People have been cooking meat on swords, sticks, skewers—you name it—over open fires for centuries. Skewering meat keeps it together, making it easier to grill, and let’s face it, more fun to eat. In Middle Eastern cuisine, skewers come in the form of kebabs, either comprised of whole chunks of meat or ground meat formed around a skewer, such as Lebanese kofta. Some of our favorite Southeast Asian recipes are also skewers, including the famous satay, which can be found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Beyond these, we also have Filipino barbecue skewers, Romanian beef kebabs, and so much more—check out all our favorite skewered meat recipes below.
The staple meats of Western China, lamb and mutton can be found folded into everything from pilafs to buns to noodles. Of course, they’re also the focal point of the region’s iconic kebabs. Seasoned with freshly ground cumin (zira in Farsi and zīrán in Chinese), which was probably introduced to Xinjiang from Persia, the kebabs get an extra kick from minced garlic cloves and ground chile powder. Get the recipe for Chile and Cumin Lamb Kebabs (Yángròu chuàn) »
Soak up the flavorful juices of these Mediterranean-spiced chicken skewers by resting them on grilled pita during the final stages of cooking in this dish from Ana Sortun, who uses yogurt’s natural acidity to tenderize tough cuts of meat. Get the recipe for Yogurt-Marinated Chicken Shawarma »
Test kitchen director Farideh Sadeghin learned to make these simple grilled kebabs from her father, which he likes to serve with rice and shirazi salad.
These tangy pork kebabs are rubbed with garlic and dry herbs, and basted with a vinegar wash. A regional favorite of New York State’s Southern Tier, their name derives from the Italian spiedino or spiedo (“skewer” and “spit”). Get the recipe for Spiedies »
