These easy, moist, and tender chicken kabobs start with honey garlic marinade, then grilled with vegetables making a great sweet and savory healthy meal with an Asian flavor.
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😊Why you should make this recipe.
- A nice but not overwhelming taste of honey combines with the soy sauce to give a great Asian taste.
- A kick-up amount of garlic for great flavor.
- Tender and moist chicken and charred vegetables.
- This is an easy recipe to cut in half for only two kabobs. Or to scale way up for a party.
- An excellent chicken kabob and so easy to make.
Roughly based on an Allrecipe.com recipe but I backed off the honey and soy sauce a tad and pumped up the garlic. I find many recipes crank up the honey too much for my taste. And I backed off the soy some to keep the sodium down.
🐓Ingredients
- Chicken—skinless boneless chicken breasts
- Bell peppers—any color
- Red onion
Marinade
- Olive oil
- Soy sauce - Low Sodium
- Honey
- Garlic
- Pepper
👨🍳How to Make Honey Garlic Chicken Kabobs
- Prep bell peppers and red onions.
- Trim skinless boneless chicken breasts and chop them into approximately 1-inch cubes.
- Add the chicken and veggies to a one-gallon ZipLock bag. Add olive oil, soy sauce, honey, pepper, and crushed garlic—mix well.
- Seal bag and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 2 hours.
- Preheat grill to 450°-500° surface temperature.
- Place meat and veggies on kabob skewers.
- Grill over direct heat and grill until the internal temperature of the chicken is 165°. Total cooking time 25-30 minutes.
✔️Tips
Skewers
I usually use metal skewers, especially for chicken where some transfer of heat along the metal will help the cooking.
But wood skewers are fine. You must soak them in water before using so they don't burn (yes, they will burn). A warm water soak of 15-30 minutes will do.
Vegetable Kabobs
If cooked on separate kabobs, the standard onion and bell peppers will cook a bit faster than the chicken. But if mixed in with the chicken, they will take about the same time.
Some vegetables will require different cooking times. A good example would be potatoes which take much longer. So you need to be aware of the needed cooking times for your vegetables.
Recipe Size
This is a recipe that is crying to cut in half for two servings. We had company, and I needed four. So pictures were for four, so I wrote it that way. Obviously, scale to what you need.
❓FAQs
Chicken thighs will work fine, but using a final internal temperature of 185°. And with the final internal temperature, cooking time will go up a bit. I suggest doing separate vegetable kabobs to prevent them from burning.
Use either a gas or charcoal grill.
Gas Grill: This is the preferred cooking method. This recipe uses a grill surface temperature of about 450°. That is about medium or slightly above on most gas grills.
Charcoal Grill: Cooking chicken over charcoal should be over medium heat also and not over the raging coals.
For more information on grill temperature, please see A Beginners Guide to Grill Temperature on a Gas Grill.
Just pop them in the oven on a tray at 450° for about 20 minutes. As always, you are cooking to a final internal temperature and not by time alone so thigh meat will take longer than breast meat. Time varies by the oven, the tray, and the size of the chicken chunks.
🍽️Serving and leftovers
Serve with summer-type side dishes like corn on the cob, grilled vegetables, potato salad, or other summer salads.
Store leftover chicken and vegetables in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 3 days. The chicken can be frozen for 3 months but do not freeze the leftover vegetables.
📖Kabob Recipes
Buttermilk Ranch Chicken Kabobs
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
The ingredients are things I almost always have in the house.
Prep two peppers (any color) and two medium red onions. Chop into chunks.
Trim two skinless boneless chicken breasts and chop them into 1-inch chunks.
Add the chicken and veggies to a one-gallon ZipLock bag. Add ¼ cup of olive oil, ¼ cup of low-sodium soy sauce, and ¼ cup of honey. Add ½ teaspoon of black pepper and 4 cloves of crushed garlic. Seal the bag and mix well. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to 2 hours.
Preheat grill to 450°-500° surface temperature.
Place meat and veggies on kabob skewers.
Grill over direct heat. Rotate ¼ turn every 6-7 minutes. Cook until the internal temp of the chicken is 165°. Check the thickest pieces near the center of the kabobs. Total cooking time 25-30 minutes.
Serve hot off the grill.
📝Recipe
Chicken Kabobs with Honey Garlic Marinade
Ingredients
- 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts - 1 ½ to 2 pounds
- 2 peppers - any color
- 2 red onion - medium
Marinade
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup soy sauce - Low Sodium
- ¼ cup honey
- 4 cloves garlic
- ½ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Prep two peppers (any color) and two medium red onions. Chop into chunks.
- Trim two skinless boneless chicken breasts and chop them into 1-inch cubes.
- Add the chicken and veggies to a one-gallon ZipLock bag. Add ¼ cup of olive oil, ¼ cup of low-sodium soy sauce, and ¼ cup of honey. Add ½ teaspoon of black pepper and 4 cloves of crushed garlic. Seal the bag and mix well. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to 2 hours.
- Preheat grill to 450°-500° surface temperature.
- Place meat and veggies on kabob skewers.
- Grill over direct heat. Rotate ¼ turn every 6-7 minutes. Cook until the internal temp of the chicken is 165°. Check the thickest pieces near the center of the kabobs. Total cooking time 25-30 minutes.
- Serve hot off the grill.
Your Own Private Notes
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- A very easy recipe to cut in half or scale up for the amount you need.
- You can use thigh meat, but I suggest using a final internal temperature of 185°. And cook separate vegetable kabobs to prevent burning.
- I prefer metal skewers since they will transfer heat to the center of the chicken.
- You can use wooden skewers but be sure to soak them in water for about 30 minutes to prevent them from catching on fire.
- The grill temperature needs to be in the 450°-500° range.
- You can also bake these in an oven. About 20 minutes at 450°.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Originally published April 24, 2016. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Susan
Would it be advantageous to brine the chicken first?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Susan,
The soy sauce (even the low sodium) has lots of salt already. It acts a little like a brine. So I wouldn't bother.
Dan
Patty
As expected this was delicious!! I've found its easier & less messy to put everything on the skewers before I marinating. Depending on how big I'm making them I may have to marinade in a pan instead of a bag. Thanks for your great recipes!!
DrDan
I have a tupperware container specifically made for marinading. But I had something else in it plus I try to do a technique the readers can follow, so the bag won. So you don't like chicken stuff on your fingers....
Thanks so much for the note.
Dan
Jual Genset
Hmm so tasty, thank you for share this recipe, so i can try it at home.
Cindy
Sounds delicious as many of your recipes. I see in the photo looks like you are grilling small potatoes in the pan next to the skewers. Do you have a recipe for those? I never know whether to parboil or not and seasonings. Thank you!
DrDan
Hi Cindy, Thanks for the comment.
The potatoes are something my wife brought home are called "tiny potatoes". They are white skinned and about 1 inch to a little less. No real instructions came with them so I made it up. Since I was controlling the surface temp in this recipe at 450, think of it as an oven. So I coated with olive oil and gave them a good coating of my 7:2:2 (see Food FAQs in the menu). Into a grill pan and stir when I flipped the kabobs every 6-7 minutes. At about 15 minutes I added a couple of cut up squash. Cook another 10-15 minutes and everything was done just as the kabobs were done. I know somebody was going to ask.
DrDan