Grilled kabobs remain a popular summertime dish as they offer endless flavor combinations and require minimal cooking expertise. You can easily create your own kabobs at home by combining your favorite ingredients such as chicken, steak, shrimp and fresh veggies. Utilizing a gas grill will allow you to control the temperature throughout the cooking process.
Prepping Your Skewers
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Opinions vary in regard to the best type of skewer to use when grilling kabobs. The two most popular choices remain stainless steel and wooden bamboo skewers. Stainless steel skewers require little to no prep time and allow you to reuse them on countless occasions. When using bamboo skewers, you'll need to prep them to prevent them from burning up on the grill.
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- Place your bamboo skewers into a large mixing bowl.
- Fill the bowl with cool water.
- Allow them to soak for 30 minutes before skewering your ingredients.
Cooking Instructions
The grilling time will depend on the ingredients you choose to include on your kabobs. While more delicate proteins like chicken and fish will only take a few minutes, you'll need to increase the time for heartier meats like steak and lamb. Set your gas grill to medium heat and cook your kabobs using direct heat. This involves placing your kabobs directly over the flame and remains the ideal cooking method for small, tender cuts of meat.
- Brush your kabobs with olive oil before transferring them to your preheated gas grill.
- Align the kabobs directly over the flame to cook with direct heat.
- For chicken and fish, allow the kabobs to cook for 8 - 10 minutes.
- When grilling beef or lamb kabobs, allow them to cook for 10 - 12 minutes.
- Flip your kabobs every 2 - 3 minutes to ensure they have been cooked through.
Tips and Serving Suggestions
When combining vegetables and proteins on one kabob, it can be difficult to get the timing right. Nobody wants to end up with overcooked meat or under-cooked veggies. A helpful tip involves creating a veggies-only kabob and a meats-only kabob. Combine mushrooms, summer squash and chunks of red onion to create a flavorful veggie kabob. Allow your veggie kabobs to grill for around 12 - 14 minutes to ensure a nice, crispy char.