I’d just like to start by saying what a royal pain in the tookus these Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Kabobs were to make.
Yeah, I know this probably isn’t a good way to start things off and convince you to make them. It’s really not the kabob’s fault, no it’s my lack of a grill’s fault! I’m sure you remember me mentioning a couple of times that we are without a grill right now. Let me rephrase that, we are without a working grill right now. The grill itself is just sitting uselessly out on our deck, collecting dust, bird droppings, and who knows what else. It sits there in perfect view of the glass door, staring at me, taunting me, and daring me to go out and buy a new one. Me being the cheapo that I am refuses until a good sale comes up, which sadly probably won’t be until the end of summer. Don’t think for a second though that just because it will be fall by the time we get a new grill that I won’t be standing out on that deck in 50 degree weather grilling the heck out of everything! So that brings me back to the Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Kabobs.
Since I don’t have a working grill, I was once again forced to use my backup grill pan. While the grill pan works great for burgers, chicken, and other slabs of meat, it was quite tedious grilling kabobs on it. I suppose the biggest problem was that my skewers were too long and only two of them would fit in the center of the pan. They also took about twice the amount of time to cook than they typically take out on a real grill. By the time the first two skewers had cooked, I was hot, tired of standing over the stove, and beyond impatient. But because I love you guys and knew you needed to see a couple more of these delicious kabobs in the pictures, I proceeded to “grill” two more. Once the two kabobs were finish I threw the rest of the meat and veggies in the grill pan and sautéed them sans the skewers. Of course the presentation of those pieces wasn’t as pretty, but they still tasted good, and I had my sanity back. While the kabobs were cooking I cooked up some delicious cilantro lime rice which pairs perfectly with the kabobs since there is lime juice in the marinade as well. I added some chopped cilantro to the rice after it was finished cooking, because how could you NOT add cilantro, unless of course you are one of those odd balls that doesn’t like the taste (no offense).
I put the chicken and vegetable kabobs on top of the cilantro lime rice and sprinkled on a little more cilantro. The chicken was moist and flavorful thanks to the marinade it sat in all day. The taste is slightly salty from the soy sauce, a little tangy from the lime juice and rice wine vinegar, and has a kick of garlic and ginger to really amp up the flavor. The grilled mushrooms, zucchini, and onions are a perfect match with the chicken and rice. Other vegetables and fruit I’ve used in the past with these kabobs are, red or green bell peppers, yellow summer squash, and pineapple. While this story of the Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Kabobs with Cilantro Lime Rice didn’t start out well it ended well with all of those delicious flavors in my stomach. Most importantly I learned that kabobs are meant for a real grill or I should buy shorter skewers that actually fit in a grill pan, you’re welcome, I just saved you a lot of frustration.
Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Kabobs are super flavorful thanks to the delicious marinade. Serve them over delicious cilantro and lime rice.Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Kabobs with Cilantro Lime Rice
Ingredients
For the Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Kabobs
For the Cilantro Lime Rice
Instructions
To Make the Cilantro Lime Rice
I kept telling myself THIS would be the summer I go ahead and get a grill…but here we are, almost in August, and no grill. Still, these kabobs look amazing to me – I may have to coax my one of my friends to let me commandeer her grill for an afternoon and bribe her with free kabobs. That cilantro lime rice?! Yes please!
I swear every weekend we talk about getting a grill, but then the weekend passes and still no grill. I just know I’ll be out grilling this winter in 2 feet of snow! ;-)
Hahaha I just had this problem with skewererd in a grill pan, looks like yours still came out beautifully – mine, not so much…
Thanks Nicole! I think they need to make special sized skewers specifically for grill pans.
OMG I feel your pain! We live in an apartment where they don’t let us grill, so I ALWAYS have to grill pan it today. I actually shot kebabs today and had to cut the pieces, grill them, and then kebab them after! So annoying!
But these look SO good girl…And totally agree that people who don’t like cilantro are weird! Pinned! :)
Thanks Taylor! I feel better knowing I’m not the only grill-less food blogger at the moment. Kabobs are definitely a drag in the grill pan, I like your little trick of grilling the meat first and then skewering it, clever girl you are! ;-)
Sometimes you have to get creative! But girl, it’s grilling season so you need a plan. Have you tried a panini press? I’d rather use that than my grill pan any day. I actually am not in love with my grill pan either. The panini press is my option for when it’s cold, rainy, or we are out of propane.
Oh wow Bri, I never thought to use the panini press, what a great idea! I’ll definitely be trying that next time!
Love how you improvised, sometimes you just have to! And these turned out amazing!!
Thanks Matt, kitchen grilling definitely isn’t ideal, but sometimes you just gotta work with what you’ve got!