Italian Chicken Kabobs

Nothing say’s man food like cooking on a stick, and kabobs are the modern form of that tradition. Kabobs are easily one of the easiest grilled items you can make. Marinate some meat, stick it on a skewer, and cook. The possibility are endless.  Today I took my first try at making some Italian chicken kabobs and they turned out fantastic.  After looking at a few examples I came up with an Italian chicken marinade and soaked the chicken breast chunks for 6 hours.  The acidic marinade tenderized the chicken and the whole family loved the chicken kabobs.  Even my son who claims to not like chicken ate several pieces.

Italian Chicken Marinade

Italian marinades are super easy.  Honestly you could just use Italian dressing in a pinch, but what’s the fun in that?  The basic ingredients are oil (preferably olive oil), vinegar, and common Italian seasonings like oregano and garlic.  Within reason you can’t go wrong with any combination here and you don’t even need to measure.  In fact I normally don’t measure things but that doesn’t help you so I measured and made a recipe here.

Marinading

Marinading is one of the great secrets of wonderful food.  It gives seasoning time to work it’s way into meats and allows for acids and enzymes to turn tough tissue into tender delicious meat.  You want to soak meat in the marinade for at least 2 hours and as long as 48 hours to maximize this effect.  The length of time depends on the marinade but generally the longer you marinade meat the more tender and flavorful it will become.

For this recipe cut 1.5 – 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast into 1 – 2 inch cubes and place inside a plastic bag or container along with the marinade.  Toss or stir well to completely coat the chicken in the marinade.  Place the bag in your refrigerator for 6 – 8 hours.  For vinegar marinades you don’t want much more than this.  After 8 hours the meat will be plenty tender, much more and it will start to get bitter and taste like, well, vinegar.

Grilled Italian Chicken Kabobs

Please Please Please set your chicken out 1 – 2 hours before you are ready to cook.

“But won’t I  get salmonella from my chicken?”

No!  Not if you actually cook your chicken.  According to the USDA salmonella will die when held at 145 degrees or higher for 3 minutes.  Please cook your chicken to a full 165 and never worry about this.  It’s not a concern and pre-warming meat to room temperature can prevent food poisoning because you’re more likely to get the internal temperature high enough to kill bacteria if you’ve let the meat warm up first.  Also it helps those enzymes in the meat continue to break down tough fibers which will give you a more tender cut of meat.  This is also the case with beef, pork, or any type of meat.  Warm it up first.

While the meat is warming up go ahead and soak several wooden skewers in water.  I used 6 for 3 chicken breasts.

30 minutes before cooking begin preheating the grill.  You want to allow old food bits to burn off the grill while also heating the metal so that you get a good sear.

After the meat has set out for at least an hour and the grill is pre-heated go ahead and skewer the meat.  Try to put similar-sized pieces of meat together for even cooking.  Grill on medium to high heat for about 20 minutes turning to each side every 5 minutes.  Let the chicken rest and cool for 5 minutes before eating.

These things were absolutely delicious!  I think I said it already but my youngest son just refuses to each chicken and he loved these things.  I seriously can’t recommend them enough.

Hey Wait!

Like Kabobs?  Check out my BBQ chicken skewer recipe!  Did you enjoy this post or try this recipe?  Let me know in the comments below and don’t forget to share on Facebook and Twitter.  You sharing helps me grow and keeps me posting new articles.