Broiled Chicken Kabobs in the Oven
If you don’t have a grill, you can still make juicy chicken kabobs in the oven. The chicken and vegetable kabobs soak in so much flavor from the dill yogurt marinade and get some char from broiling in the oven.
Sometimes when you’re in a kabob mood, it’s not always practical to go fire up the grill. Not only is this recipe an indoor kabob recipe, but it’s also another recipe to store in your “Quick and Easy” dinner options. Another advantage of this recipe is that you are cooking vegetables right along with the chicken, so you don’t have to worry about making a side dish.
Marinating the chicken in Greek yogurt and a blend of spices and lemon juice gives it nice creaminess and tang. Mayonnaise is another great option to use instead of the yogurt and will work just as well. I used smoked paprika, which is an awesome way to add that smoky flavor that we love from the grill. You can use just about any fresh herbs and spices that you like.
Simple enough for a quick family dinner for those busy nights, this dinner is also something that you can feel proud to serve to guests too. Healthy, quick and yummy – that’s my motto.
Ingredients:
Marinade for 2 chicken breasts:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (you can also use 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs)
1/3 cup yogurt
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1-2 garlic cloves, grated
1 Tablespoon grated onion
1 teaspoon dry mustard or 1/2 Tablespoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh herbs (dill, parsley and thyme)
Vegetables:
2 tomatoes
1 bell pepper
1 shallot
1-2 Tablespoons olive oil
salt, pepper
herbs (parsley, dill and thyme)
1 garlic clove, minced
How to cook Chicken Kabobs in the oven
- Prep the chicken. Cut the chicken into 1 inch pieces. Combine all the marinade ingredients and mix them up with the chicken.
- Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes and up to 6-8 hours.
- Next, prep the veggies. Cut the seeded tomatoes and bell pepper into 1 inch pieces and the shallot (or onion) just a little bit smaller, since it will need a little more time to soften when cooking. Mix the vegetables with the olive oil, herbs and garlic and ground black pepper, but don’t season it with salt until right before you broil them. Refrigerate the vegetables also.
- Preheat the broiler in your oven and set the oven rack to a position as close to the heating element as you can, to the highest rack. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- Trust me on this one – it will make cleanup a lot easier. The food itself will not be resting on the aluminum foil, so if you avoid using aluminum foil for that reason, you don’t have to worry about it in this case. Place a metal rack inside the rimmed baking sheet.
- Assemble the kabobs. Thread the chicken and the vegetables onto metal skewers. I usually get 1-2 extra veggie kabobs. Place the skewers on top of the rack and place in the preheated oven.
- Cook for about 8-12 minutes total, depending on your oven. Turn the kabobs over halfway through cooking.
Serving the Chicken Kabobs
Cooking the vegetable kabobs along with the chicken is a great way to have most of your meal cooking at the same time. The veggie kebabs are a big plus. They taste phenomenal with that char in some places, get caramelized and somewhat sweet, but are still slightly crisp.
- Creamy, fluffy mashed potatoes are so great to serve with these kabobs.
- Rice is another great side option – add some cilantro and lime to some perfectly cooked long grain white rice.
- Zucchini Couscous is so easy to prepare and tastes light and delicious.
Prep Ahead Tips
This is a great recipe to meal prep ahead of time. Here are my suggestions:
- If you want to marinate the chicken a day in advance, don’t add the yogurt and lemon juice until a few hours before you are going to cook them. The acid in the yogurt and lemon juice will break apart the protein in the meat too much and make it mushy. Season it with everything else and store in the refrigerator.
- You can cut the shallots and the bell peppers up to 1-2 days ahead of time and store them in the refrigerator (make sure to wrap them really well, and store in an airtight container, so the shallots don’t smell up your entire fridge). Don’t cut the tomatoes until a few hours or right before you will grill everything.
- Also, don’t salt the vegetables until shortly before cooking. The salt will draw out moisture out of the vegetables, especially the tomatoes and they will become very mushy and soggy if you leave them in the salt for too long.
Broiled Chicken Kabobs in the Oven
If you don’t have a grill, you can still make juicy chicken kabobs in the oven. The chicken and vegetable kabobs soak in so much flavor from the dill yogurt marinade and get some char from broiling in the oven.
- Prep Time: 45 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 55 mins
- Yield: 2-4 1x
- Category: Entree
Ingredients
Marinade for 2 chicken breasts
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (you can also use 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs)
- 1/3 cup yogurt or mayonnaise
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1–2 garlic cloves, grated
- 1 Tablespoon grated onion
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard or 1/2 Tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh herbs (dill, parsley and thyme)
Vegetables:
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 bell pepper
- 1 shallot
- 1–2 Tablespoons olive oil
- salt, pepper
- herbs (parsley, dill and thyme)
- 1 garlic clove, minced
Instructions
- Cut the chicken into 1 inch pieces. Combine all the marinade ingredients and mix them up with the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes and up to 6-8 hours. I wouldn’t marinate it longer than that, since the acid in the yogurt and lemon juice will break apart the protein in the meat too much and make it mushy.
- Cut the seeded tomatoes and bell pepper into 1 inch pieces and the shallot (or onion) just a little bit smaller, since it will need a little more time to soften.
- Mix the vegetables with the olive oil, herbs and garlic and ground black pepper, but don’t season it with salt until right before you broil them. The salt will draw out moisture out of the vegetables, especially the tomatoes and they will become very mushy and soggy if you leave them in the salt for too long. Refrigerate the vegetables also.
- Preheat the broiler in your oven and set the oven rack to a position as close to the heating element as you can, to the highest rack. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place a metal cooling rack inside the rimmed baking sheet.
- Thread the chicken and the vegetables onto metal skewers. Place the skewers on top of the cooling rack and place in the preheated oven.
- Cook for about 8-12 minutes total, depending on your oven. Turn the kabobs over halfway through cooking. They cook pretty quickly, so check them often.
29 Comments
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Tina
Ummm Yummm!!! I am drooling!!! Thank you Olga for such a wonderful recipie! You inspire me to love kitchen more and more! I hope you and your little guy are feeling wonderful! Wishing you many blessings!:)
olgak7
What a sweet thing to say, Tina. Thank you.
Mila
Such a great idea, adding to my my menu plan! I like that it can be customized to different tastes, if someone doesn’t like a particular vegetable. Have you tried some other veggies in this, Olga? What works the best? I wonder if it will work on a grill pan? I like making shrimp kebabs on my stove-top grill pan (I have a recipe on my blog). You get nice grill marks without having to use an outdoor grill.
olgak7
I haven’t tried other vegetables for this particular recipe, but you would need to use something that cooks quickly, Mila. That’s why I chose tomatoes, peppers and shallot. If you use mushrooms, zucchini, broccoli or anything else, I would put the vegetables on separate skewers and cook them longer than the chicken, since they will still be hard when the chicken is done.
Oksana
What temperature should the broiler be on?
olgak7
That depends on your oven. The best indicator would be to watch the chicken itself. I set mine for 500 degrees, but you have to really watch the chicken to make sure it doesn’t overcook. The higher the temperature, the better. The faster the chicken chars, the faster you can turn it over and the faster it will cook. I would err on the side of caution and check it earlier than later.
alina
Set the broiler on high or low???
olgak7
I set it to as high as it goes, in the case of my oven, 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Milana
Wow! I would’ve never thought to make shish kabobs in an oven. Chicken marinated in yogurt sounds extremely juicy 🙂
Thanks again for another awesome recipe.
olgak7
You’re welcome, Milana.
Yep, the marinade makes them really juicy.
alina
Would wooden skewers work or will they burn? I want to make this tomm. Thanks in advance
olgak7
I haven’t tried using wooden skewers in the oven, but I have done it on the grill, Alina. Soak the wooden skewers in water for at least half an hour before threading the chicken and vegetables on it.
Kseniya
Olga,
Have you tried this with pork? What would you do differently in this case?
olgak7
No, I have never tried this method with pork, Kseniya.
I would not marinate the pork in the yogurt, but use some oil instead. Plus, you will have to cook it longer, since chicken breast cooks a lot faster.
jen
I made these last night but thought the dry mustard was way to much and made them bitter. I liked the idea of broiling but will change things up next time.
olgak7
I’m sorry to hear that, Jen. I’m surprised that such a small amount of mustard would have made the chicken bitter.
Rimma
Made them once. They turned out absolutely delicious and have been making them over and over again. They are so easy to make. Thank you for th recipe.
olgak7
That’s great, Rimma! They sure are easy. I’m glad you enjoy them.
Marina
Hi, Olga,
Would this recipe work if I broil or bake my chicken & veggies and omit putting them on skewers?
Thanks!
olgak7
I wouldn’t recommend baking it, Marina. Chicken breast dries out very quickly, so if you don’t broil it, the chicken will be cooked through way before it gets any browning at all.
You can broil it without the skewers; that should work just fine:).
alice
Made this recipe to marinate and grilled the chicken thighs for my daughter birthday party this weekend and it was delicious!!! Thank you for the recipe Olga!
olgak7
I’m so glad you enjoyed the kebabs, Alice. Happy Birthday to your daughter:).
Andi
I know this is an ‘older’ recipe, but I just came across it today. I doubled the recipe for my family of 5 (mom, dad and 3 kids: 4, 3, and 20months). There was a fight between the kids for the end of the chicken and vegetables and mom and dad were left wishing I had tripled it. I have good eaters, but this knocked it out of the park. I’m so excited to add such a quick and simple recipe to our rotation!
Thank You! I can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
olgak7
Wow! That’s awesome, Andi:). I am so happy to hear such great feedback. I’m thrilled that you and your family enjoyed the kebabs. Thank you for taking the time to write.
Lena
Thank you for the recipe!!!Do you add salt to the meat?
Alena
These turned out delicious! Thank u for this recipe
olgak7
I’m so glad you enjoyed the kebabs, Alena.
Kris
Can it be Greek yogurt or does it have to be regular yogurt?
olgak7
You can use any plain, unflavored yogurt, Kris. Greek yogurt is thicker, plain regular yogurt will be thinner, so it will make the marinade more watery, that’s why I like using Greek yogurt, but either will work.