Chicken kabobs are marinated with lemon juice, olive oil, and herbs and served with grilled vegetables and a tangy Greek yogurt sauce.
Grilled chicken kabobs are one of my favorite summer recipes for both family meals and entertaining. In fact, I usually double it so I’ll have the ingredients for my favorite leftovers meal, Israeli Couscous with Chicken and Vegetables!
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Why Make This Recipe
- Easy marinade works for both chicken and veggies
- No pans to clean up, and no oven or stove heating up the kitchen!
- Simple ingredients, but so flavorful
- Delicious Greek yogurt sauce for kabobs!
🥗 Ingredients for Chicken Kabobs
- Chicken: this recipe calls for skinless, boneless chicken breasts, but you can use boneless thighs if you prefer
- Sweet Peppers: Choose any color you like. I prefer red, yellow, or orange rather than green peppers, which aren't quite as sweet.
- Eggplant: Look for firm eggplants with glossy skin and no soft spots.
- Red Onion: Feel free to replace with a different type of onion if you prefer. Red onion just brings a little more sweetness.
- Dried Herbs: Feel free to use dried oregano, dried basil, dried Italian herbs, or any combination. Herbes de Provence would work well too.
🥗 Ingredients for Yogurt Sauce
- Lemon Juice: Fresh squeezed is always best!
- Greek Yogurt: This dip benefits from the tanginess of greek yogurt. An alternative would be to use sour cream instead. In fact, you could make this Sour Cream and Chive Dip as a dipping sauce instead.
🥣 Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Cube 1.5 pounds of boneless chicken breasts into 1-inch chunks, then put into a bowl while you cut your vegetables.
2. Halve, core, and gently flatten three bell peppers.
3. Thinly slice one small eggplant and cut one red onion into 1-inch chunks. Make sure the onion chunks are wide enough to skewer.
4. Combine vegetables in a large bowl.
5. Prepare your vegetable and chicken kabob marinade by whisking together 2 minced cloves of garlic, 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, ¼ cup of olive oil, ½ teaspoon of dried oregano, ½ teaspoon of dried basil, ½ teaspoon of kosher salt and ¼ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.
6. Pour a little less than half the marinade into the bowl with the chicken, and the rest into the bowl with the vegetables. Stir to combine well.
7. Marinate chicken and vegetables for 20 minutes.
8. While the food is marinating, make the yogurt sauce for kabobs. Combine a container of Greek yogurt with 1 teaspoon lemon zest and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Stir in 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh mint, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, and ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper.
9. After your food has marinated, preheat your grill to medium-high, and skewer chicken and onions together.
10. Oil grill grates with vegetable oil or cooking spray. Arrange vegetables and Greek chicken skewers on the grill. Grill chicken skewers for 10-15 minutes, turning once or twice. Keep the lid down for the first 5 minutes.
The vegetables will likely need an additional 5-8 minutes—turn the grill down or move to a cooler side of the grill if they blacken before they are softened through. Serve with yogurt sauce!
🧐 Recipe FAQs for Chicken Kabobs
The lemon juice in this marinade is quite strong, and marinating chicken too long can end up making the chicken tough rather than tender. So keep your chicken marinade to just 20 minutes.
When your grilled chicken skewers are done, the chicken will be firm and white (not pink) throughout. The tricky thing about skewers though, is that the chicken can cook unevenly if you have them laid across different heat zones in your grill.
I find the easiest way to make sure your chicken is done is to use a good meat thermometer and test chicken on both ends of your skewer. By far the best thermometer I have used is the Thermapen One (I love it so much I am an affiliate for them!). It comes to temperature quickly so you don’t burn your hand holding it over the grill. When your chicken hits 165 degrees Fahrenheit, it's done.
Yes! If you are using wooden skewers or bamboo skewers, soak them for 20-30 minutes before loading them up. The soak time will help them not burn when you put them over a hot grill. Personally, I prefer these metal skewers since they are nice and sturdy, and can be reused and washed in the dishwasher.
Either! I have a gas grill, which I love for its convenience and speed. My recipe was written for use with a gas grill, but of course you can use a charcoal grill as well. If you have a small grill, you will probably want to grill your chicken and vegetables in separate batches. You want enough space between your items so they will each grill nicely, rather than steam.
But otherwise, a charcoal grill is just fine, as long as you pay attention and can regulate the temperature if it gets too hot. And once you've perfected your grilling technique, try this Grilled Chicken with Cilantro Crema recipe next!
👩🍳 Expert Tips
In this recipe, I use the same marinade for both the chicken and the vegetables, but I marinate them in different bowls. Why? The reason is that I am very conscious of the risk of salmonella when using raw chicken. I always cut my raw chicken on a different cutting board from my vegetables, and in fact, I have a cutting board solely dedicated to cutting raw meats.
It may be the professional chef in me, but I don’t mess around with raw chicken. I also always, always wash my hands with soap and hot water after handling raw chicken.
So marinate the chicken separately from the veggies just to be extra safe—you may prefer your peppers barely grilled, and if that’s the case, eating them after they had been marinated with chicken could be dangerous.
If you’d like, you can marinate the red onion in the same bowl as the chicken, since they will be threaded together on the skewers.
Skewers that have alternating pretty colors of vegetables and chicken look great, but their cook times are very different. It's easy to end up with cooked chicken and raw veggies on your skewer. Or, even worse, the opposite. Plus, skewering food is time-consuming work. I prefer to keep the skewers just for my chicken and onions, and throw everything else on the grill directly. You can ensure each food is perfectly cooked, and save time in the process.
Want to forget the chicken and just make delicious vegetable skewers? Try these gorgeous Grilled Veggie Skewers with mushrooms, zucchini, and more.
You can make the yogurt dip for chicken kabobs in advance and keep in the refrigerator until you are ready to use. It will keep for a couple of days, but stir well before serving.
Want chicken kabob flavor when it's too cold to grill? Try this Instant Pot Greek Chicken and Rice recipe next. Or, try these Air Fryer Chicken Kebabs that are super fast to make.
What to Serve with Chicken Kabobs
I usually serve my grilled chicken kabobs with rice pilaf or with couscous. But pita bread would be another great choice. You can take the chicken off the skewers and make them into pita sandwiches with the veggies and yogurt sauce. This is also a great gluten-free recipe if you stick with a gluten-free side dish to go with it!
Note that if you want to just focus on chicken on the grill, you can roast your peppers and eggplant rather than grilling them. See this sheet pan Roasted Peppers recipe for my favorite technique.
Other Delicious Chicken Recipes
If you like this Mediterranean chicken kabobs recipe, you may be interested in some of my other delicious recipes that feature chicken. Try Asian flavors next, with this Chicken and Shrimp Stir-Fry. Or check out one of these:
And, if kabobs are your thing, you might want to check out this delicious Shish Tawook recipe for Lebanese Chicken Kabobs!
If you try this Chicken Kabob with Yogurt Sauce recipe, I would love to hear from you! Please rate this recipe and leave a comment below—your feedback is invaluable to me.
And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to my newsletter. I’d love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!
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Greek Chicken Kabobs with Yogurt Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Chicken and Vegetables
- 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 medium-sized red onion
- 3 red, yellow, or orange bell peppers
- 1 small eggplant
- 2 small garlic cloves
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For the Yogurt Sauce
- 1 container plain greek yogurt 5.5 ounces
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint plus more for garnish
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Cut chicken breasts into 1-inch chunks and put in a medium bowl.
- Halve peppers, cut out core and seeds, and flatten gently with your palm. Thinly slice eggplant (slices should be about ¼ inch thick). Halve red onion, then cut into 1-inch chunks. Combine vegetables in large bowl.
- Mince garlic cloves.
- Whisk together olive oil, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, minced garlic, oregano, basil, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
- Pour a little less than half the marinade into the bowl with the chicken, and the rest into the bowl with the vegetables. Stir to combine or use your hands to make sure the marinade is evenly distributed (just make sure to wash your hands with hot water and soap before going from chicken bowl to vegetable bowl).
- Marinate chicken and vegetables for 20 minutes. (Vegetables can marinate longer if you like.)
- While chicken and vegetables are marinating, make the yogurt sauce. Combine greek yogurt with lemon zest and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Then stir in chopped mint, salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Preheat the grill on medium-high heat.
- Thread chicken and onion pieces onto your skewers, alternating chicken and onion.
- Oil grill grates with vegetable oil or cooking spray.
- Put the chicken kabobs and vegetables on the grill (you may need to do these in batches if they don't all fit).
- Cook the chicken for 10-15 minutes, turning once or twice, until it is white throughout and comes to a temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep the lid down for the first 5 minutes.
- The vegetables will likely need an additional 8–10 minutes—turn the grill down or move to a cooler side of the grill if they blacken before they are softened through.
- Take chicken and vegetables off the grill and put on a platter to serve with yogurt sauce.
- Garnish with additonal chopped mint (if desired).
Notes
To oil grill grates, either put some vegetable oil on a folded up paper towel and use tongs to wipe the grates, or spray with cooking spray. Be very careful if you use spray to stay away from the grill since the fire will flare up. Serve with rice pilaf, couscous, or in pita bread sandwiches. Make-Ahead Tips:
Leftovers will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for 3–4 days.
Nutrition
Instagram Users: Now that you've made this grilled chicken kabobs recipe, tag us @vanillabeancuisine or #vanillabeancuisine because we’d love to see your results!
More About Molly
Cooking healthy(ish) meals with seasonal ingredients is my passion. Trained as a French pastry chef, I spent over 10 years as a personal chef. Here you'll find well-tested recipes that you and your family will love!
Mimi Rippee says
These kabobs are fabulous. Love the grilled peppers as well.
http://www.chefmimiblog.com
Molly Pisula says
Such a good combo!
Oxi says
It is offensive to Hellenic people to call these kabob. That's Turkish and we DEFINITELY do NOT make our souvlakia like this.
Chef Molly says
Thanks for letting me know. I realize my title is a little misleading, as the "Greek" part really refers to the Greek yogurt sauce. In the U.S., kabob is a pretty common term for something cooked on a skewer, but I certainly don't mean to offend anyone. I've adjusted the title accordingly.
Chef Mimi says
Such a beautiful presentation! I think not only for salmonella, but grilling the meat and vegetables separately allows one to cook everything properly, which I think is important. I don’t necessarily want a raw cube of zucchini when it’s supposed to be cooked! To say I’m really jealous of your getaway is really an understatement! But I’m really happy for you. I can’t imagine being in France without access to restaurants, but at least you have the beautiful local markets.
Chef Molly says
It drives me crazy when I see pre-made uncooked skewers at the grocery store with food on them that cook in entirely different amounts of time! They may not be as pretty, but cooking the ingredients separately really does make the most sense.
Siobhan Wilan says
My boys loved putting these kabobs together and eating them. It is a perfect summertime meal. Thank you Molly
Chef Molly says
Thanks Siobhan! So glad you enjoyed the kabobs!