I think I’ve mentioned before that although I’ve always loved to play around in the kitchen, I didn’t really start exploring my inner foodie until I moved to an apartment my sophomore year of college and had my own (well, shared with 3 other girls, but not my parents) kitchen for the first time. These grilled chicken veggie skewers are literally one of the first dishes I made on a regular basis that wasn’t 100% from a cookbook. And I mean, it’s really not rocket science, but believe me, marinating and grilling vegetables was a long, long way from Some-Kind-of-Browned-Meat-in-Cream-of Something-Soup-Over-Some-Kind-of-Starch-ville where I grew up.
Ingredient and Equipment Notes
- Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast – Steak would work as well.
- Your Favorite Veggies For Grilling – zucchini, yellow squash, onion, peppers, mushrooms, eggplant, etc.
- Italian Dressing – This homemade version is best, but your favorite store-bought variety will work in a pinch. The dressing contains:
- Vinegar
- Lemon juice
- Sugar
- Dry mustard
- Kosher salt
- Red pepper flakes
- Black pepper
- Fresh garlic
- Neutral oil or olive oil
- Parmesan cheese
- Italian seasoning
- Skewers – You can use metal or bamboo skewers. Just remember that skewers made form bamboo or wood need to be soaked in water for 30 minutes before being placed on the grill so they hold up to the heat. See the note below about my preferred variety of metal skewers with a wood handle.
How To Make Grilled Chicken and Veggie Skewers
- Place your veggies in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag and drizzle about 3/4 of the dressing over the vegetables.
- Place the cut-up chicken in another large Ziploc bag and pour the remaining dressing over the chicken. Seal and refrigerate both bags for at least 4 hours, no more than 24 hours.
- When you’re ready to cook, preheat your grill over medium heat to about 425°F.
- Thread the meat and veggies loosely onto the skewers.
- Lightly oil the grill grates before adding the skewers and then grill for 4-5 minutes. Flip the skewers and grill another 4-5 minutes on the other side and voila! You have one of my most favorite meals of all time!
A Note About Skewers
Bamboo skewers have to be soaked and are hard to handle once hot on the grill. Metal skewers can also be troublesome when trying to turn. I did some poking around the internet and stumbled across lots of options for metal skewers with wooden handles and I love them! There are also varieties with silicone handles available. You leave the handle on the outside of the grill (the lid still closes just fine) and then you can easily turn your skewers– no soaking, no fires, no burned fingers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Be sure to cut all of your veggies and meat into similarly sized pieces. When threading your skewers, don’t pack the ingredients tightly together. Leave a little space for the heat of the grill to cook everything through.
Chicken and Vegetable Skewers
Equipment
Ingredients
Marinade
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 cup neutral oil or extra-virgin olive oil
- ⅓ cup parmesan cheese either fresh or from a can
- ¾ teaspoon Italian seasoning more if desired
Skewers
- 1 pound chicken breasts, boneless, skinless cut into small, bite-sized pieces
- 1 each zucchini squash, yellow and green cut in half (if large) and sliced
- 8 ounces mushrooms, small, whole sliced in half
- 2-3 cups sweet peppers, mini
- 1 red onion, small carefully cut into bite-sized chunks (try to keep as much of the pieces in tact as possible)
Instructions
Marinade Prep
- Place vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, mustard, salt, red pepper flakes, black pepper, and garlic in the jar of a blender and blend until smooth. While the blender is running, add the oil in a steady stream. Remove the blender jar from the blender and mix in the cheese and Italian seasoning by hand. Set aside.
Marinating
- Chop and prepare vegetables, and place in a large zip-top bag. Drizzle about ¾ of the dressing over the vegetables, seal, and place in the refrigerator.
- Place the chicken breast pieces into a large zip-top bag and add the remaining dressing. Seal and place in the refrigerator. Marinate both bags for at least 4 hours, no more than 24 hours.
Grilling
- About 30 minutes before serving, remove both bags and skewer the chicken and vegetables onto the skewers (if using bamboo skewers, be sure to soak them in water for at least 30 minutes before skewering the food). I usually try to get about 3 pieces of chicken plus as many vegetables as I can onto each skewer.When ready to cook, preheat the grill to about 425 degrees F. Lightly grease the grill grates, then add the skewers. Cook for 4-5 minutes on one side, flip, and cook for another 4-5 minutes. Remove from grill and serve immediately.
Notes
- Note that bamboo skewers need to be soaked in water for 30 minutes before being used and put on the grill. I prefer metal skewers with wooden or silicone handles. The handles stick out of the grill so that they are always cool to the touch and make flipping easy.
- Be sure to cut your veggies and meat about the same size for even cooking.
- Don’t pack your ingredients too tightly onto the skewers. Thread them loosely so the heat from the grill can cook everything evenly.
Questions & Reviews
Yay! My hubbie was just saying he needs some dinners even HE can throw together that are still edible– this is PERFECT! looks great
Carrie- we love to have lurkers speak up! And if you don't keep doing it, then we'll be forced to prohibit you from ever eating the candied walnut salad ever again. Got it?? 😉
As for the cinnamon rolls- you'll notice that there's salt in the picture, I just forgot to write it down and that's the second time (different recipes) someone's pointed that out to me today! I really need to stop writing my posts out so late at night, lol. So yes, add some salt- I updated the recipe. Thanks for the nice comments!
Hi ladies, long time lurker, but have to share my review of your candied walnut salad and honey red wine vinegrette… TO DIE FOR! Literally. If someone told me I could never eat that again I would literally DIE! OK, not really, but I need to make you understand how in love with that salad I am.
Also love your pizza sauce and dough, loved grilling my pizza. Thanks for the tutorial.
Tried your overnight cinnamon roll. They were yummy, wondering, though, if they won't rise if I add a little salt. Dough kinda tasted like it needed a little.
Loved the foccacia bread too. My husband is in love with it.
Can't think of anything else to rave about, but we've tried lots of things and haven't had a recipe from this site that we didn't like. Keep em comin!!!!
Tammie- we have to enter our recipes into print form separately so sometimes because of the time factor, we post a recipe and then come back to link the print version. I often write my posts late at night so I come back the next day to add the print link and sometimes we get behind! Also, we just started doing the print version a few months ago, so we have to back track to get all of the old recipes print-ready. But thanks for the reminder, I have a bunch that I need to get caught up on so I'll hurry!
One thing you can do in the mean time is hold down the ctrl key while you select just the text you want to print. Then select "print selection" from your print menu. Hope that helps!
I like adding potatoes to mine. Also, why are you not having a print text only anymore. THere aer so many things I want to try, but I have to print it out for a later time.
Hey, Jennie! 🙂 I do have a yummy funeral potatoes recipe–email me at general (at) ourbestbites (dot) com and I'll send it to you. As for ham, I almost always just use the spirarl cut hams with the seasoning packet they come with.
Looks delicious. I have a question…..Do either of you have a great and simple recipe for ham and potatoes? You know, the cheesy/yummy/some call them funeral potatoes? I'm pregnant and having a Sunday dinner craving!
These look REALLY good. I love grilled veggies and will have to try this one soon! One of the few ways I will actually eat zucchini. 🙂
– Jennifer
I'm loving all the great recipes! Making the Thai Noodle salad tonight. I'll have to try this one next time chicken is on the menu….thanks!
These look gorgeous- I love the colors. Kate, you'll be happy to know that I, a life-long mushroom hater, have been warming up to them lately. I am going to make these this week and just for you I am going to put the mushrooms on!