How to Cook Chicken Kebab Skewers
Nowadays, there are many of us that cook for more intimate small gatherings or occasions. And undeniably, there’s never been a better time to fire up and do small chicken kebab skewers for a quick easy meal. Instead of waiting for so long for your spit roast to cook, this recipe of kebab skewers will be ready in only 15 minutes. It makes the perfect mid-week meal, or that cheeky “working from home” lunchtime cook.
Procedure:
Step 1: Get the spit ready
When cooking a spit, I prefer to use natural mallee root charcoal. It doesn’t contain any chemicals/accelerants and it gives a rather beautiful flavour. Definitely easy to light as well.
With chicken kebab skewers, you only need enough charcoal to cover the area of the spit where you’re placing the meat, as opposed to roasting on a spit where we typically advise 1kg of charcoal for every 1kg of meat. You just need a single layer of charcoal that is around 5-7 cm thick because you will only be cooking for a maximum of 15 minutes.
To check if I have enough coals to cover the number of skewers I’m cooking, I’ll put it out on the base of the spit. Then, I’ll gather it back up into a mound to light it up using the Flaming Coals Charcoal Starter wand.
Pro tip: You can fire the charcoal from different angles so it will be hot and ready in 5 minutes.
Step 2 (or pre-do before lighting your charcoal): Dice, season, and skewer the chicken
For myself, skinless, deboned chicken thighs over chicken breasts are preferred. As the chicken thigh has a nicer texture, in my opinion, it also tastes better. The procedure is exactly the same if you prefer chicken breast. Slice the chicken into thin, 1cm-thick slices that are no thicker than 3cm (a little thinner is preferred). In order to make your chicken breasts thinner, you will either need to cut them in half or if you’re using thighs, just cut the thick part in half.
When the chicken has been cut into pieces and diced, place it in a big bowl, cover with olive oil, and stir to combine. Then liberally sprinkle your preferred gyros rub over the top. The Flaming Coals Greek Gyros rub is fantastic! Stir it thoroughly and keep adding more rub until all surface areas of the chicken are covered.
Last but not least, thread the chicken onto the kebab skewers, but be careful! If you’re not cautious, the skewers will pierce your hand with their sharp, pointed ends. It’s possible that I did this more than once (sad face). The chicken should be tightly packed onto the skewer to ensure equal rotation on the spit, but at least 7 cm should be left empty at either end of the skewer. As the heat from the charcoal will never reach the ends, doing this will guarantee an even cook.
Step 3: Cooking the skewers
The only thing left to do is place the skewers onto the spit and turn on your motor since your charcoal is already hot and your skewers are ready. We are using the Flaming Coals Cyprus Spit.
During this brief cook, I prefer to baste the skewers at least twice to keep them moist (and add flavour). My go-to basting mix consists of olive oil, lemon juice, and a dash of salt in a 50/50 ratio. Make sure you have a long-handled pair of tongs or a small coal rake nearby when basting in case the oil drips onto the charcoal and causes a flare-up. Personally, I enjoy a small flare-up to slightly sear the chicken’s exterior, but you should never leave the spit unattended in case the fire doesn’t go out on its own and you have to manually disperse the coals.
It’s not difficult to cook little chicken skewers and determine when they are done, but I usually use a fast-read thermometer to pierce the chicken and measure its internal temperature since I don’t want to take any chances with food (either overcooking or undercooking chicken). Chicken should be at a temperature of 75C.
Step 4: Heating your pita bread
I enjoy setting the grill on the spit and heating the pita bread for a minute after removing the chicken skewers from the spit. Do not take your eyes from them because it will burn pretty soon.
Step 5: Creating your masterpiece
Traditional souvlakis come with lettuce, tomato, onion, tzatziki, and—if you’re in Greece—fried chips. As I don’t like onions very much, I instead diced up lettuce, cherry tomatoes, Lebanese cucumbers, and red capsicum. You may include whatever salads you want—or none at all. But be careful not to overfill the pita bread or you won’t be able to roll it up and you’ll end up with a big mess. My advice is to have a roll of paper towels nearby.
Enjoy!
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Cooking Chicken Kebabs on a Cyprus Spit
by: Rhiannon Peterson