These Jamaican Jerk Chicken Kebabs will be a hit with friends and family at your next summer barbecue! They are packed full of that traditional jerk flavor and lightened and brightened with some lime and pineapple. They are a party in your mouth!
Barbecuing is so fun and is one of my favorite things to do when getting together with friends or family in the summertime. The hot summer air, bare feet, sprinklers, and sparklers, the hum of conversation and bursts of laughter. And of course, the occasional short freak rainstorm to interrupt it all. There's nothing quite like barbecuing on a summer night. If you love jerk, also try our Jerk Chicken Tacos or Jerk Chicken Rasta Pasta.
If I'm being honest, kebabs have never been my favorite. I love the onions, pineapple and peppers, but the chicken always seems dry and bland. I wanted to make something with a good punch of flavor, and jerk chicken came to mind. But I wanted to brighten the flavor a bit and make it more summery. That's where the lime and pineapple come in. And holy cow is it good!
How to Make Jerk Chicken Kebabs:
These are really simple and straightforward to make. First, marinade the chicken. Just combine all marinade ingredients then dump them on the chicken. You can cut the chicken up before marinading, or after. You'll want them about 1-1 ½ inches square, but no thicker than 1", or it won't cook through. The longer it marinades, the better. I like to start my marinade either the day before or in the morning before I'm going to use it. Next, cut up your peppers, onion and pineapple. If you're able to, save the pineapple juice. If not, canned juice from pineapple tidbits or chunks works too. Nice 1 ½ inch bell pepper squares work well for kebabs, but mine always end up random sizes. I usually cut my onion in half, then each half into sixths if it's a large onion, quarters if it's a medium sized onion.
Next, assemble the kebabs. At about this point, start preheating the grill to medium high. To assemble, get the skewers and start putting on the food. This part can be done at random or using a repeating pattern. I like my chicken next to the onion and pineapple to absorb their flavors a bit more. After they're assembled, sprinkle the remaining jerk seasoning onto the kebabs.
Grill for 10 or so minutes per side. How long they take largely depends on how many you jam onto the grill, so if you don't have a lot, start them at around 5 minutes per side.
Follow these up with some fun 4th of July fruit pizzas or strawberry cheesecake mousse pie!
Jerk Chicken Kebabs
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds of chicken breasts
- 1 pineapple
- 4 bell peppers
- 1 large red onion
For the marinade:
- ⅓ cup pineapple juice
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 3 Tablespoons light brown sugar
- 1 package jerk seasoning .8 - 1.0 ounce sizemeasure out 2 teaspoons and reserve for later
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- ½ teasoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- 2-24 hours before cooking kebabs, make the chicken marinade
- Mix by hand pineapple juice, lime juice, olive oil, light brown sugar, jerk seasoning, minced garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl.
- Marinade 2-24 hours
- Chop pineapple.
- Chop bell peppers into 1.5 inch squares
- Chop onion by slicing in half, then cutting each half into 6 pieces if it's large, 4 if it's medium.
- Preheat grill to medium high heat.
- Push bell peppers, onions, chicken and pineapple onto each skewer until full. Any order works great! I personally like the chicken next to the pineapple and onion so it can absorb some of the flavor.
- Lightly sprinkle the remaining jerk seasoning over the kebabs.
- Grill! Depending how full your grill is will determine how long they take to cook. If you have a small grill and fill it up, they'll take about 10 minutes per side. If your grill isn't full, turn every 5 minutes until done.
- Allow to cool and enjoy!
JC
We had these with friends and they were a huge hit. The flavor is just out of this world good. Excited to make again