Food on a stick makes for easy summer grilling. Marinate chunks of chicken overnight in an Asian-inspired marinade and thread onto bamboo sticks. Next, grill and glaze with Hoisin sauce for a quick and delicious dinner grilled chicken kabobs with hoisin sauce. The flavor is fabulous. Use either homemade Hoisin or store bought.
Hoisin is sometimes called Chinese barbecue Sauce. It has a sweet-tart flavor that makes it delicious for marinating, basting, or glazing meats, seafood and vegetables. Here, I use it for grilled chicken skewers or chicken kabobs with delicious results.
Jump to:
Why You'll Like This Recipe
- Everything tastes great grilled.
- Marinate the chicken ahead of time, 1 hour or overnight.
- Use either bottled hoisin sauce or make homemade.
Recipe Ingredients
Chicken Kabobs
- Chicken: Boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Buy buy the weight, not by the pieces.
- Hoisin sauce: Bottled or try my homemade hoisin sauce recipe.
- Cilantro: Optional for garnish and it adds nice flavor (unless you hate cilantro!).
- Skewers: Use either bamboo soaked in water ahead of time or metal.
For the recipe and more about Hoisin, read this post.
Chicken Marinade
- Soy sauce: Be sure sure to buy low sodium as regular soy sauce is crazy high in sodium. For gluten-free buy tamari, which is no-wheat, gluten-free soy sauce.
- Oil: Use melted coconut oil, MCT oil, avocado oil, or a healthy neutral oil (not vegetable oil).
- Vinegar: Unseasoned rice vinegar is neutrally flavored and has no added sugar.
- Sesame oil: Either toasted or regular.
- Fish sauce: Look for Red Boat brand, it's high quality fish sauce. If you've never used fish sauce it is very fishy when you smell it, and most American palates are not used to it. It does not taste fishy in recipes. It adds a depth of flavor.
- Ginger: Use either fresh ginger or the ginger puree in a tube is fine.
- Garlic: Fresh garlic cloves are best but the puree in a tube also works.
- Lime: Fresh lime juice for bright acidity and flavor.
Please see the recipe card for measurements.
Chef's note: I love Hoisin but didn't like the ingredients in store bottled brands, so playing mad chemist I created my own recipe. I've slathered it on chicken, ribs, burgers, shrimp and scallops. Make it thick or thin it with a little water for a glaze. This beats the store stuff!
Substitutions and Variations
- Instead of fish sauce use worcestershire or just skip it.
- Out of skewers? If you have a grill basket you can make it work. Just don't skewer the pieces.
Recipe Instructions
Step 1: Add the marinade ingredients to a jar and shake well or puree in the blender.
Step 2: When grilling chicken on a skewers, cut the pieces into larger chunks, about 1 ½" across. Small pieces cook too fast resulting in dry chicken. Do the best you can as you'll make it work when you skewer them.
Add the pieces to a zip top bag and pour marinade over the top. Marinate 1 hour on the kitchen counter (yes this is food safe) or overnight in the refrigerator.
Step 3: Drain the marinade and skewer the chicken pieces evenly. Place on a baking tray line with plastic and take the kabobs to the grill.
Step 4: Heat up the grill, scrub the grates clean with a grill brush. Oil the grill. Brush the kabobs with a little hoisin sauce. Grill until golden and done, firm to the touch but not rock hard. Pull a piece off one end and slice it open. It should be barley pink.
You can brush the kabobs with more sauce as you turn the kabobs (a clean pastry brush, not the one that touched raw chicken). Brush them again at the end, and serve more hoisin sauce on the side.
Grilling Sticks, Food Safety and Faster Cleanup
For sticks, use bamboo. Go for the thicker sticks, not the skinny ones. Soak them in water for 20-30 minutes before using. Alternatively use metal skewers but they make cook a little faster due to the heat conductivity.
For food safety and faster cleanup, cover a rimmed baking sheet with plastic wrap or foil. Place the raw kabobs on the lined sheet to transport to the grill. When the chicken is on the grill, remove the plastic, toss, and you have a clean tray to transport finished chicken back to the kitchen. No grill? Use a well seasoned cast iron grill pan pre-heated to hot.
Grilling Tips
When the grill is hot and the grates are brushed clean, oil the grates. Use tongs and a wad of paper towels dipped in oil. To further prevent the chicken from sticking, spray the meat lightly with non-stick spray oil (like avocado oil) right before you place the kabobs on the grill. You'll have no problem turning those kabobs or leaving half of the meat stuck to the grill.
Place the chicken kabobs on the grill and turn the heat down to medium. When you get good grill marks on one side, turn the kabobs and brush with the Hoisin sauce. Cook kabobs on the other side for another 1-2 minutes, turn and brush with sauce again.
Grill Timing
Timing will depend on how hot your grill is. Overall grilling time was 7-8 minutes for my kabobs. The chicken is done when the meat is firm to the touch but still gives a little. Don't over cook them for tender, moist kabobs.
When you take the kabobs off the grill and place them on the clean baking sheet, brush them again with the sauce. That way you will get a good layer of flavor and beautiful color.
More Grilling Recipe
And for a grilled veggie recipe, try this grilled zucchini. It's terrific in summer when zucchini is plentiful. And if your grill has a rotisserie attachment, here is how to rotisserie a whole chicken step by step. I do one every week!
⭐️Did you Make This Recipe?
If you make this recipe, please add your comment. I appreciate your feedback and enjoy hearing from you. If you loved it, please give it a 5-star rating! They really help other readers.
📖 Recipe
Grilled Chicken Kabobs with Hoisin Sauce
Equipment
- Bamboo or metal grilling sticks
Ingredients
Chicken Skewers
- 1 ½-2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast
- ¾ cup homemade or bottled Hoisin sauce divided use
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantro optional garnish
Marinade
- ¼ cup low sodium tamari (wheat free soy)
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil toasted or regular
- 1 ½ tablespoons fish sauce Look for Red Boat brand
- 1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
- 4 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1 lime juiced
Instructions
- Cut the chicken breasts into large pieces, about 1 ½″ in size. Whisk all of the marinade ingredients together in a medium bowl. Using ½ cup of the marinade, add the chicken pieces and toss to coat well. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour at room temperature, or 4-6 hours refrigerated, or overnight.
- 45-60 minutes before dinner, remove the chicken from the refrigerator. Drain off the marinade and discard. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with foil or plastic wrap. Spear the chicken pieces onto the bamboo sticks, placing the chicken pieces snugly together. Lay prepared kabobs on the covered baking sheet.
- Pre-heat the grill (or grill pan) to hot. For outdoor grilling, scrape the grill grates clean and oil them. Use a wad of paper towels and tongs. You can also use a grill-approved non-stick spray or avocado spray.
- Turn the hot grill down to medium. Place the chicken kabobs on the grill and grill the first side of the kabobs until golden and you get good grill marks, about 3-4 minutes. Turn and brush with a little Hoisin. Grill the other side for another 3 minutes, brush with sauce and turn. Do not over cook the chicken. When done it will feel firm to the touch with a little give in the center. Glaze with more sauce upon removing from the grill if desired. Serve with chopped cilantro if desired and extra Hoisin sauce to dip.
Comments
No Comments