For starters, we don’t use a lot of chicken in our house – we made some for Mother’s day lunch and had two breasts leftover. I figured I’d throw them in my teriyaki marinade and see what I decided to do with them. Simply put, I had a couple ideas of ways to use them up but when I was grocery shopping, all the fresh summer veggies were calling my name. There were sales on colored bell peppers and zucchini, so that was just perfect. We always have onion in the house, and I even picked up the hubby’s favorite, mushrooms (even though I absolutely despise the texture of them).
I left the chicken marinade overnight in teriyaki sauce, ginger, garlic, and soy sauce. I normally throw some hoisin in as well, but I was in a hurry and forgot. Honestly didn’t even miss it. What I used in these was two bell peppers (one orange and one red), a medium zucchini, half a pack of baby bellas, one medium red onion, and the two chicken breasts. These would have been just as satisfying without the chicken, I think next time I’ll try them with a bean burger on the side or something! I would also add yellow squash next time if we have more mouths to feed (we tried to take this all down with just the two of us). We did but let me tell you, it was a lot of food, and didn’t leave room for any side like rice or quinoa.
Assembly was easy enough, just wash the veggies, chop them up, and place randomly on skewers. Took all of 10 minutes and dinner was prepared. We have a mini grill so getting propane for it means a special trip to Wal-Mart or Target sporting goods section being they don’t sell mini tanks at gas stations or grocery stores.. so when we picked up tanks for Mother’s day, I figured we might as well enjoy the grilling season while we can! Put the grill to medium-high heat (ours has a thermometer so I set it to between 450-500F and put them on each side for about 6 minutes. The time will vary based on how big your chicken chunks are – if you’re concerned check the inside of your bigger pieces to ensure no pink.
This has so far been a great week (fingers crossed I don’t jinx it) but little babes has let me sleep stretches from 5-almost 7 hours! We are trying our friend’s Dock A Tot, and so far it’s been working well for us. Definitely going to need to invest in one of these things. Who doesn’t love a refreshing night of sleep. Getting a stretch of good sleep gives me so much more motivation to do stuff when I get up, along with cuddling the babes of course! So on the agenda for food this week along with these kebabs, includes dal tadka which is an Indian yellow lentil dish, burrito bowls, baby kale greek salads, and some tilapia with grilled broccoli and potatoes.
Enough rambling – let’s get to the recipe for these delicious kebabs! (Sorry for the poor photo, my husband had demolished a bunch before I remembered to take a picture..
Prep Time: 10 minutes (24 hours for marinade)
Cook Time: About 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients:
Teriyaki Chicken
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 1 gallon zip loc bag
Kebabs
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 2 chicken breasts, cut into 2″ chunks
- 2 bell peppers, chopped
- 1 medium zucchini or yellow squash, sliced and halved
- 2 oz baby bellas, sliced
- skewers
Directions:
Chicken:
- Throw chicken breasts along with teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger in a bag
- Seal bag closed and use hands to mix all together and ensure both breasts are covered
- Place in fridge for at least 8 hours (the longer the better)
Kebabs:
- Wash bell peppers and chop into large pieces
- Peel onion and chop into similar sized pieces
- Wash zucchini and slice about 1/4″ thick. Cut slices into halves
- Wash and slice baby bella mushrooms, bigger works better here – small pieces tend to break when pierced with the skewers
- Cut chicken into about 2″ chunks
- Assemble by placing random order vegetables and chicken, about 2 pieces of chicken per skewer worked out perfect for me
- Heat grill to about 450ºF
- Place kebabs on aluminum foil and cook about 6 minutes per side (the size of your chicken will influence this time, larger chunks will take longer)
- Flip and cook an additional 6 minutes
- Ensure meat is cooked thoroughly prior to removing from the grill (if in doubt peel away the sides of a larger piece to ensure no pink in the center
- Enjoy!
Serve with a side of mexican rice or cooked quinoa. Or if you’re like us, just eat a ton of kebabs! 🙂
Make this vegetarian/vegan by removing the chicken. You can always serve alongside your favorite veggie burger or with a side of beans and rice!
Let me know what you think. Super easy, yet delicious summer grilling recipe. Need I say more?
-Cassie 🙂