Lemon Sesame Chicken Kebabs

Cubes of chicken marinated in lots of flavorful ingredients - including ginger, soy sauce and garlic - skewered together with peppers and onions and then grilled are a juicy flavorful treat easy enough for weeknight grilling but special enough for company.

5 from 2 votes

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Ingredients

For the marinade

2 lbs chicken breasts boneless and skinless
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1/4 cup lemon juice fresh squeezed, approx 1 large lemon
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tbsp chopped fresh garlic
1/4 cup neutral oil I use canola or avocado

For the kebabs

2 large sweets peppers green, red, yellow or orange
3 medium onions I use red
3 small zucchini
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 lb small mushrooms button, brown or crimini
2-3 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Cut chicken into 1" cubes and place in a shallow container. I use a Ziploc bag in a bowl. A flat pyrex/glass dish would work as well.
Combine the next six ingredients and pour over the chicken, tossing to coat completely.
Put into the refrigerator to marinate 2 to 8 hours.
While the chicken is marinating, wash and cut the vegetables into approximately 1" pieces (similar to the chicken pieces). The onions do well cut into wedges with a bit of the tail end left on. If the mushrooms are much bigger, cut down to make uniform.`
If using wooden/bamboo skewers, soak in water at least 30 minutes to prevent flaming tips.
Prepare your grill to medium-high.
Skewer chicken and vegetables snugly together but not smashed together: chicken/pepper/chicken/onion/chicken/zucchini/chicken/mushroom or whatever order suits you.
Toss the vegetables (separate or together doesn't matter) in a few tbsp of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Grill over direct flame until the chicken at the center reaches 165F, turning every few minutes. Can take anywhere from 8-15 minutes depending on size of chicken chunks and temperature of the coals/gas.
To complete our table, we serve with saffron (or turmeric) yellow rice and a green salad.

Notes

This is an excellent marinade for vegetarian kebabs as well. Omit the meat and use all of the vegetables listed (add more mushrooms if you'd like more heft) in the marinade. Do not add salt and pepper to the vegetables if you go this route.

Dad's original recipe uses garlic powder and ground ginger powder. I prefer fresh but if you'd like and/or that's what you've got available, use 1/2 teaspoon each of garlic powder (not salt!) and ground ginger powder in place of the fresh in the marinade.