Kebabs always taste great and are fun to eat but are really hard to cook evenly since all the different parts on the same skewer need to be cooked for a different amount of time: Your chicken needs to be cooked to 160-165°F but your veggies will start burning well before that. You can use the reverse sear method to get everything to cook slowly up to temp, but “slowly” being the operative word here. That kind of defeats the purpose of a kebab, which is supposed to be cooked hot and fast and be ready to eat quickly. The solution is to sous-vide (or bake) your protein ahead of time and then sear it on the grill, which is the same time it takes to grill a vegetable! This way all the different components of your kebab will be done at the same time (and quickly).
Cut the vegetables into long strips. You can use any combination of vegetables you enjoy.
Place in a ziplock bag with some good-quality olive oil, salt and pepper for at least 15 minutes. Measurements depend on what quantities you are prepping, but in general it should be one tablespoon olive oil and one teaspoon each of salt and pepper per pound of vegetables.
Place the turkey in a bag with the marinade and cook in the sous-vide at 145 degrees Fahrenheit for two and a half hours.
When finished and cooled down, slice into strips about an inch wide to match the strips you made with the veggies.
This kebab-making hack will save you some time and effort: Where possible, cut your kebab items into long strips and build four or five kebabs simultaneously. When you’re done building your kebabs you can just slice between each skewer—and voila! You have three or four kebabs ready to go.
The goal here is to do it in layers, so first push the turkey through three or four skewers, about an inch apart from each other.
Then add the next layers, each level of vegetable you want.
Grill on a hot grill until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Notes:
Other vegetable combinations are tomatoes, onions, zucchini, peppers for a more savory profile, or even pineapples, peaches and mangos for a sweet profile. (Fruit is actually amazing on the grill because all the natural sugars in fruit caramelize very strongly, creating amazing depth of flavor.)
Tips:
If you have the time to prepare for your BBQ well in advance, I always recommend dry brining your meat and poultry. Use (preferably) Diamond Crystal kosher salt and coat all sides evenly with what should look like a snow flurry. Lay meat on a wire rack (or propped up on tinfoil balls) in the fridge, uncovered, for 24 to 48 hours.
Tips:
These kebabs are more about the technique. You can use any meat or poultry you like. On this page I shared my go-to marinade for turkey, but it can be used for any meat.
Notes:
For even more variety and to keep things fresh you can do this same kebab “precook and assembly” technique with any protein that has been cooked sous-vide: Steak, chicken, London broil, lamb or ground beef are also really cool components that make the kebabs super interesting and different.
Description:
Photography and Styling by Yossi and Malky Levine
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