Grilled Lemon, Basil & Honey Chicken Skewers

Grilling season is upon us! Well, it is for me at least. I almost feel a little bad posting this article- for the local readers, Minnesota does not appear to be anywhere near grilling season yet! But in Nebraska, while the spring weather has fluctuated a lot, we are still able to get out to grill once a week! Oh, how I missed grilled foods. The charcoal flavor and smell that infuses into the food is just amazing. Hopefully, this recipe reminds you that Spring and warm weather are coming soon; do not give up hope! This recipe features chicken skewers that are perfectly light and tasty. The lemon, basil, and honey flavors are not overly dramatic, instead, they complement the chicken and leave you feeling full but not heavy.

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One thing I would like to point out- I have called these chicken skewers instead of kabobs. The chicken and veggies are all on their OWN skewer, not mixed! The mixed kabobs always look beautiful, but it is actually a hard way to cook food. You usually end up with dry chicken because you were trying to get the vegetables cooked all the way, or absolutely scorched bell peppers because you needed to get your chicken cooked. Mastering a mixed kabob so that all the ingredients are cooked to perfection takes a lot of practice; each of the ingredients has to be cut to the perfect size according to their cook time. This is so much easier! Put all the chicken on its own skewer, and all the veggies on their own skewer, and cook each one separately. Works every time.

Grilled Lemon, Basil & Honey Chicken Skewers

Serves:2
Time: 6-8 hours inactive, 30 min active

Ingredients

1 lemon
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp salt + more to taste
½ tsp pepper + more to taste
1 tsp dried basil
½ cup olive oil
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts

Optional Vegetable options:

Mushrooms
Sweet potatoes
Onions
Green peppers
(any other veggie you can put on a stick)

Directions:

1. 6-8 hours before you grill, mix the marinade together by whisking together the juice & zest from the lemon, honey, salt, pepper, and basil.
2. Slowly pour the olive oil into the marinade while continuously whisking. Reserve a small portion (⅛-¼ cup) of the marinade to use on the vegetables later.
3. Place the remaining marinade and chicken breasts into a zip lock bag, and mix it, ensuring the chicken is covered in the marinade. Refrigerate for 6-8 hours.
4. When your grill is prepped (see notes below), cut the chicken into 1-inch chunks and skewer. Sprinkle a little kosher salt and pepper onto the chicken skewers.
5. (Optional) Prep and skewer your vegetables, and brush the reserved marinade on the vegetables. If you run out of marinade, don’t fret- just brush on a little olive oil, then sprinkle salt and pepper.
   
6. Grill by placing chicken skewers on hot part of the grill (see grilling notes below), and cook for about 10-15 minutes with the cover on, turning every 5 minutes. The chicken will need to reach a temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit. If grilling the vegetables too, I like to grill the vegetables first and then store on the non-heated side of the grill while the chicken cooks.

Notes:

• When prepping the grill, I prefer to keep the charcoal on one side of the grill to give myself a very hot surface for searing, then another surface on the other side that is used to finish cooking an item that has already been seared.
  
• I actually skewered sweet potatoes and grilled them! It’s kind of weird, but it was a lot easier than cooking them in a grilling basket- I had a lot more control. To skewer them, I cut them into 1-inch chunks then boiled them for 6-8 minutes first. They were soft, but not fully cooked. I then skewered them, seasoned them, and finished the cooking process on the grill. It worked perfectly!

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