It’s difficult not to enjoy meat on a skewer. The feeling of pulling the meat and veggie pieces off the sticks is incomparable, and the great taste is equally irresistible. As long as the right cooking instructions are followed during the cooking process, the possibilities for the relish with shish kabob recipes are endless.
If this is a recipe you’re not very familiar with, leave it to us to guide you through the process of cooking excellent shish kabobs on a grill. We’ll also advise that you take note of our helpful tips and timing guidelines in order to achieve excellent results with your recipe.
Tips for Cooking Shish Kabobs on the Grill
To guide your cooking to excellent results, it is important to keep the following tips and suggestions in mind when cooking shish kabobs on the grill:
Opt for wooden or bamboo skewers – Instead of using metal skewers, choose wooden or bamboo skewers to keep the meat from overcooking on the inside. Metal is known to distribute heat well, so it’s a better option for chicken or other kinds of meat that need to be cooked thoroughly, but not such a good idea for steaks with a rare or medium-rare doneness level.
Soak your skewers – Before grilling, it’s advised that you soak the bamboo or wooden skewers in water for a minimum of 30 minutes. This step is necessary to keep the skewers from catching fire and burning to a crisp on the grill.
A note on marinating – Make sure that your meat is left to marinate in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes, but leaving them overnight is way better for optimum flavor.
It’s possible to tweak the ingredients for the marinade to suit your preferences. Consider using more or less garlic, using low-sodium soy sauce, throw in some brown sugar, maple syrup, or honey, or even using apple cider or balsamic vinegar.
While skewering – Take note of the following when arranging the ingredients on the skewers:
- To help turn the kabobs smoother, use double skewers.
- To keep the insides of the steak pieces pink and nice rather than overcooked, make use of bamboo or wooden skewers.
- Maintain a small gap between the ingredients you’re arranging on the skewers so that the meal cooks rather than steams.
Timing your cooking and testing doneness – Pay attention to the shish kabobs while they’re cooking. Use your finger to check for doneness, or tap on the meat pieces with the end of your tongs to see how much yield there is, in case the grill is too hot.
Keep in mind that the meat and vegetables will keep cooking slightly after you’ve removed them from the grill and set them aside to rest, so factor that in when determining the ideal timing.
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Cooking Time for Shish Kabobs on the Grill
The ideal cooking time for shish kabobs on a grill has been described in the table below:
| Cooking procedure | Cooking time |
| Cooking shish kabobs on the grill | 10 to 12 minutes |
Grilled Beef Shish Kabobs (4 Servings)
Ingredients
- 1 pound of beef sirloin top sirloin, or filet
- 1 medium onion
- 1 green pepper
- 10 large white mushrooms
- 1 red pepper optional
- ⅔ cup of dry red wine (burgundy or pinot noir)
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- ½ teaspoon of sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon of paprika
- ⅛ teaspoon of black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon of garlic powder
- ⅛ teaspoon of onion powder
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
Instructions
- If you’ll be making use of bamboo skewers in your recipe, immerse them first in water and keep them there using a paper towel or a dish. Soak the skewers for 30 minutes. Using double skewers is advised because it makes the food easier to turn without any risk of the ingredients spinning around. Two bamboo skewers can be used, and an alternative is double prong skewers.
- Pour in the wine, sugar, paprika, salt, garlic powder, black pepper, and onion powder into a glass or stainless bowl big enough to contain the meat. Combine all of the ingredients for the marinade in the bowl .
- Cut the steak into cubes that are 1 inch to 1½ inch thick. Toss the steak cubes into the marinade. Refrigerate the mixture of the marinade and the meat for 2 hours to allow the flavors to meld. Then, take it out of the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature. Allow 30 minutes for it to get to room temperature.
- The onion should be cut into two halves and then quartered. Remove the seeds from the green pepper by cutting them open. Pepper should be cut into 1-inch squares (or as close a shape to squares as possible). The mushrooms can be left whole, but we recommend cutting them in half for larger mushrooms. You can also marinate the vegetables in Italian dressing.
- Now it’s time to skewer the meat. Alternating onions and peppers while cooking the meat is an excellent idea because they both contribute a lot of flavors. You can also put some mushrooms on the skewers from time to time. The mushrooms will go well with the onion, peppers, and beef.
- Brush a bit of oil on the meat and veggies on the skewers after assembling the kabobs; do this to prevent them from sticking.
- If using gas, preheat the grill for 10 minutes on high before cooking. It’s better to use real hardwood charcoal when cooking over coals. Put in sufficient coals that can cook for 10 to 15 minutes over high heat.
- Place the kabobs immediately over the fire or embers on the hot grill. Because you’ll be cooking on direct heat, keep the lid of the grill open.
- Grill the beef shish kabobs for 10 to 12 minutes, turning the skewers every 4 minutes in 90 degrees, until the meat gets done to your liking.
- Before serving, take the kabobs off the grill and leave them to rest for about 3 to 4 minutes.
Shish kabobs taste absolutely delicious when cooked in this manner, and the cooking process is quite quick and easy as long as you follow the right cooking instructions. If you’d like more recipe ideas for shish kabobs on the grill, then we recommend that you check out this video recipe.