These Turkish-inspired chicken kebabs are the perfect addition to your grilling repertoire. The marinade is guaranteed to result in tender and juicy chicken that is rich and savory in flavor.
Early in the spring of this year, I stumbled upon a youtube video titled “Perfect homemade juicy chicken kebabs” by the youtube channel called Middle Eats. And I want to give them a quick shoutout because if you haven’t checked out their channel I highly recommend that you do. Obi & Selma (the people who run it) are extremely knowledgeable about middle eastern cooking and have quickly grown into one of my favorites.
Anyways in that particular video, they made two types of chicken kebabs. A Persian Joojeh Kebab, which I have my own recipe for from a couple of years back. Along with a Turkish-style chicken kebab a.k.a. Tavuk Shish. And the latter looked so good that I just had to try it out.
That being said, some of the original ingredients were difficult to come by. And as someone who runs a cooking blog, I’m always down to experiment with recipes. So over the course of this past summer, I have taken that base recipe and tweaked it bit by bit to better suit my needs.
And today’s recipe for Turkish-inspired chicken kebabs is what I’ve come up with. Which I want to make crystal clear isn’t an authentic recipe, but is still damn tasty!
Tips, Tricks & Suggestions
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- Adding Vegetables. You’ll often see Turkish chicken kebabs sold at restaurants with chunks of onion and bell pepper skewered between the chunks of chicken. And while that’s not a horrible method, It’s not something that I suggest you do. Why? Well, it has to do with the simple fact that onions, peppers, and chicken all tend to cook at different rates. That’s why I suggest you place each of those ingredients on their own separate skewers so you have better control of their doneness.
- Metal skewers vs wooden skewers? Technically both will work fine and you should use whichever option you have available to you. However, if you have the option go with metal skewers. The reason for this is that metal skewers will heat up while grilling and help to cook the inside of the chicken much better. That way you won’t have to possibly char the ever loving hell out of your chicken before it reaches the proper internal temperature.
- What to serve it with? Well if you are deciding to include bell peppers and onion then oftentimes all you need to add is some bread like lavash or pita. However, if you want to make it a larger meal then I suggest you pair the chicken kebabs with either some Chicken & Herb Rice, or Saffron Rice. Along with a refreshing salad like our Farro & Arugula, Shirazi, or Tabbouleh.
Chicken Kebabs (Turkish Inspired) Recipe
Prep time: 1 hour
Cook time: 14 minutes
Servings: 3 to 4
Ingredients
1 Lb of Chicken breast, cut into inch-sized chunks
For the marinade:
½ Cup of yogurt
¼ Cup of extra virgin olive oil
Juice from 1 lime
2 Tablespoons of tomato paste
2 Teaspoons of paprika
1 Teaspoon of turmeric powder
1 Teaspoon of salt
1 Teaspoon of black pepper
½ Teaspoon of ground cumin
½ Teaspoon of onion powder
¼ Teaspoon of garlic powder
Instructions
- Marinate the chicken: Combine the marinade ingredients in a medium large mixing bowl. Add the chicken to this bowl and stir to combine so that every piece is coated in the marinade.
Cover this bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit in your fridge for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours. The longer you let this chicken marinate the more flavorful and tender it will be.
- Skewer the chicken: Take the marinated chicken out of your fridge. Then thread each piece of chicken on skewers so that they touch each other but not so tight that they are compressed against each other. Set these on a plate and discard any excess marinade you have left over.
- Grill the chicken kebabs: Set your grill to high and let it preheat for at least 10 minutes. Once hot place your skewers on the grill and let them cook undisturbed for 3 to 4 minutes.
Then flip the skewers over and let them cook for an additional 3 to 4 minutes. After that point just keep rotating the skewers until the outside of the chicken is nicely charred on all sides and the internal temperature of the chicken is 165℉/74℃. This should take anywhere from 10 to 14 minutes total depending on how hot your grill is.
- Remove the chicken kebabs from the grill, serve with your favorite sides, and enjoy!
Chicken Kebabs (Turkish Inspired) Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Lb of Chicken breast cut into inch-sized chunks
For the marinade:
- ½ Cup of yogurt
- ¼ Cup of extra virgin olive oil
- Juice from 1 lime
- 2 Tablespoons of tomato paste
- 2 Teaspoons of paprika
- 1 Teaspoon of turmeric powder
- 1 Teaspoon of salt
- 1 Teaspoon of black pepper
- ½ Teaspoon of ground cumin
- ½ Teaspoon of onion powder
- ¼ Teaspoon of garlic powder
Instructions
- Marinate the chicken: Combine the marinade ingredients in a medium large mixing bowl. Add the chicken to this bowl and stir to combine so that every piece is coated in the marinade. Cover this bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit in your fridge for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours. The longer you let this chicken marinate the more flavorful and tender it will be.
- Skewer the chicken: Take the marinated chicken out of your fridge. Then thread each piece of chicken on skewers so that they touch each other but not so tight that they are compressed against each other. Set these on a plate and discard any excess marinade you have left over.
- Grill the chicken kebabs: Set your grill to high and let it preheat for at least 10 minutes. Once hot place your skewers on the grill and let them cook undisturbed for 3 to 4 minutes. Then flip the skewers over and let them cook for an additional 3 to 4 minutes. After that point just keep rotating the skewers until the outside of the chicken is nicely charred on all sides and the internal temperature of the chicken is 165℉/74℃. This should take anywhere from 10 to 14 minutes total depending on how hot your grill is.
- Remove the chicken kebabs from the grill, serve with your favorite sides, and enjoy!
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