Chicken and Pineapple Veggie Shishkabobs
What can you fix for a grilling picnic that satisfies yet keeps you healthy on Labor Day?
Grill you up some KJ’s Kabobs.
Ok, the name is a little corny, but my family came up with it and well, they are really good, so bear with me!
The great thing about kabobs is, that you can cut up whatever floats your boat, put them out on a platter or bowls, and let everyone make their own special skewer. Whether you own some metal ones like we do, or just purchase some inexpensive wooden ones (make sure you soak them in water first so they don’t catch on fire!), you’re bound to make a special artistic creation that tastes great.
We like chicken kabobs, but you can also use beef tenderloin or even sirloin steak cut into cubes…let me show you how we make them.(Watch us make these on Rise & Shine by clicking play below!)
To begin, marinade your chicken. Do you like white or dark meat chicken? Our family almost all loves chicken thighs now. They don’t tend to dry out as much.
We like this marinade…Mix together two cups of pineapple juice with 1/3 cup of soy sauce, 1/2 t. cayenne pepper, 2/3 cup of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of honey. Mix it all up well in a small saucepan on the stove. It’s delicious and hits the sweet, sour and spicy parts of your tongue to really flavor up these Kabobs!
Reserve 1 cup of the marinade and place it over medium heat and reduce it by one half the size. This will be the glaze you brush over your finished kabobs on the grill. When it’s ready, it will be sort of syrupy and have darkened in color.
Cut up your chicken in bite size pieces and add them into a bag with the remaining mixture which will be your marinade. Zip up the bag and squish with your hands from the outside. Let marinade for about 30 minutes to one hour.
Now, chop your red pepper into about the same size pieces. Put them in a bowl.
Grab your fresh pineapple. Chop off the leaves at the end like Mr. Wonderful did. If you don’t have a Mr. Wonderful, you should get one. He is a great chopper/prepper and he’s just as good inside as he looks outside!
But you can’t have mine, he’s spoken for!
Stand your pineapple up on one of the flat surfaces and start slicing off the sides, by starting at the top and slicing downward. Really try to get more of those brown “eyes” off than in this picture though. Those don’t feel good when you’re chewing.
Now chop off the other end. Flat surfaces are your friend…remember that! Now cut the pineapple in half lengthwise. Place it flat side down and cut it across it to make slices.
Then you have to make a V cut to cut out the hard inner core piece on each piece. Now cut into chunks about the same size as your red pepper and chicken.
Put your pineapple into another bowl. Chop your onion into quarters. Cut off the ends. Peel off the outer layer of peel. Cut in half. Now cut each half into quarters.
Put your chopped onions in a bowl. You can also just put everything in sections onto one giant platter. And hey, I would probably do that way, come to think of it, as there’d only be one dish to wash!
Other options that we love to put on our Kabobs are – sliced zucchini squash rounds, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, or whatever floats your boat! It’s fun to be creative!
Now beging threading your skewers. We like to put the red pepper and onion on eithe side of the chicken as it kind of permeates the chicken with their flavor. You can arrange them however you want.
If you have leftover of anything just thread it on a skewer and grill it.
You’re gonna pull everything off the skewers anyway onto your plate so it doesn’t have to be exact. Now take your skewers out to the BBQ and grill, flipping every few minutes to evenly heat them.
Check your thickest meat with a meat thermometer and make sure you have at least 160 degrees in the center part of your meat.Just when you have about 2 minutes left, start to brush them with the glaze that you’ve reduced. Remember the ends of the skewers are super hot! So remove them with some tongs!
Look at those beauties! The colors are so pretty! These are so much fun to fix for dinner guests. It will make them feel special and loved.
Remove to a platter. A t my house this means a plastic one that no one can drop and break out on the patio.
We usually serve with oven potatoes or rice, and a veggie. Today we had jasmine rice and green beans almondine (recipe coming soon). You will love these amazing kabobs and want to make them often!
- 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs or 4 chicken breasts
- 1 large red bell pepper
- 1 large fresh pineapple
- 1 large red onion
- 1 8 oz. package cremini mushrooms
- 2 cup pineapple juice
- ⅓ c. soy sauce
- ⅔ c. brown sugar
- ⅓ c. honey
- ½ t. cayenne pepper
- Cut chicken into bite size pieces.
- Mix pineapple juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, honey, and cayenne pepper together. Reserve half of the mixture into a small saucepan and pour the remaining marinade into a gallon baggie or large shallow dish.
- Add chicken and marinate one hour.
- Bring reserved marinade to a simmer and continue to simmer until it reduces by half the volume, and becomes syrupy like a glaze.
- Remove chicken from marinade and discard marinade.
- Thread onto skewers in this order - red pepper, chicken, onion, pineapple, mushroom (repeat until skewer is full).
- Grill over medium heat about 15 minutes, turning halfway through or until chicken internal temperature reaches 165º.
- During the last 2-3 minutes of grilling, baste the Kabobs with the syrupy glaze.
1 Comments
Debra
August 29, 2012 at 3:56 pm