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Grilled Garlic Chicken Skewers

Grilled garlic chicken skewers on a white plate

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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 They are originally made with just the chicken on the skewer.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

Vegetables for grilled garlic chicken 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.

grilled-garlic-chicken-skewers

2. Mix the chicken breast into marinade. Refrigerate 1 hour or more.

grilled-garlic-chicken-skewers-1

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.

Skewers in a pan with water

4. Load your skewers with chicken and veggies.

Raw garlic chicken skewers in a plate

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.

grilled-garlic-chicken-skewers-2

Grilled garlic chicken skewers on a plate beside the grill

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

5 from 15 votes
Author: Natasha of NatashasKitchen.com
Grilled garlic chicken skewers on a white plate
Marinated and grilled chicken skewers with vegetables are perfect for grilling season.
Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients 

Servings: 6 -8
  • 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 mayo
  • 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

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.
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: grilled chicken skewers
Skill Level: Easy
Cost to Make: $
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Natasha Kravchuk

Welcome to my kitchen! I am Natasha, the creator behind Natasha's Kitchen (established in 2009), and I share family-friendly, authentic recipes. I am a New York Times Best-Selling cookbook author and a trusted video personality in the culinary world. My husband, Vadim, and I run this blog together, ensuring every recipe we share is thoroughly tested and approved. Our mission is to provide you with delicious, reliable recipes you can count on. Thanks for stopping by! I am so happy you are here.

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5 from 15 votes (7 ratings without comment)

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Comments

  • Patricia
    November 6, 2024

    Do you close the grill when there are cooking or leave it open?

    Reply

    • NatashasKitchen.com
      November 6, 2024

      Hi Patricia! You can leave it open.

      Reply

  • Lena
    June 5, 2023

    Thank you for sharing!
    Question: can you marinate and grill whole chicken instead of cutting it and making kabobs? Thanks!

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      June 5, 2023

      Hi Lena, I imagine that will work with a few adjustments, if you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.

      Reply

  • Kate
    April 27, 2023

    Hello. This marinade looks delicious. Can I marinade chicken overnight and then freeze it?

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      April 27, 2023

      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.

      Reply

  • Zay
    July 3, 2022

    Can you marinate the veggies (onion and peppers) with the chicken overnight?

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      July 4, 2022

      Hi Zay, we usually marinate it the night before grilling.

      Reply

  • Hollei
    May 14, 2021

    Hi There! Do you use ranch powder or actual ranch dressing?
    Thank you!

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      May 14, 2021

      Hi Hollei, we used the bottled ranch for this recipe.

      Reply

  • Cathy mallon
    April 16, 2021

    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

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      April 16, 2021

      Yum! Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Cathy! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe.

      Reply

  • Jeannie
    February 20, 2021

    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!

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      February 21, 2021

      Wonderful! I’m glad that you loved the recipe, thanks for your good feedback.

      Reply

  • Natalie
    October 14, 2020

    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.

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      October 14, 2020

      Wow! That’s a great compliment! Sounds like you made it just right Natalie! Thank you for sharing this awesome feedback with me!

      Reply

  • Christine
    May 26, 2020

    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.

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      May 26, 2020

      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!

      Reply

  • Alena
    June 17, 2019

    How far ahead can I marinate these? Wanted to try 2 kabob recipes from your site

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      June 17, 2019

      Hi Alena, hope you saw my previous response. We usually marinate it the night before grilling.

      Reply

  • Lauren
    May 19, 2019

    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.

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      May 19, 2019

      Thank you for sharing that with us, Lauren!

      Reply

  • Maxine
    April 3, 2019

    Maybe a dumb question, but the ingredient listed as “ranch” is Ranch salad dressing? Thanks!

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      April 3, 2019

      That is correct, Maxine!

      Reply

  • Tanya
    November 8, 2017

    Hi Natasha, do you have any recipes for chicken tenderloins. Want to try something new.

    Thanks

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      November 8, 2017

      Tanya, nearly all of my chicken breast recipes can be substituted with chicken tenderloins.

      Reply

  • Sasha
    October 27, 2017

    Can you use chicken thigh instead of chicken breast?

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      October 28, 2017

      Hi Sasha, yes that should work great.

      Reply

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