Traverse the Globe With These 35 Kebab Recipes From Around the World (2024)

Shawarma, satay, or spiedini; meshwy or mtsvadi; yakitori, pintxos, or anticuchos ... whatever you call your skewers, we are 100% on board. This collection of kebab recipes celebrates all manner of deliciousness threaded on sticks and typically cooked over an open flame (aka grill skewers) and served with accompanying marinades, sauces, or dips. From vegetables like peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, and tomatoes to lamb, beef, chicken, seafood, and more, we've rounded up our skewered favorites all in one place for your perusal and subsequent grilling pleasure. For cooking pointers, check out our list of foolproof tricks for grilling kebabs.

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Lahem Meshwy (Lamb Shish Kebabs)

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Simply spiced with paprika, salt, and pepper, these grilled lamb kebabs have been a mainstay at League of Kitchens instructor Jeanette Chawki's family cookouts for years. Be sure to cut the lamb into equal-size cubes to ensure even cooking, but feel free to mix and match the vegetables.

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Shrimp and Okra Kebabs with Grilled Peaches and Jalapeño-Bourbon Vinaigrette

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A splash of bourbon in the vinaigrette adds a sweet, boozy kick of flavor and helps tenderize the shrimp in 2008 F&W Best New Chef Sue Zemanick’s shrimp and okra kebabs. Cutting okra in half lengthwise keeps it big enough to skewer, becoming charred and crispy on the grill without falling through the grates.

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Halloumi and Vegetable Skewers with Pomegranate-Tahini Sauce

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Pomegranate molasses is the secret ingredient in this simple marinade. Its punchy, sweet, earthy notes add long-cooked depth of flavor to cheese and vegetable skewers in just 30 minutes of marination, with pleasantly bitter tahini rounding things out. The pomegranate-tahini marinade goes the extra mile as a final drizzle for the skewers. Thinned with fresh orange juice, it supplies the perfect, sweet-savory finish to the dish.

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Smoky Mushroom Skewers with Labneh and Salsa Verde

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Thick-stemmed king trumpet mushrooms grill up meaty and tender, while feathery oyster mushrooms get nice and crispy — both are great options for these quick-cooking kebabs. Piled into warm pitas with a smear of tangy labneh and a drizzle of intensely herby salsa verde, this dish is a fun, fresh way to enjoy mushrooms.

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Pulehu Steak Tip Skewers with Maui Onion Finadene Sauce

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Pulehu is Hawaiian for "to cook over hot coals." In this grilled steak tip skewer recipe from Hawaiian chef Sheldon Simeon, a punchy, bright basting sauce of sake, soy sauce, brown sugar, sherry vinegar, garlic, ginger, and scallions flavors the beef. Pulverized toasted barley is the secret ingredient in the sauce — it thickens the sauce and helps it coat the beef so it gets crispy when grilled.

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Pork Belly, Shrimp, and Pickled Tomato Pintxos

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These simple, one-bite snacks are quick to assemble and grill just as your guests arrive. Sticky-sweet pork belly; tender, meaty shrimp; and bright, quick-pickled tomato variations offer something for everyone at the cookout.

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Lemongrass Skirt Steak Skewers

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For this recipe from 2020 F&W Best New Chef Donny Sirisavath, using flat skewers helps the meat char and cook evenly by curbing any rolling around the grill. Be sure to preheat the grill; high, even heat guarantees strong grill marks and will caramelize the sugars in the marinade.

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Anticuchos de Pollo (Peruvian Chicken Skewers)

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These Peruvian skewers are coated in a thick chile marinade that withstands the heat of the grill and clings to the chicken, yielding caramelized, charred bits. Huacatay, or Peruvian black mint, is hard to come by fresh in the States, but the jarred paste is smooth and creamy with notes of green tea; look for it online or in Latin markets.

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Chicken Lule Kebab

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Freshly grinding chicken thighs with lamb fat gives these kebabs a rich, savory flavor and juicy, tender texture. Mini Kabob in Los Angeles grinds all the meat in-house, and you can, too, if you have a grinder (or ask your butcher). If you don't have a meat grinder, no problem: The F&W test kitchen developed an alternative (and less rich) version you can make using pre-ground meat.

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Green Curry Beef Skewers with Fried Basil Oil

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"Although green curry paste goes well with all types of meat, it brings out the best in red meat. I use beef here, but just as often I use boneless lamb from the leg," says cookbook author Leela Punyaratabandhu. "The basil oil is a finishing touch that perfumes the dish with the scent of Thai basil and provides richness. I call for quite a lot of curry paste here, but feel free to adjust the amount to suit your taste."

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Chicken Tikka Kebabs

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The Kashmiri red chile powder used to season the chicken in these kebabs from chef Chintan Pandya gives them a mild, warm heat. The yogurt marinade ensures that the chicken thighs are juicy and tender when they emerge from the oven, and a quick baste with melted butter makes the dish especially rich.

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Beef Shish Kebab

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The inexpensive, tough beef cut called flap meat is full of flavor, with a coarse grain that absorbs marinades well. Marinate it 24 hours and pound it with a meat mallet for the juiciest, most tender kebabs.

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Shawarma-Style Chicken and Mushroom Kebabs

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These juicy kebabs mimic the flavor of shawarma by starting over high heat and finishing over low heat, ensuring a crisp exterior and a flavorful interior.

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Steak, Potato, and Chorizo Kebabs with Red Pepper Mayo

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"Almost nothing pairs better with potatoes than steak, so here I thread strips of skirt steak onto skewers with baby Dutch yellow potatoes," writes cookbook author Ann Taylor Pittman. "Slices of robust Spanish chorizo crisp up on the grill and offer bursts of intense flavor as you eat the kebabs. Coating everything with smoked paprika amplifies the effect of the grilling."

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Lobster Tails with Scotch Bonnet–Honey Glaze

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For this recipe, chef Dayana Joseph channels memories of boukannen, a Haitian style of barbecue in which fish or a piece of meat is smoked over an open fire, allowing it to develop a slight char. Scotch bonnet chiles are pureed with floral honey to create a sweet and fruity glaze with a fiery heat, perfect for grilled lobster tails.

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Baja-Style Rosemary Chicken Skewers

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Chicken thighs are perfect for the grill because they stay nice and moist. Skewering them with rosemary imparts a lovely herbal flavor in this fragrant recipe from chef Marcela Valladolid.

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Madhur Jaffrey’s Boti Kebab (Spiced Yogurt–Marinated Lamb Skewers)

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Freshly ground warm spices form a flavorful crust around these juicy grilled lamb kebabs, while the lactic acid in the yogurt marinade tenderizes the meat.

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Tunisian Chicken Kebabs with Currants and Olives

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These sweet and tangy marinated chicken skewers are adapted from chef Susan Feniger's book Street Food. They're flavorful enough to eat on their own, but they're even better with the chunky currant and olive relish.

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Mtsvadi (Grilled Pork Skewers with Pomegranate and Onions)

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These Georgian mtsvadi, or grilled meat skewers, are made from well-marbled pork shoulder tossed with raw onions and finished with freshly squeezed pomegranate juice. Leave the fat intact for sizzling, juicy meat with plenty of crispy bits.

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Swordfish Skewers with Salsa Verde

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Chef Chad Colby uses fresh bay leaves on these swordfish skewers, which impart a lovely fragrance to the dish. He threads zucchini ribbons between the leaves and fish, grills the skewers alongside lemon halves, then serves them with the charred lemon.

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Salmon Yakitori

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Double-pronged skewers give delicate, flaky proteins like salmon a bit more stability so they can be turned repeatedly without spinning around or falling apart. A soy sauce, mirin, and brown sugar glaze caramelizes on the fish and baby bok choy as it grills, and also serves as a dipping sauce.

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Seafood Spiedini

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Fish with a firm structure, like swordfish, tuna, and mahi-mahi, holds up best when cut into pieces and skewered. Los Angeles-based Italian chef Daniele Uditi uses swordfish for these herb-lashed skewers.

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Turkish Shish Kebabs with Garlicky Tahini

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Turkish pitmasters devised an ingenious "divide and conquer" approach to shish kebabs: They grill the meat and vegetables separately to allow foods with different cooking times to reach the perfect degree of doneness. Serve with a creamy tahini sauce.

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Spiced Shrimp and Tomato Kebabs

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This is a perfect party dish because it's so easy to assemble — and you can marinate and skewer the shrimp ahead of time.

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Salmon Skewers with Almond Charmoula

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Simply grilling fish is TV chef Andrew Zimmern’s favorite way to eat what comes out of the ocean. For these skewers, he pairs rich salmon with North African charmoula, a brightly acidic herb paste tempered with sweet fruit and — his personal touch — crunchy nuts.

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Grilled Squash Ribbons and Prosciutto with Mint Dressing

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Grilling zucchini and summer squash ribbons on skewers is terrific because the edges become wonderfully charred and crisp, while the insides stay tender and juicy.

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Ground Lamb and Shallot Kofta Kebabs with Pomegranate Molasses

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Restaurateur Burhan Cagdas makes ground meat kofta kebabs from hand-chopped lamb mixed with diced lamb-tail fat. In place of the fat, cookbook author Paula Wolfert uses crème fraîche, which keeps the meat rich-tasting and meltingly tender.

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Glazed Korean Rice Cake Skewers with Spam

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These Korean street-food-inspired kebabs from chef Sohui Kim of Insa in Brooklyn involve skewering Korean rice cakes (which taste like thick noodles) with Spam and crunchy vegetables.

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Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

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These deliciously spiced grilled chicken skewers are perfect with a sweet and tangy peanut sauce.

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Chicken Thigh Yakitori

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At Hong Kong's Yardbird, the cooks don't just cut up chicken thighs to skewer for yakitori: They separate the meat into several different muscles and grill each individually. "This allows each piece to be cooked at the same speed," says co-owner Lindsay Jang.

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Red Curry Chicken Kebabs with Minty Yogurt Sauce

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For spicy chicken kebabs as irresistible as Buffalo wings, chef Kerry Simon created a fantastically simple marinade using just jarred red curry paste, vegetable oil, and salt.

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Vermicelli with Chicken Skewers and Nuoc Cham

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In this version of a Vietnamese dish, individual piles of cucumber, fresh herbs, and grilled chicken are arranged on a platter of vermicelli and bean sprouts. Tangy nuoc cham sauce is poured over all. As each diner takes a portion, the components intermingle.

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Turkey Kibbe Kebabs with Two Sauces

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Kibbe kebabs are made from chopped meat and (very often) bulgur, formed into sausage-like shapes. Here, turkey replaces the traditional lamb.

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Herb-Marinated Mixed Skewers

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Chef Matteo Gambi grills these marinated pork and bacon-wrapped turkey skewers for a great charred flavor, then finishes them in the oven to keep them juicy.

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Pork Souvlaki with Tzatziki

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Greeks make souvlaki by marinating chunks of meat (usually pork or lamb) in oil, lemon juice, and oregano, then skewering and grilling them. We opt for pork shoulder because it's so tender and succulent. Instead of threading the meat onto skewers, we simply cook it (with onions) in a grill pan until it's nicely charred.

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