Tangy and sweet, these kabobs will bring summer back to your dinner table any time of year. Chicken, bacon, onions, peppers, pineapple and mushrooms combine with a simple homemade BBQ sauce. This is a great meal to get the kids involved in too!
Typically, kabobs are done on a grill. However that does not sound appealing in December when it’s dark at 5, and you would be fighting a frigid arctic wind. That led me to the creation of this recipe.
Oven Baked kabobs. The thing we love about kabobs is that flame-kissed crispiness that grilling provides. To imitate that, this method includes searing the meat, and then finishing with a broil to get the crisp blackened edges. I think it turned out pretty good!
If you are looking to get your kids more involved in the kitchen, this is a great recipe to do it. Kids love to eat food on sticks. I have been known to stick a toothpick in a new food to encourage my kid to try it—and it usually works! My kids loved building their own kabobs, and they were so excited to eat them when we were done.
Once again, we have an easy recipe which is highly customizable. Also, this makes it easy to prep ahead of time and take the pressure off of the dinner hour. Get the whole family involved in building their own kabobs. Line them up on the baking sheet and bake it.
A note on this recipe—this does have a bit more added sugar than I typically like. Of the 51 grams listed on the meal nutrition facts label below, 22 grams is natural sugar from the pineapple, oranges, peppers, onions and mushrooms. The rest is from the BBQ sauce, so if you are watching your sugar intake, go easy on the sauce, and you can significantly cut that down.
I decided to do a potato side dish—partially because I had a bag of red potatoes in my pantry. But also because I thought it would be a nice pairing with a “pretend-it’s-summer” kind of meal. The potato dish is very simple. I typically pre-boil my potatoes to speed up the baking process. It also guarantees that they are all tender when you get to eating. The other part that makes this simple is throwing all the ingredients in a bag, then it’s a shake and dump and you have evenly coated delicious potatoes in 30 minutes or less.
The Meal:
3 kabobs
2 Tbsp BBQ sauce
¾ cup potatoes
2 mandarin oranges
Recipe Used in this meal:
Honey BBQ Chicken Kabobs
Serving size: 3 skewers
4 servings
Ingredients
2 large chicken breasts
½ tsp salt
6 oz bacon
1 green bell pepper
½ red bell pepper
½ red onion
2 cups pineapple (fresh)
4 oz mushrooms
Sauce:
½ Tbsp oil
2 tsp minced garlic
¼ cup ketchup
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup honey
3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp mustard
2 tsp soy sauce
Directions
Submerge skewers in water to prevent from burning. Allow to soak while preparing the remainder of the recipe. Preheat oven to 400°
Prepare the BBQ sauce: add oil and garlic into small saucepan. Cook about 30 seconds. Then add ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, honey, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and soy sauce. Stir until well combined. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer until ready to use.
Cut chicken into bite-size cubes. Lightly salt, then sear in hot fry pan. Cook long enough to brown edges, but don’t worry about cooking all the way through. Place in bowl and set aside.
Chop bacon slices into thirds. Place in a bowl and set aside.
Chop peppers, onion, pineapple and mushrooms into bite-size pieces. Place in bowls and set aside.
Remove skewers from water, and shake off excess moisture. Skewer chicken, bacon, pineapple, peppers, onion, and mushrooms in desired pattern. Place on foil-lined cookie sheet.
Use half of the BBQ sauce to brush both sides of the kabobs. (save the other half for dipping).
Bake for 10-15 minutes at 400°, flipping halfway through.
Turn oven to Broil, and broil 5 minutes per side. This gives the crisp/blackened edges. Remove from oven and serve immediately.
Italian Roasted Potatoes
Serving size: ¾ cup
4 servings
Ingredients
2 lbs red potatoes
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 ½ Tbsp Wishbone Italian Dressing Seasoning Packet
Directions
Scrub potatoes. Chop into bite size pieces.
Place in a large pan, cover with water. Bring to a boil, then boil 5-7 minutes. Test with a fork—should be slightly soft. Drain in a colander in the sink.
In a large bag, add potatoes oil and half of Italian dressing mix. Shake to coat
Pour into a 9x13 pan, and spread out. Sprinkle with remaining Italian Dressing mix. Bake at 400° for 35 minutes. Serve hot.
Nutrition Facts Label for Entire Meal:
Nutrition Facts Label for BBQ Chicken Kabobs:
Nutrition Facts Label for Roasted Italian Potatoes:
