10 meat shish kebab recipes. Fry on the grill or in the oven!

On the eve of warm weather, many are thinking about how to cook kebab so that it is tender, juicy and flavorful. Experienced grillers know that 30% of the secret is provided by the correct marinade, 50% depends on the chosen meat and another 20% remains in the cooking process. By the way, you can cook not only meat over coals, but also fish, poultry, and even vegetables. For frying food, it is better to use ready-made coals. But if you are not looking for easy solutions, then you can use birch firewood. Coniferous wood cannot be used!

The grill should not be too deep. The closer the meat lies to the coals, the more juicy and cooked it will be. The meat should be cut into medium pieces. Large pieces may remain raw inside or burn on the outside; small pieces can easily dry out.

How to cook delicious kebab: basic secrets

Classic kebabs are made from lamb or pork. An equally tasty option is made from beef, poultry and rabbit. Fish is perfect on the grill. You can cook offal on coals: hearts, kidneys, liver. Unlike meat and fish, offal is not pickled. They are simply soaked for half an hour in salted water and fried over coals. The fish is cooked in foil.

Some tricks will help you prepare tender and flavorful kebab:

The marinade must be prepared using spices and acid, which will soften the collagen fibers. You can use kefir, lemon juice, and fruit as sour ingredients. You don't need to cook too much marinade. This is due to the fact that during the cooking process the meat will release juice. Excess liquid can spoil the taste of the product;
The larger the pieces, the longer they marinate;
Meat should be marinated in a container that does not oxidize. It is better to choose glass containers, plastic or enamel forms.

Marinade

Marinating is one of the most important stages in preparing barbecue, although some believe that good meat does not need any marinade. The reason for this belief dates back to the past, when the main task of the marinade was to soften tough meat, which could at least be chewed only after being kept in vinegar or other acidic medium. We really don’t need vinegar - but as a way to give the product the taste and aroma of herbs and spices, marinating is useful even in the case of excellent quality meat.

Let's assume both a dry marinade - that is, simply spices that are used to season the meat some time before cooking - and a liquid one. In this case, the basis may be vegetable oil or a moderately acidic liquid - wine, kefir, onion juice, yogurt. Everyone has their own marinade recipe, proven by the experience of generations, but here are a few common mistakes that should be avoided if you do not plan to spoil the kebab:

Do not overuse acidic environments. The juice of half a lemon or a little wine vinegar may not do any harm and will even give the kebab its flavor, but too much acid will make the meat, albeit soft, but completely tasteless. If you do decide to marinate meat in an acidic environment, do not do it for too long.
When marinating, it is better to under-salt the meat - otherwise it will release too much juice, and the finished kebab will turn out a little dry.
Putting too many different spices is a bad idea. Our task is to reveal and complement the taste of the original product, and not kill it. Plus, even with moderate seasoning, you simply won't recognize all the spices you added to the marinade.
Marinate the kebab for at least several hours. Ideally, overnight (if you haven’t abused acid). Otherwise, the effect of pickling will be so unnoticeable that there is no need to fence the garden. However, the exact time that should be allocated for marinating depends on the original product and the recipe for the marinade itself.
Do not marinate shish kebab in mayonnaise. No matter what they tell you, it is not intended for this.

Time-tested combinations include pork and onions, lamb and cumin with coriander, or rosemary, garlic and black pepper. On this site you will find recipes for other barbecue marinades.

Honey marinated shish kebab recipe

The recipe for delicious shish kebab with honey marinade will be appreciated by gourmets and all meat lovers. It cooks quite quickly. The marinade is ideal for all types of meat, and is especially good for poultry and rabbit. Mustard or soy sauce is used as an additional component.

Honey will make the meat incredibly tender. There will be no sweet taste. Once you have prepared this marinade, you will always cook barbecue only with it!

Ingredients:

· Pork (neck or tenderloin) – 2 kg; · Honey – 3 tablespoons; · Mustard – 3 tablespoons; · Onions – 4 medium heads. It is better to use red onion, it will emphasize the delicate taste of the marinade; · A mixture of peppers, paprika, thyme – 2-3 pinches each; · Salt – to taste; · Olive oil – 2 tablespoons; · Lemon juice – 2 tablespoons.

Honey marinated shish kebab recipe

Cooking method:

Mix all liquid ingredients (honey, mustard, lemon juice and oil) together;
We wash the meat, dry it and cut it into 4-5 cm cubes. It is important that the pieces are all the same size;
Pepper the pork, add a little salt, rub with a mixture of spices;
Cut the onion into half rings and send to the pork;
Pour the marinade over the pork, mix well and put under pressure;
It is better to marinate pork for 8-12 hours;
Thread the meat onto skewers, alternating with vegetables;
Fry the kebab on hot coals. It is important that there is no open flame. The coals should be distributed evenly;
Keep an eye on the meat and turn it over as needed;
Serve the kebab hot with your favorite sauces and bread.

On the grill

Cooking shish kebab correctly is a small trick: meat cooked outdoors, and in good company, is quite difficult to spoil. But it is possible. By following these tips, you will be able to avoid a fiasco and prepare first-class kebab:

Mount the kebab correctly. A lot depends on how you place the meat on the skewer: it is better to place pieces of pork and chicken separately from each other - this way they will cook faster and better inside - and beef and lamb, on the contrary, close to each other to maintain juiciness.
Turn the meat constantly. Most barbecues are made in such a way that each skewer can be placed in four or even eight different positions; you should not skimp on this: by regularly turning the skewers with kebab, you can achieve a uniform golden brown crust on the outside and uniform roasting on the inside.
Keep fire away. If you are cooking fatty meat, the fat will drip onto the coals and immediately ignite, and the flames will happily lick your kebab. In fact, there is nothing fun here: the outside of such meat will be cooked and even burnt, but the inside will remain raw. To prevent this, you can move the coals to the side or carefully, so as not to raise a whirlwind of ash, pour the marinade over the meat and coals. However, from time to time, basting or coating the kebab with marinade is not a bad idea in any case, because this way it will turn out more juicy.
Swap skewers. If some skewers cook faster than others, swap them periodically, or better yet, stir the coals to ensure even heat.
Monitor the readiness of the meat. Having become a little more experienced in cooking shish kebab, you will be able to determine readiness “by eye,” but it’s a good idea to cut one of the pieces to check how ready it is inside. This is especially important when preparing chicken and pork kebabs.
Let the meat rest for a while. Do not remove the meat from the skewer immediately, let it rest for a minute or two - this way less juice will flow out of it.
The right choice of side dishes and drinks is no less important than the actual preparation of the kebab. If with the first everything is simple - fresh or grilled vegetables, fresh bread and a lot of herbs, then among drinks you should pay attention to dry wine or mineral water: beer, which often accompanies barbecue, in most cases does not fit with it at all.

That's the whole secret. Not so difficult, right? And you can find recipes for putting this theory into practice in one of these collections:

10 best recipes for barbecue and grilling
Recipes for barbecue and grilling from a selection of recipes for the summer.

Exquisite recipe for beef shish kebab

Compared to chicken and pork, beef is considered a fairly tough meat. Therefore, it is quite difficult to prepare it soft. But a properly selected marinade will help with this.

Dry red wine is considered the ideal base. It contains many acids that will soften collagen fibers and make the meat tender in taste. The shish kebab will taste more original if you include a large amount of your favorite seasonings in the marinade.

Ingredients:

· Dry red wine – 2 glasses of 200 ml; · Onions – 3 heads; · Favorite seasonings – 2 tablespoons; · Salt and black pepper – to taste; · Beef tenderloin – 2 kg.

Exquisite recipe for beef shish kebab

Cooking method:

We clean the meat from veins and films, wash it and divide it into 4 cm pieces;
Cut the onion into half rings and squeeze it over the meat, then mix well. It is important that the onion gives juice;
Add seasonings to the meat and mix well again;
Pour wine over the beef and leave to marinate for 1-3 hours at room temperature. Fresh meat is marinated for about 1 hour. If
the beef is old, then the time increases to 3 hours;
Fry the shish kebab as in the previous recipe.

The recipe for shish kebab with red wine is a quick option. The wine perfectly softens the meat, making it incredibly tender.

How to grill kebab

Many people are concerned about how long to fry the kebab so that the meat is soft, but it is more correct to ask not “how much”, but “how”. Coal or firewood, turning up the heat or not, turning often or 2 times is enough - all these are important points in preparing the most summer dish.

So, first, make sure that the grill contains only hot, but no longer burning coals of approximately the same size. Then place the skewers on the grill close to each other, literally as a solid wall. The distance from the coals to the meat should be 10-15 cm. Turn the kebab every 5-7 minutes, keeping the coals hot with a fan. Of course, some people like their meat rare, while others like it deep-fried, but on average the kebab takes the following amount of time to cook:

chicken – 20-25 minutes;
from pork – 25-30 minutes;
beef – 35-40 minutes;
lamb – 35-40 minutes;
from turkey – 20-25 minutes.

To determine if the meat is ready, remove one skewer and cut a piece. It should look cooked, without blood, but with juice.

Although many people water the coals while grilling shish kebab, this is wrong, and it is advisable not to do so. A flashing flame indicates either that the temperature of the coals is too high or that fat is dripping onto them. In both cases, it is better to remove the kebab for a while and let the fire go out on its own. By pouring water over the coals, you change the temperature too quickly and raise ash, which settles on the meat. Both of these factors negatively affect the result.

Red fish shish kebab recipe

Red fish is great for cooking over charcoal. It turns out incredibly tender and fragrant. You should not marinate fish for a long time. As a rule, it takes no more than half an hour. Vinegar-based marinades should be avoided. This component will make the fish tough.

If you are using large fish fillets, you can cut them into large pieces. If desired, the fish is cut into steaks, which are fried on the grill. If spices do not interfere with meat, then you should not interrupt the taste of fish with numerous seasonings. If desired, you can serve fresh herbs with the fish kebab.

Ingredients:

· Steaks or fillets of red fatty fish – 1 kg; · Dry white wine – 150 ml; · Olive oil – 2 tablespoons; · Onion – 1 head; · Salt, black pepper - to taste.

Red fish shish kebab recipe

Cooking method:

The wine is mixed with olive oil and black pepper;
We wash the fish and cut it into pieces. Marinate the steaks whole;
Pour the marinade over the fish and leave for half an hour;
Salt to taste and fry over hot coals.

Shish kebab in garlic marinade

You will need:

Pork – 1 kg;
Garlic – ½ head;
Onion – 1-2 pcs.;
Vinegar – 2 tbsp. l.;
Water – 8 tbsp. l.;
Vegetable oil – 2 tbsp. l.;
Salt and spices - to taste.

Wash the meat, dry it a little and cut into portions. Peel and cut the onion into half rings, chop (pass through a meat grinder or grate) the garlic. Combine onion, garlic, salt and spices. Pour in vinegar, water and vegetable oil. Add the meat to the marinade and mix thoroughly. Leave the meat for 2-3 hours, and then send it to the grill.

The most delicious vegetable kebab recipe

Vegetable kebabs are an excellent dish during the summer season. They can be served on their own or as a side dish for meat or fish. Vegetables cooked on hot coals retain all their vitamins. They are incredibly tasty and aromatic.

If you plan to fry several types of vegetables on one skewer, then you need to choose the right thickness of the pieces. Vegetables that cook quickly are cut into thicker slices than those that take longer to cook.

Ingredients:

· Cherry tomatoes – 10-12 pieces; · Zucchini – 2 pieces; · Eggplant – 2 pieces; · Corn on the cob – 1 piece; · Bell pepper – 2 pieces; · Champignons – 200 grams; · Lemon – 1 piece; · Olive oil – 2 tablespoons; · Salt and black pepper – to taste; · Garlic – 4 cloves; · Basil – 2 sprigs; · Rosemary – a pinch.

The most delicious vegetable kebab recipe

Cooking method:

Wash the vegetables, cut into pieces;
Wash the lemon and roll it over the table several times until a citrus smell appears. Manipulation will help soften the fruit and squeeze more juice out of it;
Mix lemon juice with olive oil, garlic and spices passed through a press;
Place the prepared vegetables in a bag and pour marinade over them. Tie the bag, shake the contents well and leave for 20 minutes;
Place the vegetables on a skewer along with the mushrooms. Bake for 10 minutes on each side.

Shish kebab cooked on coals has high taste characteristics. That's why he has so many fans. When cooking meat and vegetables in nature, a special atmosphere is created that improves your mood. Therefore, you need to cook kebabs as often as possible!

…and not only

If we talk about non-meat kebabs, fish, seafood, vegetables and mushrooms come to mind. In principle, any fish will do for barbecue, but if we want our kebab to be tasty and juicy, we need to focus on fish with medium fat content. The recognized king of fish kebab is sturgeon; the fish is expensive, but delicious; other suitable options are salmon and catfish. Of course, smaller or flatter fish can also be cooked on coals, but we will only call kebab what can be put on a skewer. Almost anything from seafood is also suitable for barbecue, but it’s unlikely that anything compares to large shrimp skewered directly in the shell: they don’t really need to be marinated.

Shish kebab made from vegetables and mushrooms is not necessarily the lot of vegetarians, because baked over hot coals, with a smoky aroma, such vegetables themselves are no worse than any meat. An ideal and very common option for vegetable kebab is bell peppers, young zucchini and zucchini, eggplants, tomatoes, and onions. Among mushrooms, champignons and porcini mushrooms are the undisputed leaders - the former are inexpensive, the latter are tasty, and both can be eaten raw, so there is no need to be afraid of under-heating the kebab over the coals.