Grilled Garlic Chicken Skewers
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Ukrainian people love shish kabobs. My sister Svetlana made these grilled garlic Chicken Skewers at her housewarming party. It was love at first taste. She got the recipe from my cousin Katya in Washington. It’s simple and very good. I was always just marinating in mayo.
The addition of ranch and “as much garlic as you can handle” (-Katya) makes this the most mouth-watering chicken I’ve tried. They are originally made with just the chicken on the skewer. I made them into a shish kabob; loaded with bell pepper, onion and zucchini. Thank you Katya for this very tasty recipe!
Just make sure that when you preheat your grill: open the grill, then turn on the gas and then light the fire. Otherwise, the gas will accumulate and can cause a pretty scary boom. I’m not sure how I didn’t know that before. Obviously, my husband is the master of our grill.
Ingredients for Chicken Skewers:
2 Chicken Breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 bell pepper (optional), cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium onion (optional), cut into 1-inch pieces
1 zucchini (optional), cut into 1-inch rings
8 bamboo skewers
Ingredients for Marinade:
2 Tbsp mayo
4 Tbsp ranch
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Dash of Johny’s Seasoning, or paprika (optional)**
How to Make Grilled Garlic Chicken Skewers:
1. In a medium bowl, combine all marinade ingredients. Mix well.
2. Mix the chicken breast into marinade. Refrigerate 1 hour or more.
3. Fill a casserole dish with water and soak your wooden skewers in water until ready to use. This will prevent them from burning on the grill. Preheat the grill to medium heat when chicken is done marinating.
4. Load your skewers with chicken and veggies.
5. Grill chicken skewers over medium heat for about 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Turn chicken 3 times to ensure even cooking of all 4 sides of skewer.
Enjoy!!
Notes:
**Svetlana uses a bit of Johny’s Seasoning; be careful not to use too much as the chicken marinade has enough salt. You may like to add a dash of paprika instead.
I like the natural sweetness of veggies, but you may season them before putting them on your skewer.
Grilled Garlic Chicken Skewers
Ingredients
- 2 Chicken Breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 bell pepper, optional, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 medium onion, optional, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 zucchini, optional, cut into 1-inch rings
- 8 bamboo skewers
- 2 Tbsp mayo
- 4 Tbsp ranch
- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- Dash of Johny's Seasoning, or paprika (optional)**
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine all marinade ingredients. Mix well.
- Mix the chicken breast into marinade. Refrigerate 1 hour or more.
- Fill a casserole dish with water and soak your wooden skewers in water until ready to use. This will prevent them from burning on the grill.
- Preheat the grill to medium heat when chicken is done marinating.
- Load your skewers with chicken and veggies.
- Grill chicken skewers over medium heat for about 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Turn chicken 3 times to ensure even cooking of all 4 sides of skewer.
Notes
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Thank you for sharing!
Question: can you marinate and grill whole chicken instead of cutting it and making kabobs? Thanks!
Hi Lena, I imagine that will work with a few adjustments, if you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
Hello. This marinade looks delicious. Can I marinade chicken overnight and then freeze it?
Hi Kate, I haven’t tried freezing this recipe before, but chicken generally does freeze well. If you experiment, I’d love to know how it goes.
Can you marinate the veggies (onion and peppers) with the chicken overnight?
Hi Zay, we usually marinate it the night before grilling.
Hi There! Do you use ranch powder or actual ranch dressing?
Thank you!
Hi Hollei, we used the bottled ranch for this recipe.
My family LOVES this recipe. Easy to make a so so good. We are serving this Sunday for my daughter’s birthday dinner as her special request. I cook for 9 people and this is a great way to go. Also having some ribs, corn, salad, and your roasted cauliflower. Love how delicious and easy all your recipes are. XXOO
Yum! Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Cathy! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe.
I made these skewers tonight and they turned out really good. I used pineapple bites instead of onion pieces. I used paprika in the marinade and I used pepper and Italian herbs on the zucchini/squash. I’ll be making these again!
Wonderful! I’m glad that you loved the recipe, thanks for your good feedback.
Been doing those Shishkabobs for 5 years already. This is my to go recipe for chicken breast. This recipe is great. I am not sure how you will feel about it, but decided to tell you: I made Shishkabobs via this recipe [had to add salt to the recipe] for harvest celebration in our church and I received so many compliments and comments how good it is.
Thank you so much.
This is my second time making this recipe for huge crowd in church. Always received good comments how good and tasty it is.
Wow! That’s a great compliment! Sounds like you made it just right Natalie! Thank you for sharing this awesome feedback with me!
Wow! This was super easy and so flavorful. Will make again. Have you ever used Greek yogurt in place of mayo? Just wondering.
Can’t wait to share with my sisters. They love your site too.
Thank you for your wonderful feedback, Christine. I have not tried using green yogurt to advise, if you do an experiment please share with us how you liked it!
How far ahead can I marinate these? Wanted to try 2 kabob recipes from your site
Hi Alena, hope you saw my previous response. We usually marinate it the night before grilling.
Here is a Johnny’s Seasoning Salt knockoff I mashed up from several online possibilities & my own on-hand slices, because I can’t find it around here. (And because compared to ordering it online at 50 cents per ounce, this is about 80% cheaper.)
1 cup salt
4 tablespoons sugar
8 teaspoons smoked paprika
4 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons garlic salt
8 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
For a “hot” version add:
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes *or 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 teaspoons chili powder
Add ingredients to a pint-sized (16 ounce) mason jar, stir well and cover. Shake before using as you would a store bought version.
Thank you for sharing that with us, Lauren!
Maybe a dumb question, but the ingredient listed as “ranch” is Ranch salad dressing? Thanks!
That is correct, Maxine!
Hi Natasha, do you have any recipes for chicken tenderloins. Want to try something new.
Thanks
Tanya, nearly all of my chicken breast recipes can be substituted with chicken tenderloins.
Can you use chicken thigh instead of chicken breast?
Hi Sasha, yes that should work great.
Can I cook it in the oven? If so, what temp and how long?
Hi Alina, I haven’t tried baking these so I’m not sure. We usually either grill or pan sauté skewers. I think it could work but I’m not sure what time and temp to recommend. From a brief search online, several folks recommend using the broiler setting in the oven and doing 2-3 minutes per side on each of the 4 sides of the skewers. Again, I haven’t tried it so if you experiment, let me know! 🙂
Hi Natasha! Thank you so much for the recipe! Can they be done in an oven instead of on the grill?
Thank you!
Hi Lyuda, I haven’t tried these in the oven so I’m not sure. We usually either grill or pan sauté skewers. I think it could work but I’m not sure what time and temp to recommend.
Do you season the vegetables?
Hi Luba, I actually just put them on plain but you can sprinkle with a little salt and pepper or even a little Johnny’s Seasoning if you wish 🙂
This recipe looks great and will try it. You mention you used a dash of Johny’s Seasoning in your recipe. They have a few different seasonings. Which one do you use?
Hi Holly, yes I just use their original seasoning salt (the one without msg).
hi natasha, can i marinate these overnight? or will the flavors be too overpowering?
Hi Annya, it would be ok to marinate them overnight. 🙂
I admit that I was skeptical about this recipe. Primarily the marinade for the chicken but WOW! This was amazing! This is certainly going to become a staple for summer meals! Thank you!
Cameron, that’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review 🙂
Can these be sauteed in butter instead of olive oil?
I don’t see why not 😁.
thank you so much for this recipe…. now this is going to be my turn to make those grill chicken skewers for my housewarming party… Can’t wait to try them tomorrow. Thank you so much… I amaze how much you have a very good, delicious, and tasty recipes…
Congrats on your new home! 🙂
Thank you… So I have tried this recipe. No words. First of all thanks to your sister for recipe and to you for posting it. Oh it is sooo delicious. To be honest with you I don’t like marinate chicken with mayo, but this is something. Thank you. Every one liked it.
I’m so happy you all liked it. I’ll let my sister know. Thank you for your awesome review! 🙂
A dream come true, so delicious:) one little thing i added about 1/2 cup buttermilk.
Thank you very much Zoryana, you made me smile 🙂
Ok so I did the kabobs, so delicious. I marinated with red wine vinegar,ranch, s&p and cut up garlic cloves let marinade overnight. Turned out very good.
I’ll have to try your changes. Thank you for sharing and I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Oh and she also adds red wine vinegar, I havnt tried her kabobs, but my hubby loved them and now he wants me to make it for him….I will try to do it myself, let u know how they turn out.
But thanx again for ur blog, u r my inspiration for cooking and trying new receipes.
Natasha, this receipes is great for chicken. But I want to make pork kabobs. Do u have any receipes for marinading pork ? My motherinlaw marinades it in buttermilk, garlic, salt pepper…. But she dosnt have exact measurements and I’m not good at cooking “na vkus” . Please post if u have one for pork. Thank u
I will put it on my to-do list to find a recipe for you.
Yea it’s definitely hard to do “na vkus” when it’s raw meat involved 😉
Hi Natasha, these look very good, I cant wait to try them. You mentioned that “the chicken marinade has enough salt”. Are you saying that the mayo/ranch marinade has a lot of salt, or is there a chicken marinade that I overlooked in this recipe….?
Oh the ranch and mayo are the marinade 🙂
Is it possible to bake them instead? I kinda don’t have a grill and i still want to keep them healthy without frying
I haven’t tried baking them, so I can’t give you instructions on that 🙁 I have sauteed them in olive oil with good results, just don’t overcook them (1-2 minutes per side depending on the heat). But the flavor is so awesome!!
These are the best skewers ive tried just delicous! Thanks girl!
Have you tried this marinade on a different meat? like pork?
No but that sounds like a good idea!
Let me know how it turns out if you try it.
Natasha, is it possible to fry these on the stove or in the oven.. i just dont have a grill and am looking for an alternative way to cook them???????
Hi Ilona! I haven’t tried these on a skillet, but I don’t see why not. I would try over medium-high heat. I do have another skewered chicken recipe that is cooked on the skillet, but its breaded – which helps the chicken stay juicy. Let me know how it works out.
I went camping a couple weeks ago and made these with mayo, milk, and wine. Next time we’ll try ranch! And I don’t know why i didn’t think of zucchini… my man and I love zucchini.
Wine,… hmm. I should try that. Thanks for the tip! My cousin suggested the zuccini, they cook through perfectly.
I’ve been using mayo forever too….I’m going to try this for camping this weekend.
I have made these before and the are wonderfull. Thanks for posting a quicky referance.