Greek Chicken Kebabs

Bright, fresh and flavorful Greek Chicken Kebabs! Chicken breasts are perfectly portioned into bite size pieces, soaked in a delicious marinade then threaded onto skewer sticks with lots of fresh vegetables and grilled (or baked).

 

A Must Try Kebab Recipe!

In this tempting summer dinner recipe you get an abundance of goodness, and they’re healthy too.

Tender, well seasoned chicken and lightly charred and smoky bell pepper, zucchini and onion. What’s not to love here?

It’s a restaurant quality Greek style recipe you’ll find to be a staple every summer!

Chicken Kebabs Ingredients

• Chicken breasts: Thighs could be substituted they just need to grill a little longer.
• Olive oil: This adds flavor and helps prevent exterior of chicken drying out.
• Lemon juice: Stick with fresh for best flavor, not bottled.
• Red wine vinegar: White wine vinegar will work fine too.
• Garlic: Another ingredient you’ll want to choose fresh.
• Dried oregano, basil, thyme and coriander: A delicious seasoning blend that offers traditional Greek flavors. You can swap in some fresh herbs for dried, use three times the amount.
• Salt and pepper: I like to make my marinades on the salty side.
• Bell peppers: I opt for red because they are a hint sweeter and seem to have the most developed flavor, plus I love that color here.
• Zucchini: Don’t slice these too thin or they’ll cook too quickly before the other ingredients finish.
• Red onion: Even if you don’t like to eat slices of red onion I’d still add them to help season the other ingredients. You can place them next to the chicken on the skewers for additional seasoning.
• Tzatziki sauce: Homemade or store-bought works (though of course homemade is best!).

Continue to scroll down to recipe box for ingredient measurements.

How to Make Chicken Kebabs

1. Make marinade: In a bowl whisk together 1/4 cup olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, 2 tsp oregano, 1 tsp basil, thyme, coriander and season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Place chicken in bag or bowl, cover with mixture and marinate: Place chicken in a gallon size resealable bag, pour olive oil mixture over chicken and press chicken into marinade. Seal bag and refrigerate 45 minutes to 2 hours.
3. Season veggies: Drizzle and toss veggies with 2 Tbsp of the olive oil, season with remaining oregano and basil and salt to taste.
4. Prepare grill and thread ingredients onto skewers: Thread a red bell pepper, red onion, zucchini, 2 chicken pieces on to skewer and repeat twice.
5. Grill or bake.
6. Garnish parsley, serve with tzatziki sauce.

How to Grill

1. Preheat grill over medium high heat. Brush grill grates lightly with olive oil (I like to use a paper towel lightly soaked with olive oil and long tongs).
2. Grill until chicken registers 165°F (73°C) in center, rotating once halfway through cooking, about 8 – 12 minutes.

How to Bake in the Oven

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare kebabs as directed (don’t forget to use soak skewers in water beforehand if they are wooden).
2. Grease a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray, place kebabs on baking sheet.
3. Bake kebabs in oven until chicken is cooked through, about 16 – 22 minutes.

Tips

1. If using wooden/bamboo skewers soak in water or they’ll burn.
2. Don’t marinate chicken too long! It really gets mushy after a few hours and can even become difficult to get to thread onto skewers.
3. I like to use longer, slightly thicker skewer sticks here rather then the short and thin. You’ll fit more per skewer and they skewers don’t burn and break apart.
4. Test internal temp for doneness. Be careful not to cook chicken past 165 degrees or it will start to dry.
5. Serve with a dip. If you don’t use tzatziki another Greek sour cream or yogurt based dip will do.
6. Don’t eat directly off of the skewer stick, pretty obvious but ouch!