24 Best Grilled Kabob Recipes

The word kebab is Turkish for "skewer." It's also spelled kabab, kabap, and kebap, and shish (or sheesh) kebab is likely the most familiar for many people. No matter what you call it, the kebab is simply meat threaded onto a skewer, either alone or with veggies, then grilled. The beauty of kebabs is that the large cubes of meat cook faster than whole cuts, so kebabs require just a few minutes on a hot grill.

These Grill Skewers Won’t Let Veggies, Meat, or Even Marshmallows Slip, Twist, or Burn

Tips For The Best Kebabs

• Many kebab recipes rely on a marinade, so you'll want to plan ahead and give at least 30 minutes to several hours for the flavors to permeate your protein of choice. This also makes for a great make-ahead opportunity -- marinating the protein overnight so that when it's time for grilling, all that needs to be done is thread the skewers.
• With everything prepped and the grill hot, don't forget to oil the grates directly with a bit of neutral oil using a paper towel. Then, be sure turn the kebabs often to ensure even cooking.

Which Skewers Should You Use?

When making kebabs you have two options: metal or wood/bamboo skewers. Metal options are convenient and reusable, and if you're making a ground-meat skewer like a koobideh, you will have the best success using wide metal skewers to shape the ground meat onto. For threading pieces of veggies or protein, you can use either metal or bamboo/wood. If you go the bamboo or wood route, you'll need to soak bamboo skewers so they don't burn or catch fire on the grill. About 30 minutes in water is plenty of time.