Grilled Shrimp and Chicken Kabobs are flavored with a lemon Greek marinade and cooked in under 20 minutes on an outdoor grill! These tasty kabobs are the ultimate grilling season easy dinner recipe!
If you're making dinner for a crowd and not sure if you should make shrimp kabobs or chicken kabobs, the good news is that you can make both!
We all love to fire up the grill when the weather warms up. There's just something extra special about cooking dinner outside in the fresh air. So the next time you're having friends and family over for a backyard BBQ, serve them this delicious chicken and shrimp kabob recipe!
Grilled shrimp and chicken kabobs are extra special thanks to my lemon Greek marinade. I love to serve them with my favorite marinated vegetable salad and baked potatoes (without foil).
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⭐Why you'll love this recipe
- It's easy and uses simple ingredients! Shrimp and chicken skewers should be at the top of your list of easy recipes. They may look like they're time-consuming and complicated... but they're definitely not!
- Skewers are a tasty dinner option for any day of the week. You don't need to save them for special occasions. You can easily whip them up on a Wednesday night!
- Kabob recipes can be prepped in advance!
🥘Ingredients
- Shrimp - This recipe calls for peeled and deveined shrimp. I used a frozen shrimp that still had the tail on. You can purchase fresh shrimp, frozen shrimp, and shrimp that doesn't already come peeled and deveined. You'll just have to do the peeling and deveining yourself!
- Chicken - You'll need to use boneless skinless chicken breasts. Try to find a package of whole chicken breasts that are all relatively the same thickness.
- Greek yogurt - Greek yogurt is added to this marinade to help tenderize the chicken, while locking in moisture! It also adds a little bit of tang to the recipe.
- Lemon juice - Lemon juice not only adds flavor, but also works as a tenderizer. I prefer fresh squeezed lemon juice. If you love lemon flavor, then you could also add a little bit of grated lemon zest to the marinade.
- Olive oil - Extra virgin olive oil is the fat component of the marinade. It helps to blend the marinade flavors together and also adds moisture to the meat.
- Garlic & seasonings - This shish kebab recipe calls for a combination fresh minced garlic, dried oregano, dried basil, kosher salt and ground black pepper.
🔪Equipment
- Wooden skewers - I really love these wooden bamboo skewers with a little handle on them! They make flipping the skewers over so much easier. You could also use metal skewers.
- Gas grill
- Cutting board, chopping knife, large plastic zip lock bags, small mixing bowl, measuring cups & measuring spoons
📋How to make Grilled Shrimp and Chicken Kabobs
Step 1: I like to give my shrimp a good rinse over the sink in cold water, before handling it. You'll also need to prepare your chicken breast. Start by trimming any fat and pieces of tendon. Chop the chicken breasts into small, 1 inch pieces. Keep the chicken and shrimp separated.
Step 2: Add all of the marinade ingredients to a medium bowl (mixing bowl). Whisk to combine and until the Greek yogurt is fully incorporated into the mixture.
Step 3: Transfer the chopped chicken and whole pieces of shrimp to two, separate, large zip lock bags. Pour two thirds of the marinade over the chicken and ⅓ over the shrimp. Seal the bags and let the shrimp and chicken marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Pro tip: While your proteins are marinating, soak your wooden skewers in a large, shallow dish filled with water. This will help to prevent the skewers from splintering and burning while grilling.
Step 4: After 1 hour of marinating, the shrimp and chicken can be threaded onto the skewers. Thread about 5-6 shrimp onto a skewer and about 7-8 chicken breast pieces onto a skewer. Repeat this process until you've put all of your chicken and shrimp onto skewers.
Step 5: You'll grill the shrimp skewers first. Place the shrimp skewers in a single layer onto a preheated grill. The grill should be preheated to 400°F. Grill each side for 3-4 minutes. You'll know your shrimp is cooked through when it is bright pink and firm to the touch. Shrimp cooks very quickly!
Step 6: When the shrimp has finished cooking, remove the shrimp kebabs from the grill and leave the grill on.
Step 7: Place the chicken kebabs on the hot grill in a single layer. Grill each side for about 7 minutes, cooking the chicken for a total of at least 14 minutes. You can check to make sure your chicken is cooked through with a digital meat thermometer. Chicken breast should be cooked to at least 165°F.
🥗Serving suggestions
Chicken and shrimp kabobs can be served with so many different side dishes! I would definitely serve them with baked potatoes (without foil), potato salad, marinated vegetable salad, pesto pasta salad, summer tortellini salad and my roasted asparagus and brussels sprouts.
Meat skewers also pair well with grilled vegetable skewers. Veggie skewers can be packed with red onion, green pepper, red bell peppers, orange bell peppers, yellow pepper, yellow squash, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini.
📖Variations
- Add vegetables- You can add vegetables right onto the meat skewers if you'd like! I would recommend only adding them to the chicken skewers though. The shrimp skewers cook too quickly and you will be left with raw vegetables.
- Add fresh herbs - I love that this recipe doesn't involve any chopping when making the marinade. If a little extra time in the kitchen doesn't bother you though, then I would add fresh parsley, fresh oregano or fresh basil to the chicken and shrimp marinade.
- Add some heat - If you like everything to have some spice, then you could add a little bit of crushed red pepper flakes or a splash of hot sauce to the marinade.
⏲️Storage
Store leftover grilled chicken and shrimp skewers in a sealed container in the refrigerator. The leftover, cooked meat will stay good for about 3-4 days.
Reheat leftovers in the microwave or in a stovetop skillet over low heat. Remove the chicken and the shrimp from the skewers before reheating.
🦐Related recipes
Try out some of my other grilling and summer recipes!
Expert tips
- Do not combine shrimp and chicken on the same skewers. Keep them separated to their own skewers. Chicken and shrimp have drastically different cooking times so they need to be cooked separately.
- I prefer to marinate the chicken and shrimp separately as well.
- Do not let the chicken and shrimp sit in this marinade for more than 2 hours. I recommend only marinating for 1 hour. This marinade is heavy on acid ingredients. Acids help to tenderize meat, but when left on raw meat for too long, can make the meat tough, rubbery and mushy.
- If you're using wooden skewers, soak them in water while the meat is marinating. This will help prevent the skewers from burning and splintering.
- When threading shrimp onto skewers, you'll want to first put the shrimp on the skewer just above the tail, and then a second time at the top of the shrimp. The shrimp will form a "C' shape on the skewer. See my photos above for clarification!
Grilled Shrimp and Chicken Kabobs
Grilled Shrimp and Chicken Kabobs are flavored with a lemon Greek marinade and cooked in under 20 minutes on an outdoor grill! These tasty kabobs are the ultimate grilling season easy dinner recipe!
- Prep Time: 90 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 55 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 servings 1x
- Category: lunch, dinner
- Method: grilling
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1 pound peeled deveined raw shrimp
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup lemon juice
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Rinse the peeled and deveined raw shrimp and transfer the shrimp to a large, gallon-sized zip top plastic bag.
- Trim the boneless, skinless chicken breast of any fat. Chop the chicken breast into 1 inch size pieces. Transfer the chopped chicken breast to a separate large, gallon-sized zip top plastic bag.
- Make your marinade with your remaining ingredients. Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, Greek yogurt, minced garlic, oregano, basil, salt and pepper in a small mixing bowl.
- Pour ⅔ of the lemon Greek marinade over the chicken and ⅓ of the marinade over the shrimp. Close the plastic bags and use your hands to massage the marinade into the chicken and shrimp. Let the chicken and shrimp soak in the marinade for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
- While the chicken and shrimp are marinating, soak your wooden skewers in water. If you aren't using wooden skewers then you can skip this step.
- After 1 hour of marinating time, remove the chicken and shrimp from the fridge and begin threading the proteins onto skewers. Do not combine chicken and shrimp onto the same skewers. The shrimp cooks much faster than the chicken so you do not want them on skewers together. You'll be able to fit about 5-6 shrimp onto each skewer and 7-8 pieces of chicken onto each skewer. Leave about 1 inch of empty space at the ends of each skewer. Discard any leftover marinade.
- Preheat an outdoor, gas grill to 400°F. Grill the shrimp skewers first. Place them onto the grill in a single layer. Cook each side for about 3-4 minutes, with 6-8 minutes of total cooking time. Shrimp is cooked when it has turned bright pink, is firm to the touch and the inside is white.
- Remove the shrimp from the grill and place the chicken skewers onto the grill in a single layer. Grill each side of the chicken skewers for 7-8 minutes, for a total of 14-16 minutes of grilling time. Chicken is cooked through when it's internal temperature reaches at least 165°F.
- When the chicken is cooked through, remove it from the grill. Serve the chicken and shrimp skewers with your favorite side salads!
Notes
- Prep time includes 1 hour of marinating time and about 30 minutes to chop the chicken, make the marinade, and thread the chicken and shrimp onto skewers.
- The nutrition information shown below is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for professional medical advice.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 437
- Sugar: 1.5 g
- Sodium: 580.1 mg
- Fat: 24.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 3.2 g
- Fiber: 0.3 g
- Protein: 51.5 g
- Cholesterol: 235 mg
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Did you make this recipe? Tell me all about it in the comments below! I love hearing from my followers and answering any of your questions!
Carly Schwarz says
The marinade on these is spot on. They make such a delicious & healthy main dish. Love this recipe!
Katie says
I'm so glad you love it!
Donna says
I am trying to figure out how many skewers per person for a calorie count...actually a Weight Watcher point count. I have 35 points for the oil and the rest is 0 points. How many skewers per person with this amount of protein?
I made this and actually forgot to add the lemon juice. It was incredibly delicious. I also added cherry tomatoes, zucchini, red onion, and sweet peppers.
Katie says
I'm so happy you liked the kabobs! I'm not sure how many skewers per person without knowing how much protein fit onto each of your skewers. I would determine your serving size after the skewers are cooked. So, a serving of chicken is about 100 grams. You could weigh your chicken after to get your serving and then estimate the calories, protein, and WW points from there. The nutrition information listed is for 1/6 of the recipe.
Katie says
This is one of my favorites!