With the start of spring, these Tandoori Chicken Kebabs have been on our mind and are the perfect way to kick off grilling season! It probably has to do with the fact our Dad loves to grill and growing up our summers consisted of weekly family BBQ’s with copious amounts of food. One of his favorite grilled chicken recipes (and ours) is tandoori kebabs. How can you go wrong with a flavorful protein and veggies served up on skewers?  They’re beautiful and fun to eat!

These kebabs are marinated in a yogurt and oil mix along with robust spices – marinating this way ensures the grilled chicken will be moist and retain the great red color from the tandoori masala. After trying different tandoori masalas, none compare to Swad. If you don’t have it this should be a must in your pantry for grill season – it can be found at most Indian grocery stores or like most things, on Amazon.

So what are you waiting for, kick off grill season the way our family does– with Tandoori Chicken Kebabs!

Modifications: If you’re a vegetarian skip the chicken, this marinade works just as well with paneer (Indian cheese) or tofu.

Pairs With: These kebabs pair well with cilantro chutney and a bed of rice or quinoa.

Serving Size: Makes about 2 dinner servings or 4 appetizer servings

Ingredients:

• 1 lb chicken breast cubed (large enough to skewer)
• 1 medium onion cubed
• 1 bell pepper cubed
• 1 zucchini cut into round circles about 1/2 inch thick
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 2 tsp tandoori masala (highly recommend Swad’s Tandoori Masala)
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp red chili powder
• 1/2 tsp fennel powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lemon
• kebab skewers (if wooden soak them for 30mins before grilling)
• non-stick grill spray

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl combine greek yogurt, olive oil, salt, garam masala, fennel, red chili, cumin, tandoori masala and coriander powder to create a paste
2. Add in your chicken and mix until it’s well coated. Cover the bowl and refrigerate to marinate at least 4 hours, we generally like to let it marinate over night
3. Two hours before cooking the chicken, mix in the juice of 1/2 lemon and stir well – marinating the chicken longer than 2 hours in lemon juice can break down the meat, ruining the texture
4. 20 minutes prior to skewering the kebabs let them sit at room temperature
5. Skewer the kebabs, starting with zucchini, onion, bell pepper and chicken – repeat until the skewers have about 1 inch of space on each end of the skewer – be sure not to pack the skewers too tightly so you get an even grill.
6. Pre-heat your grill to 425F
7. Once your grill is at temperature, spray with grill safe non-stick spray and lay your skewers down – cooking about 5 minutes and rotating once to cook another 5 minutes until the chicken is cooked through (internal temperature of the chicken should be 175F or until the center is longer pink)
8. Serve hot with 1/2 of the remaining lemon cut into wedges