Chicken kebabs a crowd-pleaser for a summer barbecue

Published 5:30 pm Wednesday, July 1, 2026

I rested on the grass in the glory of June and closed my eyes for a while. The warm wind whisked the bugs away and brought to me the voices of children playing pretend restaurant in the treehouse nearby.

Busy bees flew over me to drink from flowers and return to their humming hive in the garden. I allowed myself to be still, head to heels cradled by the earth, time stopped ticking forward, and through my closed eyes I could see the twinkling of our star through dancing leaves above me.

My husband saw me there and laid his head down on my legs to join my daydream in the mottled shade. I moved my hand to rest on his chest and felt the rumble of his voice and the steady beating of his heart beside me there among the clover. For just a little while, we allowed ourselves to laze and simply be together in the minutes we took for ourselves and each other – the lists and plans would have to wait until we were ready to wake up from that dream.

Finally, we sat up together and looked across the lawn to the lake shore where we said our vows in grey December, where we took our blue-eyed baby to dip his toes, where our bunny-toothed toddler threw pebbles, where our preschooler caught minnows, and where we would enjoy another family dinner in the summer air. I could see the past and future in that place, carried on the whitecaps and brought to rest on the rocky shore.

I don’t use my in-laws’ grill often, but I decided to use it to make some golden spiced chicken kebabs to feed our crowd. The trick to this dish is ample time to marinade, so let the chicken exist without expectations and allow it to soak in the sunshine-yellow sauce for as long as you can stand.

Ingredients for the marinade:

1 medium sweet yellow onion

8-10 cloves garlic

2 tsp turmeric

1 tbsp salt

1 tsp white pepper

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 cup plain Greek yogurt

½ tsp mustard powder

¼ cup honey

1 stick butter, melted and cooled

4 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast

Directions:

Cut your chicken breast into cubes about 1 inch thick and place in a large mixing bowl.

Season the chicken with some salt, cover, and refrigerate while you make the marinade.

In the bowl of your food processor combine the onion, garlic, and yogurt. Blend until smooth.

Add the spices, melted butter, and honey and pulse to combine.

Pour the marinade over the chicken and massage it in. Take your time here and be sure that every piece is thoroughly coated.

Cover tightly with plastic and return to the refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours, but better overnight.

Build your kebabs on metal skewers that are safe for grilling.

Stack the chicken on the skewers so the pieces are touching but are not too squished or crowded.

Your grill should be medium hot for this – a screaming hot grill will cook the chicken too quickly, leaving you with dry, tough pieces.

Cook the kebabs for 4 minutes before flipping, then cook until the internal temperature of the largest chunk of chicken just reaches 165 degrees.

Remove the skewers from the grill and allow them to rest under a foil blanket for a couple minutes before serving.

You can slide the chicken off the skewers or serve them as-is with a parsley-heavy salad and some flatbread brushed with salted, melted garlic butter.