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Ukrainian people love shish kabobs. My sister Svetlana made these grilled garlic Chicken Skewers at her housewarming party. It was love at first taste. She got the recipe from my cousin Katya in Washington. It’s simple and very good. I was always just marinating in mayo.
The addition of ranch and “as much garlic as you can handle” (-Katya) makes this the most mouth-watering chicken I’ve tried. They are originally made with just the chicken on the skewer. I made them into a shish kabob; loaded with bell pepper, onion and zucchini. Thank you Katya for this very tasty recipe!
Just make sure that when you preheat your grill: open the grill, then turn on the gas and then light the fire. Otherwise, the gas will accumulate and can cause a pretty scary boom. I’m not sure how I didn’t know that before. Obviously, my husband is the master of our grill.
Ingredients for Chicken Skewers:
2 Chicken Breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 bell pepper (optional), cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium onion (optional), cut into 1-inch pieces
1 zucchini (optional), cut into 1-inch rings
8 bamboo skewers
Ingredients for Marinade:
2 Tbsp mayo
4 Tbsp ranch
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Dash of Johny’s Seasoning, or paprika (optional)**
How to Make Grilled Garlic Chicken Skewers:
1. In a medium bowl, combine all marinade ingredients. Mix well.
2. Mix the chicken breast into marinade. Refrigerate 1 hour or more.
3. Fill a casserole dish with water and soak your wooden skewers in water until ready to use. This will prevent them from burning on the grill. Preheat the grill to medium heat when chicken is done marinating.
4. Load your skewers with chicken and veggies.
5. Grill chicken skewers over medium heat for about 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Turn chicken 3 times to ensure even cooking of all 4 sides of skewer.
Enjoy!!
Notes:
**Svetlana uses a bit of Johny’s Seasoning; be careful not to use too much as the chicken marinade has enough salt. You may like to add a dash of paprika instead.
I like the natural sweetness of veggies, but you may season them before putting them on your skewer.
Grilled Garlic Chicken Skewers
Ingredients
- 2 Chicken Breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 bell pepper, optional, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 medium onion, optional, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 zucchini, optional, cut into 1-inch rings
- 8 bamboo skewers
- 2 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 4 Tbsp ranch
- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- Dash of Johny's Seasoning, or paprika (optional)**
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine all marinade ingredients. Mix well.
- Mix the chicken breast into marinade. Refrigerate 1 hour or more.
- Fill a casserole dish with water and soak your wooden skewers in water until ready to use. This will prevent them from burning on the grill.
- Preheat the grill to medium heat when chicken is done marinating.
- Load your skewers with chicken and veggies.
- Grill chicken skewers over medium heat for about 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Turn chicken 3 times to ensure even cooking of all 4 sides of skewer.
Notes
Do you close the grill when there are cooking or leave it open?
Hi Patricia! You can leave it open.
Thank you for sharing!
Question: can you marinate and grill whole chicken instead of cutting it and making kabobs? Thanks!
Hi Lena, I imagine that will work with a few adjustments, if you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
Hello. This marinade looks delicious. Can I marinade chicken overnight and then freeze it?
Hi Kate, I haven’t tried freezing this recipe before, but chicken generally does freeze well. If you experiment, I’d love to know how it goes.
Can you marinate the veggies (onion and peppers) with the chicken overnight?
Hi Zay, we usually marinate it the night before grilling.
Hi There! Do you use ranch powder or actual ranch dressing?
Thank you!
Hi Hollei, we used the bottled ranch for this recipe.
My family LOVES this recipe. Easy to make a so so good. We are serving this Sunday for my daughter’s birthday dinner as her special request. I cook for 9 people and this is a great way to go. Also having some ribs, corn, salad, and your roasted cauliflower. Love how delicious and easy all your recipes are. XXOO
Yum! Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Cathy! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe.
I made these skewers tonight and they turned out really good. I used pineapple bites instead of onion pieces. I used paprika in the marinade and I used pepper and Italian herbs on the zucchini/squash. I’ll be making these again!
Wonderful! I’m glad that you loved the recipe, thanks for your good feedback.
Been doing those Shishkabobs for 5 years already. This is my to go recipe for chicken breast. This recipe is great. I am not sure how you will feel about it, but decided to tell you: I made Shishkabobs via this recipe [had to add salt to the recipe] for harvest celebration in our church and I received so many compliments and comments how good it is.
Thank you so much.
This is my second time making this recipe for huge crowd in church. Always received good comments how good and tasty it is.
Wow! That’s a great compliment! Sounds like you made it just right Natalie! Thank you for sharing this awesome feedback with me!
Wow! This was super easy and so flavorful. Will make again. Have you ever used Greek yogurt in place of mayo? Just wondering.
Can’t wait to share with my sisters. They love your site too.
Thank you for your wonderful feedback, Christine. I have not tried using green yogurt to advise, if you do an experiment please share with us how you liked it!
How far ahead can I marinate these? Wanted to try 2 kabob recipes from your site
Hi Alena, hope you saw my previous response. We usually marinate it the night before grilling.
Here is a Johnny’s Seasoning Salt knockoff I mashed up from several online possibilities & my own on-hand slices, because I can’t find it around here. (And because compared to ordering it online at 50 cents per ounce, this is about 80% cheaper.)
1 cup salt
4 tablespoons sugar
8 teaspoons smoked paprika
4 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons garlic salt
8 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
For a “hot” version add:
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes *or 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 teaspoons chili powder
Add ingredients to a pint-sized (16 ounce) mason jar, stir well and cover. Shake before using as you would a store bought version.
Thank you for sharing that with us, Lauren!
Maybe a dumb question, but the ingredient listed as “ranch” is Ranch salad dressing? Thanks!
That is correct, Maxine!
Hi Natasha, do you have any recipes for chicken tenderloins. Want to try something new.
Thanks
Tanya, nearly all of my chicken breast recipes can be substituted with chicken tenderloins.
Can you use chicken thigh instead of chicken breast?
Hi Sasha, yes that should work great.