Grilled Chicken Kabobs (or kebabs in the UK) are always best done on the barbecue smoker grills.

We are going to make a marinade for our chicken kabobs, leave them in it for at least two hours, and then grill them on the barbecue for around 15-18 minutes. 

We’re also going to make our own flatbreads from scratch to serve with the grilled chicken kabobs. 

Making your own Garam Masala is optional but fun and worth it.

Your kabobs and flatbreads will serve 4-6 people.

Ingredients For Grilled Chicken Kabobs

Wooden Skewers soaked in water for 30 minutes

4 Chicken Breasts sliced into cubes

Courgettes sliced into circles

Red Onion sliced into half moons

2 Cloves of Garlic peeled and finely chopped

4cm (1.5inch) piece of Ginger peeled and finely chopped

1/2 tin of Chopped Tomatoes

140g (0.6 of a cup) of Natural Yoghurt

Olive Oil 

1/2 Teaspoon of Sweet Smoked Paprika

1 Teaspoon of Garam Masala (to make your own see below)

1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric 

A splash of lime or lemon juice

Optional – a little chilli powder if you like your heat

Lime Wedges to Serve

Cilantro or Coriander to Serve

For the Garam Masala

• 2 dried curry leaves
• 1 teaspoon
• 4 tablespoons coriander seeds
• 4 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon black cardamom seeds
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1 cinnamon stick roughly 3 inches/8cm
• 2 star anise
• 8 whole cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

For the Flatbreads 

250g strong white flour

250g plain white flour

1 and a 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground salt

1 teaspoon dried instant yeast

1 tablespoon olive oil 

Optional – 1 teaspoon of honey (to help flatbreads caramelise during cooking)

325ml lukewarm water

Grilled Chicken Kabobs BBQ Smoker Recipe Step 1 – Make Your Garam Masala

You can skip this optional (though rewarding) stage if you like, and use a store bought Garam Masala.

Start by toasting all your whole spices in a pan on a medium high heat. This means everything except the freshly ground nutmeg.

The aroma released by toasting your spices is simply fantastic. 

Make sure you keep moving them around your pan, making sure none of your spices burn or they will impart a bitter flavour. 

After a few minutes of toasting your spices remove them from the heat and grind them.

You can use a coffee or spice blender, but to get them really smooth we like to use a Nutri-bullet.

Once blended you can add freshly grated nutmeg. Store your garam masala in an airtight container.

Grilled Chicken Kabobs BBQ Smoker Recipe Step 2 – Make your Marinade

Chop up your veg and chicken. Try to keep your veg pieces roughly the same size as your chicken pieces so they look good on your skewers later.

Put your chicken and veg into a bowl with all the other ingredients (apart from your lime wedges and cilantro/coriander), making sure they are all mixed together.

Cover with clingfilm and put in the fridge to marinate for a least two hours or until you are ready to cook.

Grilled Chicken Kabobs BBQ Smoker Recipe Step 3 – Make the Flatbread Dough

While your kebabs are marinating you can make your flatbread dough. You’ll need at least an hour for it to rise.

Put your flours, salt, and yeast into large bowl. 

Add your 325ml (or 1 1/3 Cups) of water to the bowl, and then your tablespoon of Olive Oil. Add your honey if using.

Mix it all together with your hands until it becomes a sticky dough.

Now we are going to knead your dough with your hands for around 10-15 minutes. You’ll probably need a little extra flour on your hands for this. 

You can do this on a flat surface or in the bowl itself if you like.

When finished put your dough back in the bowl, and trickle in a little olive oil to stop it sticking.

Add a small handful of flour to the bowl, cover it with a damp tea towel, and set aside for at least an hour in a warm place to rise.

When you come back to it later you should find your dough has risen and roughly doubled in size, depending on the temperature of the room.

Now you can prepare your flatbreads for cooking on the barbecue.

Divide the dough into 6 equal sized balls and then roll them out with a rolling pin until they are roughly an inch thick. 

Make sure you flour your surface and your rolling pin so they don’t stick to it. 

Grilled Chicken Kabobs BBQ Smoker Recipe Step 4 – Grill the Kabobs & Flatbreads

Whenever you are ready to cook your kebabs you can barbecue your flatbreads at the same time, one at a time or in batches if you have enough room.

You can also fry them in a dry pan at a high heat if you don’t have enough room on your barbecue. Obviously they taste much better on the barbecue if you can manage it.

You can also keep them warm in the oven after you have cooked them on the barbecue, until you are ready to serve.

Half an hour before you want to cook your kebabs get your barbecue on, and put your wooden skewers for your kebabs in water. Otherwise they will likely burn and fall apart along with your kabob itself.

Depending on your guests 6-8 skewers should be enough.

To prepare your kabobs remove from the fridge and take your wooden skewers out of the water.

Place your pieces of chicken and veg on the skewers, alternating between meat and vegetable one after the other.

You should have enough for around 6 kebabs – more if you use extra veg to begin with.

If you have extra veg left over you could make a couple of vegetable kebabs with them.

Your grilled chicken kabobs will take around 15 minutes to cook on your barbecue, turning them halfway through.

They’ll be a lovely golden colour when finished.

Now it’s time to serve.

You can put your grilled chicken kabobs on a big serving plate and let your guests serve themselves. 

The same with your flatbreads. Rice is also optional to go with your kabobs. It’s really up to you.

Serve your lime wedges and cilantro/coriander on the side and let people add when and if they like.

Be careful to make sure the wooden skewers aren’t still too hot!

Let us know in the comments if you tried out this recipe and enjoyed it.

If you enjoyed this article you may also enjoy our ‘Smoked Chicken Wings Recipes.’

Or our ‘Chicken in the Smoker Recipe.’

If you would like to read another great recipe for Grilled Chicken Kabobs you could try this one:

https://www.wellplated.com/grilled-chicken-kabobs/