Chicken Kabobs with Meyer Lemon Salsa
Yield: 6 servings
This Chicken Kabobs recipe features chicken that's ultra tender and flavorful from an easy yogurt-based marinade. Serve the marinated chicken kabobs, grilled to perfection, with a fresh, bright Meyer lemon salsa. Every bite is pure sunshine!
Ingredients
For the meyer lemon salsa
- 5 Meyer lemons (do not substitute for regular lemons)
- ½ cup diced English cucumber
- 3 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion, divided
- 1 tablespoon seeded and minced serrano chile
- ½ teaspoon sugar (add more if your lemons are particularly tart)
- kosher salt, to taste
For the chicken kabobs
- 1½ pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1½″ pieces
- kosher salt, to taste
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, divided
- ¼ cup plain whole-milk yogurt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
- 1 teaspoon cracked coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
Instructions
For the Meyer lemon salsa
- With a sharp knife, cut all the peel and white pith from the lemons and discard. Working over a medium bowl, with a sharp paring knife, cut between the membranes to release the lemon segments (aka "supremes") into the bowl. You want only the empty membranes remaining in your hand. Squeeze juice from the membranes into the bowl and discard the membranes. Strain juice into another bowl; remove any seeds. Cut segments into ¼" to ½" size pieces.
- In a small bowl, combine lemon segments, 1 tablespoon of the strained lemon juice (reserve the rest for another use), cucumber, 2 tablespoons green onion, chile, and sugar. Taste and add salt as desired. Set aside.
For the chicken kabobs
- Place chicken pieces in a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper.
- In a mini processor or small blender, or with an immersion blender (needs to be small, as this is a small amount to blend), make the marinade. Puree ¼ cup of the cilantro, plus the yogurt, vegetable oil, garlic, coriander, and turmeric. (The marinade can be made 1 day ahead. Just cover and chill until you’re ready to marinate the chicken.)
- Pour marinade over chicken and fold to coat evenly. Let marinate at room temperature for 20 minutes - or place in the fridge, covered, to marinate for 1-2 hours.
- Heat grill to medium/medium-high heat. Make sure grates are scrubbed clean and then oiled well (see Notes).
- Thread marinated chicken onto skewers. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste. Place assembled kabobs on grill and cook until you see nice char marks, then rotate them. Continue to rotate until all sides are nicely charred and the chicken is cooked through to 165°F. This should take about 10-12 minutes or so, depending on grill heat and size of chicken pieces.
- Garnish kabobs with remaining 2 tablespoons cilantro and 1 tablespoon green onion, and serve with the Meyer lemon salsa.
Notes
If using wooden skewers: Soak the skewers in water for at least 1 hour prior to threading the chicken onto them. This will help them to not burn up as quickly on the grill.
To oil the grill grates: Add some vegetable oil to a small bowl. Then fold a heavy paper towel a few times to make a smaller square. With a tongs, grasp the folded paper towel and dip it into the oil until the paper towel is soaked. Then run the paper towel over the clean, hot grates, repeating until all grill grates are thoroughly oiled.
adapted from bon appetit magazine, January 2012 issue
Nutrition Information:
Serving: 1 Calories: 342kcal Carbohydrates: 11g Protein: 42g Fat: 17g Saturated Fat: 5g Polyunsaturated Fat: 11g Cholesterol: 199mg Sodium: 577mg Fiber: 3g Sugar: 3g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by Spoonacular. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee accuracy. If your health depends on nutrition information, please calculate again with your own favorite calculator.