Spicy Chicken Kebabs
Flavored with Middle Eastern inspired spices, our Spicy Chicken Kebabs are made with a super-easy, incredibly flavorful marinade and paired with grilled chicken, sweet bell peppers, and a mild spice level with plenty of room to kick it up a notch!
You’ll also love our 10 Minute Spicy Shrimp Skewers!
Today, we’re bringing you a revamp of a longtime favorite, our Spicy Chicken Kebabs! While spicy may be in the name, the way this recipe is written in for just a kiss of spice, with plenty of room to add! Kick it up a notch, or two, for an delicious kebab to toss on the grill this summer!
Ingredients Needed
- Chicken – Chicken breast is our favorite cut for this, but boneless thighs or even sirloin would be delicious too!
- Bell Peppers – Sweet bell peppers pair beautifully with the flavors in this marinade!
- Zucchini and Red Onion – Our other two favorite veggies to add to these kebabs. You can also add yellow squash or yellow or white onions.
- Olive Oil and Red Wine Vinegar – This is the base of the tangy, acidic marinade that will help tenderize the chicken.
- Garlic – Fresh is our choice here, but you can of course use pre-minced or even powdered.
- Middle Eastern Spices – Cumin, Paprika, Turmeric, and Cayenne.
- Salt and Pepper – To season the chicken!
Adjust the Spice Level
As written, the spice level for the recipe is mild. It’s just enough for kiddos (and adults who don’t do spice) to say that it has a kick, but it’s not overpowering for them. If you like the heat, you can add more cayenne!
Step-by-Step Instructions
Create the Marinade
The first step is to create a slightly spicy, oil and vinegar based marinade. Just add it all to your food processor, blender, or immersion blender and give it a good mix. Alternatively, you can mince the garlic very finely, add it all to a bowl, and give it a good whisk.
Marinate
Now give those veggies and the seasoned chicken a chop, add them to bags, and top with the marinade. Let these marinate for at least an hour, but ideally 2 or more and up to 24 hrs!
Make Ahead!
These Spicy Chicken Kebabs are perfect to make ahead and for meal prep because not only do they need the time to marinate to tenderize and flavor them all, and they also make them great to prep for a BBQ, camping, or just an easy weeknight dinner.
Skewer
Now whenever you’re ready to eat, they’re ready to be skewered!
We like a mix of it all on one skewer for color and variety, but you can assemble however you’d like!
Grill!
Spicy Chicken Kebabs done! Such a delicious, hearty, healthy, perfect for the summer meal!
Recipe FAQs
Metal skewers like these are our preference, but wooden skewers can also be used. Just remember, if you use wood skewers, you need to soak them in water for 20 minutes before adding the chicken and veggies and grilling.
Anything! Chicken? Delish. Beef? Yum. Vegetables? Tasty. A combination of all? Perfection.
You can make the marinade up to 2 days in advance and then marinate the chicken and veggies for up to 24 hrs.
Nope! You can also add everything to a bowl and whisk it all together. Just make sure that it’s all really well combined.
Before marinating it all, you can separate the chicken and veggies into separate bags and then marinate them separately, so when you’re ready to assemble and grill, you can keep a few vegetarian-friendly options.
Spicy, smoky, deliciousness. Is there anything better than eating food off a stick?
Other Grilled Favorites
- 10 Minute Spicy Grilled Shrimp Skewers
- Grilled Boneless Pork Chops
- Mediterranean Grilled Chicken Breasts
- Cornell Chicken
- Mexican Corn Ribs
- Grilled Parmesan Garlic Tomatoes
- Asian Grilled Chicken
- Grilled Lamb Koftas
- Grilled Cedar Rum Salmon
Spicy Chicken Kebabs: The perfect shareable summer party offering with a super delicious marinade From Scratch!
Enjoy! As always, if you make this recipe or any of my others, I love to hear what you think! Leave a comment below, email me, or you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
If you want to see more, be sure to sign up for my 5 Easy Ways to Start Cooking From Scratch!
Spicy Chicken Kebabs
Ingredients
Marinade
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 cup olive oil
Kebabs
- 2 lbs chicken breast cubed, about 4 cups
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 1 orange bell pepper chopped
- 1 yellow bell pepper chopped
- 1 red onion chopped (about 2 cups)
- 2 zucchini sliced into rounds (about 2 cups)
Instructions
- Make Marinade: In the bowl of a food processor add the garlic, paprika, turmeric, cumin, salt, pepper and red wine vinegar. Pulse and then while the blender is running, slowly add the olive oil. You can also add it all to a mixing bowl and use a whisk to whisk it all together well.
- Prep Chicken and Veggies: Cut them all to about the same size (as close as possible) and place in a large bowl. Pour marinade over veggies and chicken and mix well. Transfers to two large zip lock bags. Remove as much air as possible and seal.
- Store in the fridge to marinate for at least 1-2 hours and up to 24 hrs.
Kebabs
- Prep Skewers: If using wooden skewers, soak for 20 minutes. Remove zip lock bags from the fridge to let the chicken and veggies come up to room temperature.
- Preheat Grill: Preheat the grill to high heat.
- Assemble Skewers: Add veggies and chicken to the skewers in any combo desired.
- Grill: Place skewers directly over the heat and turn roughly every 2 -3 minutes (when the meat on the grill has started to brown with dark sear marks from the grill grates). Flip them fully over first, and then turn them 1/4 of a turn so each of the sides are down on the heat. Once the chicken has fully browned, but just before being done (160℉ internal temperature reading), move it to indirect heat and allow it to come up to the final 165℉ internal temp.Total cook time for chicken is generally somewhere between 8 and 14 minutes, depending on how large the chicken pieces are and how tightly the skewers are packed.
- Serve: Remove from heat, serve, and enjoy!
Kabobs are one of my most favorite things to make in the summer – love the marinade you used!
Mine too! Thank you ☺️
These kabobs look like perfection! Love the char marks. 😉
Thank you! They’re my favorite part ?
I love the turmeric in this recipe and all the other smoky spicy ingredients. This would make a whopper of a marinade! Those kabobs look great!
Thanks Diane!
Now you are making me jealous, beef is very rare to find out here and when you do they are the less prime cuts which would not e great on this… Such a shame as they sound and look wonderful!
These look really yummy and I love that marinade recipe!
I love kabobs and these look so delicious, I will be trying these very soon.
I can’t wait to try this recipe! Printing it out to add to my “to make list”!
Yay!
They look great. I’d be happy to have those all to ourselves too =)
I haven’t done kabobs in quite awhile, but I’m inspired to grill some soon. As always yours look delicious!
Thanks, Renee!