Arabic Grills

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A recipe for lamb and chicken skewers with two delicious Middle Eastern styled marinades, this easy recipe is what you need to make the perfect Arabic Grills.

What are Arabic Grills?

Traditional Arabic style grilled meat includes chicken on skewers (shish taouk) as well as cubed lamb shish kebab skewers. Kafta, or ground meat skewers are also very common, and I have a great recipe for them in a seperate post here.

The cubes of chicken and lamb are marinated in a simple marinade and grilled on a BBQ until a little charred on the outside and still juicy on the inside.

Why should you make Arabic grills?

This is such a great way to change up your BBQ from the typical hamburgers and hot dogs to something with a lot more flavor but with very very little effort.

Making Arabic grills is so easy! The marinades for the chicken and the lamb share a lot of ingredients in common, and are easily mixed up in a bowl.

There’s a heavy emphasis in the Middle East on our grilled meats, as commonly seen in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and with a slightly different take in the GCC. We take pride in them! Try them out yourself.

What ingredients do you need?

The chicken skewers:

Chicken: I always prefer using chicken breast, but many prefer thigh. Use whatever you want or a mix of both! Just make sure the chicken is skinless, boneless and cut into large cubes about 2 inches in size.

Yogurt: The yogurt coats the chicken so well and tenderizes it. It’s a very common ingredient in chicken marinades in the Middle East.

Lemon juice, olive oil, apple cider or white vinegar: All play a role in flavor and tenderizing of the chicken.

Tomato paste: I like just adding a little bit for flavor, you can leave it out if you prefer.

Spices: salt, pepper, paprika, a little dried ginger, dried oregano, and seven spices (or mixed spices or all spice). Just the right proportion!

The lamb skewers:

Lamb: It’s better to use a tender cut of lamb, like shoulder, leg or loin. Same deal as with the chicken, large 2 inch cubes.

Lemon juice and olive oil: for flavor and tenderizing

Crushed garlic

The spices: seven spices or all spice or mixed spice, salt, pepper, paprika and a little cumin which gives lamb such a great earthy flavor.

For both sets of skewers, you’ll also need big chunks of assorted vegetables for threading onto the skewers in between the meat chunks. I like using bell peppers, onion, mushrooms, etc.

How do I prepare the Arabic grills skewers?

1. Mix together each separate set of marinade ingredients in their own bowl. Toss the chicken cubes with the chicken marinade, and the lamb cubes with the lamb. Cover each bowl with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge to marinate for however long you have. I usually keep them overnight if I have the time or for a couple of hours at least.
2. If using bamboo skewers, soak the skewers for about 30 minutes before assembling to avoid them smoking up on the grill.
3. Assemble the skewers by arranging a few pieces of meat cubes separated by a vegetable cube, like a chunk of onion or bell peppers. Be creative!

How to grill chicken and lamb skewers:

I recommend spraying a little non-stick spray on the grill to prevent the meat from sticking. Grill on a medium hot grill until cooked through. Test a piece of chicken by breaking it in half, it should be white all the way through, usually 5-8 minutes a side. I’d err on the side of overdone, the chicken will still taste moist and delicious because of the marinade.

The lamb can be cooked with some more flexibility, anywhere between medium to well done. this is usually 6-8 minutes a side on the grill. This all depends on the size of your cubes and the heat of the BBQ. When the lamb looks done on the outside try it and see if it’s at the place you want it to be.

Can I make these grills in the oven?

I haven’t tried it yet, and I know there’s something special about the char you get on an outside BBQ, but I’m sure they’ll still taste great.

For the chicken: Spread the chicken pieces in a baking pan and bake in a 350 F (180C) preheated oven for 15-20 minutes covered with foil, then another 5-10 minutes uncovered. I’d recommend broiling for the last 1-2 minutes to get a golden brown crispy exterior.

For the lamb: In an uncovered baking pan, in a 390 F (200C) oven, cook for 8 minutes, then flip lamb pieces around and cook for a further 4-5 minutes. Broil for the last 1-2 minutes.

Can wooden bamboo skewers go in the oven?

If you pre-soak the skewers you should be fine. The very tips of the skewers might blacken, but the body of the skewers will hold up and not fall apart.

What to serve Middle Eastern grills with:

We always have plenty of pita bread on hand to eat with the grills. We love having our grills with hummus. For a twist, try it with this beetroot hummus.

A salad would work great as a side dish, like this Arugula Salad with beetroot and pomegranate, or this roasted eggplant salad.

Another thing you can actually prepare to grill up alongside the skewers are kafta skewers, like in this recipe, or Arayes, which is kafta stuffed pita bread commonly grilled.

Try making some easy dipping sauces, like the tahini sauce and garlic sauce in this post.

If you liked this recipe, you might like:

Arayes

Kafta

Oven Chicken Shawarma

Beetroot Hummus

Shawarma Sauce

Arabic Grill Skewers by everylittlecrumb on Jumprope.

Did you make this? Tag @everylittlecrumb or hashtag #everylittlecrumb and I’ll share your images!