Lamb Kebab Skewers - Juicy

Recipe: Lamb Kebabs Skewers Recipe »

These juicy lamb kebabs are bursting with flavour. Marinated in lemon, garlic, olive oil, smoked paprika and rosemary they're so tender and grill up in less than 15 minutes. Learn the easy trick to make lamb shoulder or leg as tender as cutlets. Serve with garlic sauce, salad and flatbread for a delicious feast!

About These Lamb Kebabs Skewers

Luscious lamb, lemon, garlic, olive oil and herbs are all you need for these wonderful lamb kebab skewers. These delicious lamb skewers take around 15 minutes on the grill and are so simple to make but are wonderfully tasty and tender. And I'm going to show you the trick to making the lamb shoulder or leg as tender as a cutlet!

What do you put in a lamb kebab? Lamb, spices, garlic, lemon, olive oil plus rosemary and smoked paprika are all you need for the skewers. Serve it with salad and or bread.

What cut of lamb is best for kebabs? Lamb shoulder or leg are the best cuts for skewers. The Middle Eastern butcher that I went to said that they always use lamb shoulder over leg. However if you want it leaner, by all means go for leg of lamb. You don't need expensive cuts like lamb loin for skewers as there needs to be some fat in the lamb for it to grill well and not dry out.

How to get your lamb skewers super tender? The main trick to getting a cut like lamb shoulder or leg of lamb tender (that normally goes in for a slow roast) is to marinate it for a minimum of 2 hours but preferably overnight. Do not skip this step, the lamb will not be as tender or tasty! Not only will the marinade tenderise the meat but the flavours will also permeate into the meat.

Video How To Make Lamb Kebabs Skewers Recipe

Video: How to Make Lamb Skewers

Ingredients for Lamb Kebabs Skewers

Lamb shoulder or leg - choose boneless for easy cutting and trim of visible fat. If only bone-in is available, ask the butcher to cut it up for you.

Garlic - whole fresh garlic cloves.

Smoked paprika - the smokey version, not sweet paprika.

Extra virgin olive oil - for the marinade and for drizzling before grilling. Select extra virgin over virgin or pure olive oil.

Lemon juice - Fresh or bottled works here.

Lemon zest - you will need roughly 1 large or 2 medium lemons.

Rosemary - Fresh rosemary or dried works. I actually freeze leftover rosemary so I always have some on hand.

Capsicum peppers - we are using 1 red and 1/2 a yellow capsicum pepper.

Red onion - We use red onion as it is a bit sweeter but other colours of onion will also work.

Tajin or sumac - Sumac is sold as dried and ground sumac berries and has a dark purple colour and is found in the spice aisle. It has a gorgeous lemony flavour. I find that Tajin, the Mexican lime and chilli salt has similar flavours and both brighten up rich meat dishes nicely.

Tips For Making Lamb Kebabs Skewers

1 - You can prepare the lamb yourself or ask your butcher to cut it up for you. There are advantages and disadvantages to preparing the lamb yourself. The disadvantage is that it takes time and you need a good, sharp knife for it. But the advantage is that often I trim the lamb leaner than the butcher does.

2 - If you do cut up the lamb yourself, make sure to get boneless lamb. Trust me, it is so frustrating cutting up bone-in lamb to get nice big chunks.

3 - Cut the lamb to 3cm/1.2 inch pieces. Try and trim as much fat as possible as this can become chewy once cooked.

4 - I use metal skewers for this but you can also use thick bamboo skewers. Just make sure to soak them for at least 30 minutes beforehand.

5 - Zest your lemon before juicing it. It makes it much easier.

6 - Serve this with garlic toum, crisp cos lettuce, tomato and pita flatbread so that people can make their own wraps. Here is my recipe for toum (fluffy garlic paste) plus a vegan toum version.

7 - Sumac onions are also delicious to serve with this: thinly slice 50g/1.7ozs of red onion and mix with 1 teaspoon olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon sumac.

8 - Serve these in large cos lettuce leaves for a low carb version!

9 - FLAVOUR UPGRADE: try cooking these on charcoals! As charcoals get hotter than an electric grill you won't have to cook these as long, 6-8 minutes is often enough but check against the temperature of your grill and the doneness of your meat.

Other skewers to try next are these Xinjiang Cumin Lamb Skewers or these pork and pineapple skewers.

Lamb Kebabs Skewers Recipe

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Recipe Overview

Preparation time: 10 minutes plus 2 hours or overnight marinating time

Cooking time: 10-13 minutes

Makes: 8-10 skewers

Ingredients Needed

• 700g/1.5lbs boneless lamb shoulder or leg, cut into 3cm/1.2 inch pieces, trimmed of fat
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 60ml/2flozs extra virgin olive oil plus extra for grilling
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
• 60ml/2flozs lemon juice
• 1 sprig rosemary, needles only
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 red capsicum pepper, cut into pieces similar to the lamb
• 1/2 yellow capsicum pepper, cut into pieces similar to the lamb
• 1 red onion, cut into pieces similar to the lamb
• Metal skewers or thick bamboo skewers, soaked for 30 mins-1 hour
• Tajin or sumac (optional)

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1 BLEND - Blend the garlic, smoked paprika, olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, rosemary and black pepper together to form a paste.

Step 2 MARINADE - Place the lamb and the marinade paste in a ziplock or a container and squish and spread to combine the meat and marinade making sure that all of the surfaces of the lamb are coated. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

Step 3 SKEWER - Take the lamb out of the fridge 1 hour before you want to cook it. Add the salt to the lamb and massage well. Take a skewer and thread through with onion, then a piece of capsicum and then lamb and repeat alternating with capsicum and onion (I put the yellow capsicum in the centre).

Step 4 GRILL - Preheat the grill for 10 minutes until it reaches 200C/400F and line the tray with foil. Drizzle the skewers with some olive oil. Grill for 4-5 minutes each side and then turn over for another minute or two if it needs it. Leave to rest for 5 minutes and sprinkle with sumac of Tajin if using. Serve with garlic sauce, lettuce, sliced tomatoes and flatbread.

Substitution notes:

Smoked paprika can be replaced with chipotle chilli powder. Sweet paprika can also be used, it just won't have any smokiness to it.

Lemon can be subbed with lime juice and zest.

The capsicum and onion can be omitted or you can try other vegetables like mushrooms or leeks.

Olive oil can be subbed with another oil that you like the taste of.

Use any sort of flatbread from tortillas to mountain bread. I used Greek pita bread.

Personal Note

Dear Reader, I have a follow up to the bird story from the other day. I was walking Teddy and Milo and they stopped outside the bird owner's house and I finally got to meet the owner of the bird! She was just getting out of the car and she looked at the dogs and smiled broadly. "They're so cute!" she said.

I started chatting to her about the bird because one day I'd really like to have one sod I was asking her all sorts of questions about how to look after them and what they're like as a pet.

It turns out the bird's name is Cookie and it is actually her son's bird. We had a long talk about Cookie. Cookie is a he and you can tell because green eclectus parrots are male and red ones are female. Cookie is great company although he didn't chat very much in front of people and only said a few words. But then she leaned in and told me about how a woman came up to the bird while she was there and called him by his name Cookie. "How did she know the bird's name if he didn't tell it to her?".

So tell me Dear Reader, do you usually grill meat on the oven or barbecue? What is your favourite thing to serve lamb skewers with - salad, bread or something else?