20 Kebab Recipes to Skewer and BBQ This Summer

Kebabs are the epitome of easy summer dinner recipes. You can cook them outside on the grill while enjoying the nice weather, and then you can easily eat them outside too!

There are a TON of different types of kebab recipes you can choose from as well. You’re definitely not stuck with boring bland flavors, and you’re not confined to any single type of food either.

To show you the possibilities of something as simple as putting food on a stick, we’ve gathered some amazing beef, chicken, shrimp, and vegetable kebab recipes for you to try and pull inspiration from. Check them out!

Juicy Chicken Kebabs

Chicken kebabs are some of my favorite because done right, they turn out so juicy. Plus, you can create so many different flavors and kebab combinations with chicken.

1. The Best BBQ Chicken Skewers

BBQ chicken skewers may sound like the simplest of all the kebab recipes, but stick with me here. These aren’t just your regular old chicken kebabs. They’re called the best for a reason!

With this recipe, we make a homemade bacon paste along with a homemade paprika spice rub to give these chicken skewers some epic flavor.

2. Chipotle Chicken Kebabs with Creamy Cilantro Sauce

This recipe is a nice two-for-one deal. It includes a flavorful chicken seasoning recipe along with a perfect cilantro sauce to go along with it!

3. Simple Peanut Satay Chicken Kebabs (Freezer Friendly)

I love freezer meals because of the convenience and they’re especially nice to have on hand in the summer. With these kebabs, you can freeze them, and then easily prepare them by thawing in the fridge and grilling. So easy!

The flavor on these is really nice too. The kebabs are coated in a nice sauce with a bit of orange, soy, ginger, and peanut flavoring.

4. Grilled Honey Chicken Kebabs

Honey and chicken are always good flavors for summertime! Combined with red bell peppers, onion, and optionally some other things like mushrooms, pineapple, or zucchini, you can make these your own.

5. Simple Mild Chicken Kebabs

If you like your kebabs to have a bit of spice – but not too much – try these chicken kebabs. They’re marinated with minced garlic, lemon juice, ground cumin, and paprika to make every bite refreshing and juicy with a bit of heat.

Beef Kebab Recipes

Steak and summer go together perfectly, and beef kebabs can be made with many different cuts of meat. Combined with some veggies you can create some really fantastic flavor combinations.

6. Easy Beef Kebabs with Balsamic Marinade

For a simple favorite, these beef kebabs please my family and guests whenever they’re served! The balsamic marinade with dijon gives the beef a bit of tang, and there’s also some crushed red pepper, rosemary, and garlic in there to round everything out.

7. Grilled Steak Kebabs

Just looking at the photo of these kebabs you can tell they’re going to be flavorful. They look really pretty too with the different colored veggies and the beautifully grilled steak!

8. Best Beef Kebob Marinade

This kebab recipe brings potatoes to the table and also a variety of different vegetable options! Try different bell peppers, zucchini, pineapple, tomatoes, yellow squash, and more.

9. The Best Shish Kebab

This recipe uses a Mediterranean-style marinade with a spice rub beforehand for even more flavor.

10. Grilled Teriyaki Beef Kabobs

I love teriyaki (this honey teriyaki chicken is one of my favorites) and this recipe does it really well! With the toasted sesame seed, fresh mushrooms, and steak, you get a nice variety of flavors that all work great together to make every bite delicious.

Shrimp Kebabs

Cooking shrimp on a skewer, on the grill, just makes sense. Flipping is easy, there’s no risk of losing any shrimp between the grates, and it just adds such great flavor.

11. Shrimp Kabobs with Pineapple

Here’s another slightly spicy and citrusy kebab recipe, this time with delicious shrimp! The chunks of grilled pineapple in there give the skewers a nice touch of sweetness to balance out the spice.

12. Easy Mediterranean Garlic Shrimp Skewers

These Mediterranean style shrimp skewers are seasoned with a simple mix of oregano, sweet paprika, salt, and pepper. There’s also some fresh garlic and lemon juice in there.

13. Teriyaki BBQ Shrimp Skewers

These kebabs combine homemade teriyaki BBQ sauce with shrimp, zucchini, pineapple, and bell peppers. Sweet, savory, juicy, and perfect for summer!

14. Grilled Cajun Shrimp Kabobs

Cajun and shrimp go together like peanut butter and jelly. Add some zucchini, red onion, bell peppers, and pineapple and you’ve got a very tasty, healthy kebab.

15. Garlic Basil Grilled Shrimp Skewers

This is a pretty simple kebab recipe with a really yummy garlic basil marinade. It only takes around 30 minutes to make and that’s including the 15-20 minute marinading time!

Vegetable Kebabs

Serve the vegetable kebab recipes below with one of the protein-packed kebabs above, or have them on their own if you’re vegan or vegetarian! Grilled vegetables are SO tasty.

16. Grilled Vegetable Kebobs

Starting off strong this vegetable kebab recipe pretty much has it all: mushrooms, bell peppers, potatoes, onion, pineapple, and tomato. Everything is marinated in a mix of balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, lemon juice, maple syrup, onion powder, and garlic too. Talk about flavor!

Some kebabs are really nice to look at, and these are one of them. The different veggies add some really nice color and the glaze makes it all POP!

18. Grilled Veggie Skewers with Chimichurri Sauce

These vegetable skewers are also quite pretty. I love the ears of corn on there and the chimichurri sauce looks great too. (If you’re not sure what chimichurri is, this recipe uses a homemade version made with garlic, cilantro, parsley, avocado, and other ingredients.)

19. Spicy Thai-Style Grilled Veggie Skewers

For the Thai food lovers out there, you’ll definitely want to give these kebabs a try. The vegetables are marinated in a cilantro-base with a chili garlic sauce as well.

20. Vegetable and Halloumi Kebabs

Look at the bright color in these kebabs! The real star of these skewers though is the halloumi, which is a semi-hard cheese that, when cooked, exhibits some great flavor.

What to Eat With Kebabs

While some kebabs are stacked with a variety of foods and therefore don’t require a side dish, it’s always a good idea to have some potential side dish ideas in mind. These can come in handy when feeding a crowd, or if you’re just trying to make your meal more filling and nutritious.

Here are some of our favorite side dish ideas to go along with the different types of kebabs:

• Rice – This is an easy go-to that can be paired with any type of kebab. It’s filling and you can cook it however you like. Try this lemon parsley rice or even this homemade rice-a-roni.
• Corn on the cob – Perfect for summer and can be paired with almost anything. Try this air fryer corn on the cob or this grilled corn on the cob.
• Grilled carrots – I love this easy recipe for orange-glazed grilled carrots.
• Salad – A refreshing salad is another versatile side dish for kebabs. Try this green salad or check out our other salad recipes.
• Potato salad – This is another great option as there are so many different ways to go. I really like this lemon herb potato salad.
• Raw veggies – An easy, versatile option.
• Dips – A lot of different dips like hummus can taste great with kebabs.

Those are some options! Feel free to comment on your favorite side dish ideas below.

Final Thoughts

There are so many fun, pretty, and delicious ways to prepare food on a stick! The kebab recipes above are just a glimpse of the possibilities. Try them, figure out what you like best, and then experiment on your own to create new skewer combinations!

To store some of the amazing recipes above and your own creations, try my favorite meal planning app: Prepear! I use it to plan my weekly meals, create my grocery list, discover and store recipes, and even while I cook. Read my full Prepear review to learn more.