
if you want different flavors in your marinade, here are all of our delicious marinade recipes, and I’m linking to a few of my favorites too:
If you really don’t want to marinade though, you can instead play around with seasoning the chicken and veggies with one of our great seasoning mixes (there are over 30 of them to choose from!). And these are some of my favorites for chicken:
Whether you marinate or season, it’s always a great idea to add some extra juiciness and flavor at the end by serving the skewers with a tasty dipping sauce. Two of my favorites are this Tzatziki Sauce or store-bought or homemade ranch dressing.
How To Make Grilled Chicken Kebobs
The most important tip that I can give you is to make sure that all of the ingredients that you’ll be threading onto the skewers are roughly the same size. This is important because if they’re not, some of them will burn while other will not cook through. I like to cut all of my pieces to about 1-inch, chunky but bite-sized pieces. Any bigger and I feel like the skewers get a little unwieldy and the cooking time gets out of hand.
The second tip is to make sure you soak your skewers. This only applies to the wooden type of skewers. If you’re using metal skewers, this is totally unnecessary and would be pretty silly. Soaking wooden skewers helps to prevent them from burning. I like to put mine in enough water to cover them right after I pour the marinade over the chicken and the vegetables. The 30 minutes that the chicken is sitting in the marinade is enough time for the skewers to become hydrated in the water.
Which brings us to the marinade. The marinade for this recipe is based on a standard marinade which includes oil, acid, and seasoning. I use olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, garlic, and fresh parsley. You could try cilantro or dill in place of the parsley or add a little red pepper flakes if you like a little spice. As I mentioned above, you don’t have to marinate the chicken and vegetables, but I find that the flavors that are developed during cooking are worth the 30 minutes of marinating.
When threading the ingredients onto the pre-soaked skewers, don’t pack them too tightly together. Let them breathe a little. This will allow the heat to wrap around each of the pieces cooking them perfectly and evenly.
Once the coals or the gas grill are ready, place the chicken kebobs on the grill grates. Cook until there’s a nice even browning on all of the pieces and the chicken is cooked through. I baste the kebobs about every 5 minutes and then turn them over half way through the cooking time. On my grill, it takes about 13 – 15 minutes for the skewers to cook through. This time may vary based upon your grill so make sure to keep an eye on them. Nothing spoils a gorgeous summer evening quicker than burnt chicken kebobs.
More Chicken Recipes
If you want more great dinner recipes with chicken, here is our full chicken recipe collection (there are over 60 delicious recipes there!) and here are a few favorites to check out:
- Chicken Thigh Curry
- BBQ Chicken Breasts Recipe
- Easy Shredded Chicken Tacos
- Smothered Chicken Thighs
- Smoked Chicken Thighs
- Chicken Cacciatore Recipe
- Grilled Chicken Drumsticks
Podcast Episode: Making Chicken Kababs
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this recipe, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
Grilled Chicken Kebobs Recipe
Grilled Chicken Kabobs with lemon marinated chicken and tender, colorful vegetables make the perfect sit-on-the-deck summer meal.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Marinate: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Grilled
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 orange bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2 small white or yellow onions quartered, about 4 ounces each
Instructions
- In a medium bowl combine the oil, lemon juice, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper to make the marinade.
- Put the chicken in a medium-sized bowl and pour 1/3 of the marinade over. Stir to coat.
- Combine the bell peppers and onions in another medium-sized bowl. Pour another 1/3 of the marinade over the vegetables and stir to coat. Reserve the last third of the marinade to baste the kebobs during grilling.
- Allow the chicken and vegetables to marinate for 30 minutes.
- While the chicken and vegetables are marinating, place the wooden skewers in enough water to completely cover them and allow to soak for 30 minutes.
- Prepare the grill for direct cooking and heat to medium-high heat as follows: For charcoal grilling, fill a chimney starter with charcoal and light. Once the coals are ready, pour them evenly over the charcoal grate. Set the cooking grate over the coals. For a gas grill, set the burners to medium-high heat. Preheat for 5 minutes. Clean and oil the cooking grate once the grill has preheated.
- Thread the chicken and vegetables, alternating, on the skewers.
- Place the kebobs on the grill and cook until chicken and vegetables are nicely browned and the chicken is cooked through, about 13 – 15 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink inside and has reached 165F internally, basting the kebobs with the reserved marinade every 5 minutes and turning them half way through the cooking time.
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