Green Chicken Kabab (kebabs/kebobs/skewers) is a delicious recipe with marinated chicken in an easy healthy vibrant spicy herbed parsley green sauce and grilled on a skewer to perfection. (Step by Step Instructions and Video included).
Get Green Chicken Kabab On The Menu
One bite of the tender chicken and aromatic herbs and spices and our Green Chicken Kabab recipe will be a regular on your summertime grilling rotation. The marinade penetrates the chicken and gives you that delicious fresh garden flavor with a little punch of ginger and chili.
Why You are Going To Love these Chicken Skewers
These chicken kabab are fully fashioned in the new hip color of the season, “emerald-green”. The aroma of the kabobs cooking on the grill will have all of your neighbors at your doorstep wondering when dinner will be ready. The kebobs were cooked just until juicy and succulent and had a spice blend that will keep you going back for more, so make lots! If you love the idea of grilling and food on a stick, be sure to try our Turmeric Pork Skewers and Thai Basil Dipping Sauce.
These chicken skewers are low carb and keto diet friendly. While your grilling, throw on a few vegetables and try our Favorite Provencal Ratatouille Recipe. Or our Chili Lime Grilled Okra to keep it low carb. In addition, these kabobs are gluten-free, dairy-free and cardiac friendly. You got to love that!
Kabob vs Kebab vs Kabab vs Skewers
Really? Why are there all of these names for the same darn thing? For some reason, here in the US, we refer to them as shish kabobs. However, in the UK they call them kebabs. In other parts of the world, they refer to them as kabab or skewers.
Heck, who cares. Whatever you call these whether it is kabob, kebob, kabab, skewers or yabba dabba do, we call these DELICIOUS. We will just refer to them as all 4-5 ways in this post so matter what way you spell it or pronounce it, we are talking about delicious chunks of meat, poultry or vegetables grilled on a wooden stick.
If you like delicious items grilled on a stick. Be sure to try our Middle Eastern Ground Lamb Kabobs, Negima Yakitori with Grilled Portobella, Mediterranean Chicken Kabobs or our Grilled Chili Lime Okra.
Magic Green Marinade
Our Magic Green Marinade is so delicious, we could eat it by the spoonful. However, it is best used as a marinade or a sauce. We always make a little extra as it is delicious in a pasta salad, on top of scrambled eggs (green eggs) and as a sauce for our Parsley Lemon Shrimp Wraps. . This easy herb marinade is also delicious on grilled mushrooms, vegetables and on tofu as well.
Spices
Ginger - fresh is always best. It adds a little zing to the marinade.
Garlic - well of course!!!! (smiling)
cumin - dried ground. Give this marinade and earthy flavor.
Vegetables
Chili peppers - can use jalapeño, red chili or any that you desire depending on how much heat you want.
Onion - fresh gives this recipe the delicious aromatic blend.
Fruits
Lemon - fresh juice gives this marinade a little tart punch.
Herbs
Parsley - fresh green herbs. We chose parsley as that is what we have on hand but can also use coriander.
Dill - fresh just a little
Mint - fresh just a little bunch
Condiments
Olive oil - extra virgin and we also add just a little water midway to help the products move in the blender.
Salt and pepper - to taste
Garden Fresh Green Herbs
When the garden’s fresh herbs are at its peak, put them in a marinade. We chose parsley, dill and mint as that is what we had on hand. However, this Green Chicken Kabab recipe is also delicious with basil, oregano, garlic chives, and cilantro. Check out the bright green color of the marinade! It is “Hulk-Colored” green and it is healthy.
Ratio of Fresh Herbs
However, there is one very important criterion to note. The majority of your herbs should be either parsley or cilantro as the core ingredient and other herbs can be used as an accent herb. The reason being is that parsley and cilantro are very mild tasting herbs whilst other herbs like oregano, basil, mint, dill, etc. are very strong in flavor. For example, we used one cup of parsley and used only ¼ cup of fresh mint and ¼ cup of fresh dill to accent the recipe.
More Fresh Herb Sauces
Our 2 popular posts fresh herb sauces are our Prik Nam Pla; The Incredible Thai Condiment and our Spicy 5 Minute Chimichurri Sauce which is fantastic over Grilled Marinated Flank Steak.
Expert tips on Making Magic Green Marinade
- Use the leaves of the fresh herbs and not so many of the stems.
- Use a blender if you want to have the bright green beautiful sauce.
- Chop up the onions and ginger into small chunks that can be easily processed by your blender (smoothie maker)
- Use the frozen drink smoothie function on your device or blender
- Food processors will only chop finely but will not incorporate the wet and dry ingredients. (In our recipe video below, we have demonstrated how a food processor only finely chops the herbs in the oil. However, the blender incorporates the oil into the fresh herbs to make a green beautiful sauce.)
- Is it the end of the world if you only have a food processor? Absolutely not! The fresh green herbs will just be finely chopped in the oil, but it still gives the chicken a fantastic flavor. Your Green Chicken Kabab just will not be “Hulk-Green”.
What is the Difference Between a Herb vs a Spice?
This bright green color comes from the healthy green leafy herbs. Herbs are used to add flavor enhancements to recipes and usually come from the leaves of the plant. Spices on the other hand are also used as flavor enhancements to recipes. However, spices can come from roots, bark, seeds and other portions of a plant. We used fresh ginger, garlic and dried cumin spices. Another delicious grilled poultry recipe that uses both spices and fresh herbs is our Grilled Split Cornish Game Hens.
The Asian Middle Eastern Mediterranean Fusion Recipe
Now that is quite the introduction and mouthful, right? What nationality do you think this recipe came from? Guess what! The flavors and inspirations come from ALL OVER THE WORLD. Our Green Chicken Kabob recipe is a Healthy World Cuisine Fusion dish.
Where did the Flavors Originate?
The process of blending the green herbs along with chili is of course from India, as they do frequently with their green chicken masala. Influence from the Middle East with the addition of lemon, grated onion and cumin. Mediterranean influence with the addition of olive oil, parsley, mint and dill. Asian influence with garlic and ginger. It’s a blending of everything fresh and beautiful in one recipe. Now, if we could just get the world to act this way too, we would be in business. If fusion recipes intrigue you, you are going to love our Chinese meets American Peking Style Beer Butt Chicken recipe.
Clean out the Fridge Friday
Today was “Clean out the Fridge Friday” in order to make room for the weekend inventory. As I was foraging through all of my bits and bobs in the crisper section of the refrigerator, I noticed a lot of green herbs and aromatics that were calling for some attention. We threw these into the blender and whizzed them up! Tomorrow, I hope the kids do not complain that their breakfast berry cherry smoothie blasts tastes like garlic. (smiling)
How to Prepare Green Chicken Kababs
- If you have 10 minutes to make this glorious magic green marinade the day before, you can have a delicious dinner on your table in under 30 minutes. Place all the marinade ingredients into the blender and blend until you have a thick and rich well incorporated green sauce.
- Cut up your chicken into bite sized chunks
- Marinate the chicken at least 30 minutes but overnight is best
- Place the chicken on the prepared skewers
- Grill for about 3 - 5 minutes on each side until the juices run clear or the internal temperature is 165 degrees F (73 degrees C) at a medium heat of 400 degrees F (204 degrees C). Each grill is a little different and may have cold and hot spots so you will need to access that you have nice grill marks on both sides and use a thermometer to check for doneness.
Delicious Sides
We always say do what it is easiest for you. If you are already on the grill to make your delicious Green Chicken Kabab, try our Feta Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms, Best Grilled Asparagus, How to make Shishito Peppers on the Grill or our Thai Grilled Watermelon Salad.
However, if you would like to make a delicious side dish in advance, be sure to try our kicked-up potato salad, Nutty Ginger Tamari Quinoa Salad or our Heirloom Tomato Cucumber Salad.
Frequent Asked Questions?
At bear minimum, we would say 30 minutes but it is best marinated overnight.
If you have the metal skewers for the grill, there is no prep that needs to be done. However, if you have the wooden skewers you will need to soak these for about ½ hour in water before use to prevent burning of the sticks on the grill.
400 degrees f (204 degrees C)
It takes anywhere from 10 – 15 minutes depending on the temperature of your grill and cold and hot spots on your grill. At 400 degrees F (204 degrees C) it took us about 10 minutes for us to have beautiful crispy grill marks on both sides and an internal temp of 165 degrees F (73 degrees C). The most important parameter is having the juices run clear and the temp to be at least 165 degrees according to the USDA.
Clean your grill well and preheat for at least 10-15 minutes. Then, make sure you oil the grill grates well before putting your chicken on the grill. If you have marinated your chicken for up to 24 hours, you may want to add another tablespoon of olive oil in the chicken mixture before putting them on the skewers. Lastly, your chicken will allow itself to be turned when it is ready. If you rush it before you have good grill marks, your chicken may stick.
We used boneless skinless chicken tenderloins, but you can also use chicken breasts. If you want to use chicken thigh meat, you may need to cook longer to get it to the safe 165 degrees F (73 degrees C) cooking temperature. Using organic chicken is always preferred but in times like the present, use what you have.
Absolutely! Have fun and add any vegetables, mushrooms or anything else you desire on your skewers.
Healthy World Cuisine originally posted our Green Chicken Kabab recipe in June 2013. We have reposted today with updated photos, more helpful hints and video.
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Green Chicken Kabab Recipe
Equipment
- skewers
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds chicken breasts boneless, skinless cut into cubes (or have fun and try veggies, fish, beef, mushrooms, etc)
- bamboo skewers pre-soaked in water for about ½ hour to prevent burning
- ½ cup onion chopped
- 1 tablespoon ginger or 1 inch piece (peeled and chopped in small enough pieces to be handled by the blender)
- ½ chili peppers
to taste (optional- I used ½ small medium jalapeño chili peppers) - 1 cup parsley
1 large bunch (or cilantro) - ⅓ cup mint fresh
- ⅓ cup dill fresh
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 4 cloves garlic
peeled - 1 teaspoon cumin
- salt and pepper
to taste - ¼ cup olive oil (or just enough oil to get the food processor to move and blend the ingredients, you can also use water or coconut milk instead)
- 2 tablespoon water or as needed to get the items moving in the blender.
Instructions
- Make the marinade: Put onion, ginger, chilli peppers, parsley, mint, dill, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper and olive oil in the blender and puree until you have a lovely neon green sauce. Set Aside. (You may need to add a couple of tablespoons of water to get your blender moving) Please note use blender or blender setting as if you use the food processor it will not incorporate the solids into the liquids and will just chop the spices and herbs in the oil. The blender will combine the solids and liquids and form a beautiful green sauce.
- Cut up chicken into bite size pieces that will cook evenly on the skewers. (Or have fun and try fish, beef, veggies or whatever your little heart desires) Pour the marinade over your chicken pieces, mix well and put in a plastic ziplock baggie to marinade overnight, or at least 30 minutes to an hour in the refrigerator.
- Place bamboo skewers in water for at least ½ hour to prevent burning of skewers. If you have some of those cool fancy metal skewers then you can skip this step.
- Preheat your BBQ grill/gas grill to medium/low heat - about 400 degrees F (or 206 degrees C) Grease your grill with oil before you preheat your grill. (To prevent sticking, If you have marinated your chicken overnight or for a longer period of time, add just a little drizzle of olive oil in with the chicken in the marinade and give it a good stir BEFORE putting it on the skewers. )
- Place the chicken cubes on the bamboo skewers.
- Grill the Green Chicken Kababs on medium heat for about 3-5 minutes on each side or until the juices of the chicken run clear or the meat thermometer reads 165 degrees F or 73 Degrees C.
- Garnish Green Chicken Kababs with vibrant red chilli peppers and serve with a deluxe salad or a side of rice.
Video
Notes
- Use the leaves of the fresh herbs and not so many of the stems.
- Use a blender if you want to have the bright green beautiful sauce.
- Chop up the onions and ginger into small chunks that can be easily processed by your blender (smoothie maker)
- Use the frozen drink smoothie function on your device or blender
- Food processors will only chop finely but will not incorporate the wet and dry ingredients. (In our recipe video below, we have demonstrated how a food processor only finely chops the herbs in the oil. However, the blender incorporates the oil into the fresh herbs to make a green beautiful sauce.)
- Is it the end of the world if you only have a food processor? Absolutely not! The fresh green herbs will just be finely chopped in the oil, but it still gives the chicken a fantastic flavor. It just will not be “Hulk-Green”.
Mimi Rippee says
I love your herby marinade! It’s similar to what I like to throw together in the summer when my garden is producing!
HWC Magazine says
thank you Mimi! The green marinade is really fresh and it is also good as a starter for a salad dressing too.
Karen (Back Road Journal) says
Love the fantastic green color, that and the red chilies makes for a great presentation.
HWC Magazine says
Thank you Karen. This recipe really hits the spot and it's low carb too.
Raymund says
That marinade looks like it packs a lot of flavour, I love kabobs done this way
HWC Magazine says
Thanks Raymund. This marinade is certainly packed with loads of flavor and freshness. Have a super weekend ahead.
Letscurry says
I love the way you say these are cardiac friendly. Definitely made me smile. Your kebabs look so friendly and just wow! It's awesome when I see people bringing some uniqueness to their recipes and making them their own through experiments that go hit! This is definitely a must one try recipe for me, thank you!
HWC Magazine says
Thanks so much. Cleaning out the bits and bobs out of the refrigerator always brings about some of the most delicious unique recipes. Our family has made this recipe several times before always using different herbs, depending of what is available, and it is always a hit with the boys. Take care